Why Do People In The U.K Not Want Our English Guns?
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
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From Australia, I'm 74 and can remember back to the 1950's and 60's when if a man owned a British gun such as a Purdey it was an object for great pride, like Jaguar, MG and Rolls Royce. Then you send your industries offshore and we've done it too, take axes to your iconic brands such as they've done to the Jaguar brand with their latest adverts and wonder what went wrong.
Give me an old British side by side any day and I'd feel like a millionaire.
Yes I would like to watch that. As an American from the USA I love English guns. I have about half a dozen in my collection.
Because in the 60s and 70s they became unaffordable so we shot Spanish and Italian guns
Speaking as an American, the worst thing that can happen is losing your skilled craftsmen. It's nearly impossible to recreate those jobs. Yes, I would love to have some of those great old guns in the US.
Some of our best guns are older than the states 😂
I tried to buy a good English SBS for my sons twenty-first. We visited several gun shops and they only tried to sell us Italian over and unders. "Oh you don't want one of those, everyone's using these nowadays, these are more accurate blah blah blah". We eventually bought a beautiful Westley Richards 12 bore ejector for just over £1000 twenty years ago the same gun would have bee worth ten times as much. My son shoots very well with it and I think that it is a very good investment. I think that the gun shops make more money selling new over unders so they don,t want to sell old guns.
Most gun shops don't know about guns unless it comes out of a Beretta or Browning box that's why. They can't even name the parts of an English gun let alone fix one. Glad you persevered. An investment indeed. IMO David was right five or six years ago. But I find that now the steel shot hysterics are all but over due to affordable other alternative non lead cartridges on the market, "English" guns are on the slow rise again. I doubt they will ever be like they were 10 or 20 yrs ago but still good investments if you buy the right ones. I'm glad your son has a Westley. I got my son a mint WC Scott 12 bore BLE for his 21st. One of the last made in Thame road, Birmingham.
@@wotjonsez2560 A good old friend of mine served his time at Westley Richards many years ago, and they certainly made a fine gun. I've owned several over the years including a couple of double percussion guns. They had an agent in London who sold their guns in the 19th century, 'The Bishop of Bond Street'. So much quality and history here in British gunmaking throughout the last 300 years.
Absolutely insane, From the states and I love English guns . Wanted an English gun for years but couldn’t afford them. I finally gave up , may have to look into them again.
Canadian here. It's truly disappointing to here that the respect & interest for the old doubles is sadly falling away. However in our little gun stable, the dozen or so I've been lucky enough to hold on to, are all still happily tipping birds today. Most are British or Scottish non-ejector damascus, with 30in. tubes, 16s & 12s. My go to girl (not the prettiest ) is Fred Beesley's ( "principal inventor of the London gun trade") serial#34, circa 1887. My son & myself appreciate that we are only stewards & temporary caretakers of these classic doubles; which should all have useful lives for another 100 years...
I'd love to see a film on the restoration of an old English gun. Wish I had one. Harder to come by here in America.
I would very much enjoy watch a step by step restoration of an old beauty like that. I could see it broken down into 3 facinating parts… barrels-action-stock.
For shotgun enthusiasts such as myself another review of a modern over and under that is virtually identical to dozens of other guns gets boring.
David, I have been shooting and owning SbS doubles since I was ten years old. I will turn 75 in several months, and I am so happy that I've loved these wonderful guns all my life. I have some very nice doubles, but I have never owned an English double. The cost of them has always been a stumbling block for me, and now I'm just an old retired hunter and shooter who wishes he had one of those English guns. I hope they make a come-back, because the gun world NEEDS them as the examples of what THE BEST guns are supposed to be like. I will keep watching your videos and dreaming of them, David.
Yes David, would really be interesting to see a gun Smith bring a tired gun back to life.
I don’t think this is unique to older English guns. In my country, an older, worn 70s/ 80s Beretta or Franchi doesn’t catch any $$ either. Younger shooters are simply not very interested in old guns.
American here. I would LOVE that very gun and a similar in 28G.
To be perfectly honest, I think that our gun industry followed the British motorcycle industry and got very complacent. I to have my Grandfathers gun, a Rowland Watson side by side, which I, of course, treasure and very occasionally use.
