430 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Sept, io, 1910. 
The Choice of a Gun.* 
Sportsmen often remark that they are unable to under¬ 
stand why there is so great a difference in the prices of 
best guns, and also that they cannot distinguish between 
a gun at 40 guineas, others at 50 guineas, or even 70 
guineas. Why should hammerless guns cost so much 
more than hammered guns? and why should there be so 
great a difference in the price of hammered breechload¬ 
ers? A double-barreled central fire 12-gauge breech¬ 
loader, proved, and a complete, usable weapon, is sold 
wholesale, at the present time, at SO shillings. At that 
price it is at present a marketable commodity, and the 
tendency is downward. A best hammered gun, 12-gauge, 
proved, a complete, usable weapon, is to be purchased 
at 60 guineas, and will not be sold for less. Is the £60 
difference between the two solely for the maker’s name 
engraved between the barrels? If not, where is the dif- 
‘fernce to be seen? 
This matter should not be difficult to understand, when 
it is remembered how intricate and how numerous are 
the stages of construction through which all guns must 
pass. 
The barrels of best guns are made from the best iron 
and steel, and welded into barrels by superior welders; 
the cheaper grades are made from inferior metal, and 
either welded under the tilt hammer or made into barrels 
by inferior workmen, who. from receiving a lower price 
for their work, have to weld a large number of barels per 
week. In the boring and grinding, the common barrels 
are done at less than half the cost of the best; this is 
managed by grinding them without turning and trueing 
them in the lathe, by being not so particular about the 
setting, and if a few rings are left inside from the rough 
boring it is counted of no consequence. 
In the filing of the barrels the difference is more 
marked; the common barrels are soldered together with 
sal-ammoniac and soft solder instead of with rosin, which 
is far superior, as it prevents the barrels from rusting 
underneath the ribs The lumps also are plainly let in, 
not dovetailed, and the barrels are not struck up or 
planned round to remove the hills and hollows. Com¬ 
moner ribs also are used—that is, either scelp twist or 
plain iron, and there is not so much care taken to in¬ 
sure the rib being tapered, levelled, straightened and 
equally placed on both barrels. 
The locks also greatly vary; they may be purchased 
from 2 shillings to 3 guineas the pair. In common locks 
the tumblers, scears and swivels are of iron, and only 
the springs of steel. In medium grades the tumblers 
and scears are of steel, but the bridles are not so welt 
shaped, or the bents so well cut and squared. 
Breech-actions also vary greatly in quality. Common 
actions may be fitted complete at 9 or 10 shillings each, 
whereas some of the best quality hammerless actions cost 
as much as £12 or £15 to get up. In breech-action fit¬ 
ting, as in lock filing, various classes of men are em¬ 
ployed, each working at his own quality of work, and 
and having to get through a proportionately larger , 
amount of work the further it is removed from the best 
quality, thus, while it takes a good workman three days 
to joint a treble-wedge-fast hammerless breech-action, a 
common action filer will joint, file and fit up complete a 
cheap action in less than one-fourth the time. 
So with the other divisions of gun-making; the prices 
vary according to the ability of the executant. Gun 
stocks range in price from a shilling to 30 or more; the 
work known as finishing may be done for a few shillings, 
if done thoroughly, carefully and in best style, it will cost 
as many sovereigns. 
The polishing, the browming, etc., all vary considerably 
in the same manner. The engraving is a branch of the 
trade which is supposed by many sportsmen to add great¬ 
ly to the cost of the gun. but- it is inconsiderable com¬ 
pared with other branches. It is now possible to com¬ 
pletely smother a gun with cheap, common engraving 
for a few shillings. 
The very best clean-cut fine scroll engraving may cost 
as much as four or five guineas, or more, according to 
the quantity placed upon the gun. Gold inlaying, which 
is often done, also ads considerably to the cost. 
The workmen in every division of the gun trade are 
divided into classes. The careful workman, mindful not 
only of his work upon the gun, but cognisant and cart 
ful in his treatment of the work of those who have gon„ 
before him—skilled and able to do what is required and 
expected of him—is a rara avis who can command a high 
wage. A staff of such men must be procured if the best 
work possible is to be obtained; and they must not only 
be kept fully employed, but employed upon such work as 
they can take an interest and pride in. To produce a 
best gun, not only must every man be able, but in¬ 
clined, to do his best; and above all. there must be the 
guiding mind, intent upon the fashioning of a weapon to 
its ideal. 