However, in all seriousness on a fairly big game day, it can get stinking hot on a busy peg and even started coming loose on a couple of occasions. Luckily, I always take a spare.
My go-to gun is the Yildiz Pro Black 20 bore that you sold me a few years ago.
It doesn't come loose multi-choke, very reliable, it's not had anything replaced, I have put thousands through it and it has been so hot at times that you could smell the wood being singed!
The British gunmakers produce something that they want you to have and not necessarily what you would like.
I do most humbly apologise if I have offended anyone, but it is just my opinion.
Yes I would look forward to watching a restoration project on such a gun.
These English guns are some of the best quality ever made... alongside Scottish and Irish guns of course.
I got a licence, as I am a re-enactor and have a black powder muzzle loader. I was in my local RFD a few years ago and they had a lovely old hammer gun, 2 1/2 inch chamber 12g SxS for not much money. its 100 yrs old +/-, it gets a few clays in front of it when I have time, and its just beautiful to me.
Anytime you want to do a care and refurb kind of video for these older guns, I'll be in the audience for sure.
I agree with you totally and completely. But if anything goes wrong on an old gun, it's a real PIA. Example, it's not an English gun, I have a 1970s Winchester 101 O/U, my first gun and it's lovely like it was made for me personally. I can make firing pins, each are different diameters because someone has changed one before and changed the bore, but an ejector lever broke, it still lifts and can be used, can't import them and they probably won't fit anyway. I have an old mossberg 410, if it breaks, can't import spares, custom work but I can buy a new Hatsan replacement for £300 and get any spares over the counter. So fixing these is custom work by someone who knows what they are doing which can go well beyond their value like old clocks. That is an issue. And it's such a great awful shame. Brands: a lot of corporations buying brands and then manufacturing East of us, don't get me started on that.
I have just put up for sale a pair of cased Henry Atkin sidelocks. They're works of art, and being sold at half the price I paid for them. Nostalgia has an expiry date, as do the people who want them. Classic car prices are going the same way. Pre and post War prices for Jags and Healeys are now declining. The people who remembered and aspired to own them have gone. As a Country we have lost our manufacturing, (the same applies to motorbikes) in pursuit of cheapness, and quality is unappreciated in this day and age. Gen Z don't want classic cars or guns or bikes. Can you imagine a classic car market for Teslas in 30 years time? It's a shame, but it's a fact.
Don't look back ( to much ) look forward!
You raise some good points, I feel the guntrade failed to invest in the latest CNC etc machinery many years ago.This allowed Beretta,Browning and so on to capture the market.
Your right about trying to bring some of these guns back though.
100% agree. The UK's gun manufacturers failed to keep up half a century ago. If they'd kept a pace, we'd no only have more value in UK guns and more strength in the market, we'd also have better gun laws and more people owning and using them. We lost our semi-auto rifle and handgun manufacturing and the UK Government just banned them. Shotguns could go the same way, or at least become far more restricted.
Because TSC has been promoting Italian guns for years.
And regretting it.
Browning is an Italian gun?
😂😂😂
AYA is not Italian either
Does he have a choice where they are made?
Ralph from Florida and Michigan: David I have three English side-by-sides, Two are almost identical Webley 12 gauge shotguns. I gave one to my great nephew and later purchase the second one. My prize is an originally cased Birmingham W. and C. Scott in 20 gauge. They are great shotguns!
Yes! Yes, please do the restoration vid on this William Powell👍 I have my Dads s/s Thomas Bland, Dad bought it secondhand years ago, when he passed I had it serviced and fitted to me and still use it on occasion, not the best shot in the world, but hey! I’m an old English bloke (75) shooting a traditional English shotgun .
Absolutely would like to see a series of vids on the restoration of old English guns!
We have the same problem here in the US. After WWII the US was the world's leader in technology, raw materials, and industry, then by the 70s we started to lose one at a time to foreign countries from either being bought out or being transplanted outside of the US. Now like Britain we've become a nation of shop keepers. By and large we're no longer capable of producing anything; it's essentially all gone.
I adore vintage best English shotguns, I have a Charles rosson (derby) sidelock 12bore and shoot 1 ounce loads, perfectly adequate. I do feel a bit miffed with all the modern o/u guns on shoots, it is special when a good side by side pops up, sheer delight.
Maybe it's the need for heavier loads to reach archangels, 2 3/4"- 3" chambers and 4shot, promote the good old guns, they are so sexy, best wishes from Judy stoodley, aged 83
As an American I love the old English guns.
You answered your value question with the maintenance section. I like running older American shotguns, but everyone I know uses modern. Don't know how YT friendly the step-by-step guide would be, but it would be a good watch. It is fun to attend matches with an old S/S, when everyone else has O/U.
Yes we need to preserve the craft.
The US ironically still has a strong domestic gun industry because the antigunners have tried to attack gun rights by banning or severely restricting the import of foreign made guns, thinking they are going to chip away at gun ownership by making it more expensive.
Could you get guns cheaper from china if it were still allowed? Yes, but not so much cheaper that it is worth losing our industry over.
The American gun makers have done a great job of providing very affordable budget options that are still solid performing and reliable. So it’s still very accessible.
English shotguns (and English/British history in general) are super valued and appreciated in Russia...such a pity we have stupid politicians getting in a way of decent people...
An old English side by side is hard to come by here in the states. Most American side by sides have pistol grips, raised ribs, and are non ejectors. I for one would love to those old guns over here.
I grew up reading hunting books and magazines, Boy's Annual full of charging rhinos, and a more than fair share of English neighbours. My first shotgun we'll ignore, but my second was a 311 Stevens in 12 gauge. I've had a warm spot for SXS's ever since. Not exactly Boss or Purdey, but at sixteen, it filled the itch caused by "Field and Stream" ads.
I have a couple of older hammer guns of London address. To quote granpa. Ther ain't nuthin' better to slide up a log road with an' whack some ditch chickens." Or something like that.
Seriously, I would swap my mum for a London sidelock. I have 2 Brit box locks and love them.
Marketing…… simple
You can sell just about anything if you promote it enough, reviews are about new guns generally, clay shooting is about new guns, game shooting… would someone with serious £ buy a cheap second hand gun.
How do you promote a one off 20-100 yr old gun, compared to the latest 850 browning, if you’re in business you sell for profit, not nostalgia.
Getting them here in Germany is quite expensive… 😢
That would be interesting to watch 👍
Yes, please make that episode, it would be very interesting!
I have a William Powell side lock that looks the same as yours. I swapped a 1970's watch for it I sent off to William Powell and purchased a copy of the original sales invoice. It was built for a customer in 1904 and cost £ 50 they gave him 10 % discount so cost £45. The r/h main spring broke and WP wanted £ 700 to make a new one a gunsmith I know wanted £ 400 . Fortunately a friend of mine with engineering skills made it for nothing. Every piece can be made it with come at a high cost so that could put buyer's off . I don't shoot it very often and I use Hull comp x 21 gram it's a fast hard hitting cartridge with no recoil. They are just a great gun to own.
It feels like a complete non-argument. Doesn’t make sense. ‘Why are really old English guns not worth anything anymore’ - because they’re old! You can still buy new English-made guns but they’re £100k+ - Spanish and Italian gunmakers can make them at a fraction of a cost. I don’t think there are any new English traditional made guns that are ‘affordable’ for the regular person and there won’t be because it costs a huge amount of time and money to hand make a ‘best’ gun.
Great video, yes i agree you should do some videos on restoring our old guns, lets keep them , as they will not be there to buy the way its going !!
It`s a combination of many things fashion, peer pressure, pointability,what they`ve taught to shoot with at a school, 2.5 inch chambers, short barrels no end of factors. I love them, if I were younger I`d be buying them in dozens right now the prices are laughable.
I still like them David. I have a collection of Edwardian guns I regularly use.
From New Zealand here. I think some of it comes down to affordability and access to hunting opportunities, as I'm sure if you could easily go and rough shoot people would likely have an old sxs and buy a box of cartridges that are legal and safe to shoot through an old gun. I'm slowly tidying up (hardly a restoration) an old AYA, think it's a yeoman for such occasions. In nz we still have relatively good access but a box of 25 bismuth cartridges is $70(32gbp) which is rather expensive. NZ has been steelshot for hunting since 2000.