The best gun must be tried in various stages, and must 
pass in each before proceeding to a succeeding stage; 
hence time as well as money is requisite to its produc¬ 
tion. The well-finished gun is one in which every por¬ 
tion is accurately shaped, rightly placed, perfectly ad¬ 
justed, and with that “finish” which skill and practice 
alone can give. The elaborate ornamentation, either by 
engraving or otherwise, will not make a gun well fin¬ 
ished; nor is such ornamentation of such use as finish. 
A gun made and finished in the best manner will stand 
more hard wear than any ordinary gun, even if the prin¬ 
ciple upon which the commoner gun is constructed be 
superior to that of the best gun. Common guns always 
give way first in the small details: a pin works loose or 
bleaks, and as soon as it i^ replaced in one place it 
gives way in another, whereas a best gun. like “The 
One-Hoss Shay,” breaks up altogether when it does go. 
A great difference in cost, therefore, is due solely to 
workmanship. Other matters of importance in this re¬ 
spect depend upon the degree of excellence the maker 
wishes to attain. If content with producing a very ordi¬ 
nary gun. the expenses of so doing will be comparatively 
small. If a remarkably good shooting gun is required, 
the price may be very high, and certainly will be exccs- 
*From “The Gun and Its Development,” ninth edition. 
By W. W. Greener. 
sively so unless the gun-maker who essays the task has 
been in the habit of making very fine shooting guns Jr.- 
deed a chief item in the cost of good guns is the regu¬ 
lation of the shooting and alterations of the choking and 
boring; not mfreciuently as much money is expended in 
endeavors to obtain the best possible shooting, both of 
guns and rifles, as some makers lay out upon the whole 
gun-stock, lock, and barrel. This fact the author knows 
cnly too well from oft-repeated experience; for, in addi¬ 
tion to the expense of fine boring, occasionally large num¬ 
bers of cartridges are required, and a deal of time occu¬ 
pied in the shooting and regulating of first-class guns. 
Most of the leading gun-makers try each gun in the 
rough as well as in the finished state. Next to safety, 
shooting is certainly the most important point in a gun, 
and great care should always be bestowed by the maker 
in testing his guns, so as to insure good results when in 
actual work. This is a point that the makers of cheap 
guns never trouble about: and twenty-five years ago very 
few guns, either best or common, were tested, but it was 
left for the country dealers or the sportsmen to find out 
the faults or merits, as the case might be. 
A gun all but finished may develop a flaw in material 
or workmanship that precludes it from all save the waste 
heap; so it is that no maker of high reputation can sell 
his best guns at the prices asked by a less noted maker, 
who sells guns of a mediocre quality produced by work¬ 
men of inferior talent, and there being less waste, pockets 
greater profits. 
Gun-makers who can command over £50 for one of 
their best guns are few, and it is a mistake to suppose 
they receive suclr prices because they are fashionable 
makers. The truth is, they produce an article worth 
the money. 
A maker uses the best material, has skilled workmen, 
and sells his best production, which costs him — say £15 
for £20. It is the best his talents and means allow. 
Another, out of same quality material, by sparing no 
pains or endeavor, produces his best at a cost of £38, 
which he sells for £50. Both are best guns, yet one is 
infinitely better than the other; and, in all probability, 
a third or fourth grade gun of the latter would surpass 
in quality the best of the former, and sell for about the 
same price. 
If a gun is ordered from a country maker, the maker 
has to come to Birmingham for his barrels and action, 
locks, etc., and simply stocks and finishes the same, and 
sends the gun to Birmingham to be polished and en¬ 
graved; or lie buys a gun from Birmingham, and hav¬ 
ing put on his profit and name, sells it as a weapon of 
his own manufacture. A few country makers keep three 
or four men constantly at work, and these usually do 
three or four branches each; on this account the work 
can neither be done so cheaply nor so well as in Bir¬ 
mingham. 
There is no doubt useless expenditure sometimes by 
gun-makers of the most fashionable rank. Instead of 
using the simplest mechanisms, they employ, for reasons 
others which cost much more. They have not to meet 
competition in the same way as a gun-maker trading 
with wholesale buyers, and if by means of the finest 
workmanship the most elaborate mechanism can be made 
tolerably efficient and is their own, they all prefer it to 
a simpler and more easily made, therefore cheaper, 
mechanism the invention of some one else. At the 
present time this system very largely obtains, but, on the 
other hand, it must be conceded that the art of making 
breech-actions has advanced considerably the last fifteen 
years; better work, more intelligent work, has been be¬ 
stowed upon details of manufacture, and the guns of 
to-day, with all their shortcomings, will compare favor¬ 
ably with the masterpieces of long ago. 