I only have have English guns , a Thomas wild from 1933 and a old bsa single barrel iv never had a o/u new gun
I think you should show the upgrade by videos and show the love the English shotgun deserves
It would even give the viewer a idea of price ect about the project
To answer the original question - because soon they will be redundant thanks to our crazy legislation in the UK banning the use of lead in cartridges. Why would you want to buy a vintage Ferrari if petrol was made illegal? Answer - you wouldn’t give a pound for it unless you wanted a large paper weight. 🤬
Fake news. Whilst I am furious over the lead ban there are other materials coming on the market other than steel that is affordable and effective and usable in old British shotguns. Your short sightedness has made a lot of people get rid of perfectly great guns to buy foreign tools. I will never give up my Edwardian collection knowing I can still take game with them until I peg it. Then my son will take them.
@ Well Phil, I too am furious about the lead ban. I’m surprised you didn’t realise that from my post. Fake news? Apparently it’s true, they have been going on about it for years now. Please keep up. I too have an Edwardian gun or two. My latest is a Westley Richards 16 bore built in 1887 that I have invested around £1500 of my own money in a sympathetic restoration, turning an old scrapper into a nitro proofed, safe, shootable and beautiful working gun of which I am very proud to own and honoured to shoot. However these affordable and effective cartridges of which you speak don’t exist in any gun shop in the country, and I have visited most of them. Please advise where I can purchase my cartridges for next season that are similarly priced as lead (and the big one) equally effective as lead. Who exactly is marketing this product? 🤔
These old guns are great momentous for the occasional live bird shoot maybe but impractical to learn to shoot targets or to shoot clay targets competitively when the sport is so competitive and expensive. Handy if you want to avoid going to the next grade possibly.
Well William Powell have been using imported continental guns for 40 years. May have additional finishing but it's hard to know what you are really buying.
Hello yes i would love to see a restoration as i have just bought an old SxS
It’s good to see you’re doing something different that would be very interesting , to see the journey of the restoration, but if you’re gonna do it, you’ve gotta go full on with it.
I understand your point, but business has to survive so you can’t blame manufacturers for making changes to keep up with other manufacturers from around the world.
Manufacturing products in England is exceptionally hard as the the costs.
William Powell’s new range of guns are exception !
Thank you for your comment it is very good the points you have come across, but what I was saying is why do the old ones fall in vale over here and across in the US they all want them? Also yes William Powell's guns are great but all the are is a Rizzini made as they make them but they are just more money, Thanks for your comment.
Superb video, part way through you put a blue cartridge ( Hull?) that seems to give less recoil
Americans generally don’t care about side-by-side or over-under guns. They are a small minority of the shotgun market.
The US gun culture historically is that of practical tools for the common man. Not expensive showpieces for the landed gentry.
That’s why you don’t see American companies trying to cater to the luxury shotgun market.
Pump actions and semi autos are preferred as they are objectively better in almost every way. The marginal use from an over under of having two different chokes is not necessary nor meaningful enough to justify all the downsides of an over-under.
David, yes, I would watch a renovation video with great interest.
As to buying a vintage English gun, I would do that so long as I was certain to have a master gunsmith to service it.
Hunting in the U.S. is declining and clay shooting is increasing. While there are “side by side shoots,” people tend to shoot sxs guns that are essentially an O/U in terms of weight and configuration.
I am afraid, too, that unscrupulous dealers brought over guns purchased for a few hundred quid in the UK and then sold them here at substantial profit, causing a bad feeling among the potential buyers.
Yes I would watch the fix up videos as long as they weren't crazy long.
Yes please David iv been hoping you would do a Thomas wild video
Need to have more competitions for s/s at a sporting comp., have a score for O/U & S/S.
Costs in the western world have killed off manufacturing/repairs in the West especially UK, Aust. etc
If a part is made to UK standards in Turkey what is the problem?
With modern CNC replacement gun barrels could be made for old guns with steel shot bore diameter
& wall thickness.
Id watch that series
Definitely!!!
There are a number of reasons why they are out of favour. Clay shooters typically are taught to shoot an O/U and very few were like myself and my father and his before him that were given a gun, memorised a father's advice and had to recite it and then sent out to teach themselves. The clay shots are todays game shots and they still want to use an O/U because they know how to use it.