CHEAP GUNS AND THEIR RECOGNITION. 
It is not always easy even for an expert to accurately 
appraise the value of a gun; to the casual observer there 
is often no perceptible difference between a fairly good 
gun and a really high class weapon. It is somewhat re¬ 
markable, taking into consideration the numerous in¬ 
structions which have been published for the guidance ol 
those about to purchase guns, that so few, even of the 
most experienced sportsmen, are able to discriminate 
with certainty between “fine” and “trade” guns. As the 
matter is of great importance to every user of the gun, 
the author will endeavor to give such indications as will 
enable even the tyro to avoid worthless weapons should 
they be offered him; bv carefully observing the instruc¬ 
tions given there should be no difficulty in purchasing a 
gun fully worth the estimated value. 
In the first place, no gun should be purchased without 
examination, unless from a person of whose standing 
there can be no doubt and who will agree to exchange 
the weapon or refund the money if desired to do so. 
The purchase of a pig in a poke is always attended with 
risk, which no respectable dealer or gun-maker requires 
a customer to run. Many advertisements of the “catch¬ 
penny” type appear in the general newspapers, and are 
occasionally found in the columns of the sporting press. 
Offers of guns at »n extremely low price will not delude 
the common-sense man into parting with his money. 
Some people, in the hope of securing a bargain, get 
caught on the well baited trap; less frequently the reck¬ 
less advertiser is prosecuted and convicted. The follow¬ 
ing specification, copied from a gun-maker’s list, is a 
never-failing catch: “12-bore gun, laminated steel bar¬ 
rels, left choke-bored, top-lever, snap-action, purdey 
double-bolt, extended rib, rebounding, and low ham¬ 
mers; patent fore-end, figured walnut, half pistol-hand 
stock, horn heel plate, scroll engraving. Price, 60 .” 
The same description might be applied to a 60 guinea 
gun with as much truth. Until a sportsman knows some 
thing about guns he should purchase of a respectable 
maker. Even “friends” will seek to benefit by a young 
man’s inexperience more frequently than will the dealer, 
who wishes to secure his custom, and looks forward 
toward future orders as well as to present profits. 
The cheapest gun may be known by having—first, all 
the parts which should be square and flat, rounded; sec¬ 
ond, all the parts — as the barrels—which should be 
round, a series of flats; third, hammers which are odd, 
and which stand when both are at half-cock as though 
one were at full, and when both are “down,” one rests 
on the nipple, but the other will not reach it; fourth, 
one lock won’t “speak,” the other roars; fifth, one striker 
sticks out and upward, the other is pitched as though 
the breast — not the head — of the hammer were to strike 
it; sixth, the rib is not straight, and is very much more 
on one barrel than on the other — the barrels are neither 
straight, nor round, and are generally thicker on one 
side than the other; seventh, the extractor has a crooked 
leg, and when the gun is opened, it sticks out as though 
pleased to escape from its ill-shaped recess — on closing 
the gun, its contortions are astonishing; eighth, the bar¬ 
rels are bright inside, but it is not the brightness of a 
silvered mirror, rather the brightness of a leaden bullet; 
ninth, there is no close-fitting of any part; the action 
body is barely touched by the barrels, the holding-down 
bolt is a crooked article in a crooked hole, the fore-enq 
will drop from the gun when it is fired, or will want all 
your strength to get it off, and the “wide joint” may be 
seen wherever two pieces come together; tenth, the en- 
graving is a series of ill-shapen, deeply cut furrows, cross- 
harrowed with meaningless scratches; eleventh, the bal¬ 
ance is bad, and the gun heavy; twelfth, the stock 
worse than that of an army musket, having traces of 
“file teeth,” and exhibiting that rough, open grain in¬ 
separable from spongy wood, and which the oily gloss 
cannot hide; thirteenth, the butt-plate, an ornamental 
sporting or other design made of stamped rubber. 
Such is the “export gun.” If its user survives ten 
shots, the gun will not. On trial it may fail to go off; 
the striker is too short, or does not strike centrally; this 
is rectified; then it will be found that the other striker 
is too long, and after the gun has been fired, it will not 
open; this is altered. The mainspring is so poor its 
elasticity has departed, and misfires ensue; new main¬ 
spring fitted; this is too strong for the lock, which is 
only of soft iron, so the tumbler gives way; steel tumbler 
fit; the scear. being iron, has worn aivay in only trying 
the lock, and fails to keep lock at cock, so the gun 
goes off unawares; complete new lock-work fitted; ham¬ 
mers drop off, triggers jam. and screws drop out in an 
unaccountable manner. The gun is thoroughly over, 
hauled, is kept a month at the smith’s; at first shot 
barrels drop asunder, owing 'to having been soldered 
together with sal-ammoniac, which, from its chemical 
action, destroys barrels and solder. Thus the cheap gun 
costs more in repairs in one season than a good gun 
would want in twenty, and is a standing annoyance to 
its owner. The gun of slightly better class will look 
much the same, but the locks should be of steel, and the 
action fitting better. Twist barrels are a step higher; 
next is found close fitting, and traces of some care 
having been used in putting the strikers in centrally, in 
getting the hammers to match, in having the rib mid¬ 
way between the barrels. When Damascus barrels are 
used, the gun is up in price, and the weapon reaching a 
serviceable standard. Next, the barrels are straight, the 
stock harder and more shapable, the lines cut into the 
iron can be seen to follow some design—fugitive and 
inappropriate, it may be. but still a design. With 
smoothly . working locks, better balanced guns, two iron 
Damascus barrels, usable pull off, and a well-fit action, 
we are rapidly approaching a grade that may be service¬ 
able. if not high class. When, instead of a rubber 
stamped, butt or heel-plate, we have an ebonite or horn 
hand-chequered one, we have reached the first grade of 
the artist workman, and not the turning out machine. 
We find in the better grades a smoothness and flatness 
of the lack-plates that is easily noticeable; and, as the 
inside of the plate is square and fiat too, the lock is 
cocked with an easy movement and uniform increase of 
pressure. Not only do the hammers match and stand 
alike, but nipples, triggers and screws fit closely and 
tightly; and in the still higher grades every pin will be 
found to fit accurately, to have its slit running in a 
preconceived direction, and every part, when inspected, 
will be found to have had some attention paid to it. to 
make it as perfect as the worker’s idea of it had de¬ 
termined. In examining a fine gun, even if it be as 
heavy as that of the “trade gun,” it will be found to 
handle “like a thing of life” when compared with its 
"export” competitor; the bottom rib will be found as 
accurately shaped, as small and as carefully put on, as 
though that were the rib which would receive every 
scrutiny; and even the butt-plate screws—which to the 
well-glued heel-plate are of very little service— will be 
found to be as well shaped, slit, and accurately fitted as 
if the whole reputation of the gun and its maker were 
staked upon those pins alone. So must it be. Unless 
attention be given to every piece, no matter how seem¬ 
ingly unimportant, the gun is not well made, and may 
fail just where least expected. 
From the first conception of the gun to the last stroke 
of the buffstick, there must be paramount care in the 
choice and fashioning of the material, and the right re¬ 
lation in size and position of every piece to each other 
and to all. 
There is probably no gun without its faults of con¬ 
struction, but in a gun of the first quality they should 
be known only to the maker, and such as he cannot 
remedy nor others detect. 
Then, just so much as is the talent of the maker 
superior or inferior to that of his competitors, will his 
gun be superior or inferior to their productions. 
Tn no country are better sportsmen to be found than 
in the United States of America, nor does any country 
possess keener buyers or better men of business, yet in 
no country is so much of the worthless rubbish of the 
Continental gun factories 'offered for sale. The Boers are 
a race of sportsmen, but it is of no use to offer them 
rubbish at any price, and the author can hardly believe 
that the astute American will sacrifice everything to 
cheapness. It is certainly a fact that the American sales¬ 
men are without equal, and have such powers of per¬ 
suasion that one is half inclined to believe that the Amer¬ 
ican rifle has never had its equal; but even the ability of 
the salesmen could not overcome the repugnance of the 
buyer to the rattle-trap designated by the Suhl or Liege 
maker as “export guns,” providing the would-be pur¬ 
chaser could or would discriminate between a serviceable 
and an unserviceable, weapon. In the United States there 
are two classes of guns made. The machine-made trade 
gun, rhe sale of which is vigorously pushed at every 