Most English guns made in the 1890's to the 1950's were designed for fairly modest loads to shoot partridges and pheasants out to 40 yards. If you want a gun to shoot heavy loads then it is probably better to go for a heavier gun. I barely notice the recoil from my guns but that is because I know them and what they do but if you were brought up on a heavy gun that has that softer kick then the harsh kick of a light gun will come as a surprise.
Nearly all modern guns come with single triggers, English guns nearly all came with double triggers.
Then there is another modern idea which is that second hand is somehow less desirable than new. No warranty, less confidence in its life of use. Particularly with the advent of steel shot and High Performance Steel.
Then there is barrel length modern fashion is for 30" barrels and up, a lot of English guns were made with 28" barrels and some with 26" or 25" .
People are bigger than they used to be, so a lot of stocks on English guns are a bit short for todays average man and the fore-end a little short, and a side by side used for clays will get uncomfortable to use because the barrels get very hot.
Any one or 2 of these reasons would not reduce the value by much but taken all together and they add up to making a gun seem less desirable.
On the other hand English guns are ideal for shooting game especially partridges, grouse and pheasants out to 45 yards. They are easy to carry all day, reload quickly, are easy to use when snap-shooting in a wood, are very elegant to look at, and feel very balanced to handle and their accuracy in the right hands is no better and no worse than any other gun.
Yes, yes, yes & yes...
I’ve been looking for an old English Gun, preferably 20 gauge. Would like you say worried about steel shot ?
Forget about steel. There are other materials on the market now that aren't the price of tungsten or bismuth. They perform well and you can use them as normal in any old guns. Go and get one. You won't regret it.
I would watch that series and it is sad that we are loosing the young people from the machinist trade
I love the style of old UK guns. But the UK gun industry lost most relevance by not investing in a proper hi-tech barrel factory (like Beretta) or full scale CNC production (like most Italian makers) Thus not being able to make a modern gun at a realistic price. (I’m not talking about cheap guns here, but modern attractive mid price quality guns like Italy offers.) Would love to see a restoration series of vids Btw.
I’m on the look out for a reasonably priced gun with nice graving & wood. I’d love an old English gun but a lot of them are battered or the nice ones are a lot of money.
David, at first I thought you were talking about our Labour government. Their attitude! But yes put her through the workshop on camera. BTW I collect old English guns. Whats your learned opinion of Gallyon now at St Neots, Cambs?
Would love to see a renovation video David.
I would love an English side by side but don’t know how to get it to Arkansas.
Go to any decent gun shop in that USA. The dealers in the UK are buying them all up at very cheap prices and sending them to the USA by the container load. You guys love them, we soon won’t be able to shoot them safely when our powers that be deem lead illegal to use in cartridges. They weren’t built for steel or high pressure loads. Almost all our heritage is gone now thanks to greedy dealers here. Can’t blame them I suppose, it’s business even if it is so wrong. Nobody has ethics any more! 🤬🇬🇧
May I ask who makes that handsome jacket you are wearing? On your question, I would be glad to watch a vid on anything you want to present.
Yes please. How much does it cost at present time to get a gun from England to the US?
If you email contactus@theshootingchannel.co.uk we can get you a price
For me it's straight hand stock,battered ,nitro proof and the thought of steel shot
I wish people would get over steel shot. There are other materials on the market that work like lead and that are affordable. And more coming soon.
Would love to watch
Yes I'd watch that, but with costing to see just how much it does cost
Well personally... I'm on a UK salary.
Same as B.S.A now owned by Gamo. We just sell out to the highest bidder!! Steel industry gas industry and electricity!! Sad but true brother!! Thanks for upload regards👍👍
You should buy one of the old names and make guns in England again
These guns are not exactly cheap to buy, unless you get a well worn boxlock.
There is a decline in the number of skilled gunsmiths so any broken parts could result in a lot of travelling and expense, not to mention the gun being out of action for a significant amount of time. A modern gun, still in production, will be easier to obtain spares for.
My local shooting school used to have an on site gunsmith but they now send guns back to the importer for repairs; not much help when you have a long out of production gun! If you buy an old English gun this is something you should be aware of.
I like old English guns but I do not get along with straight hand stocks because of the way they affect the handling of a gun. There are some English guns with semi pistol grip stocks but you have to do a lot of searching to find one in reasonable condition at a sensible price.
Ahhhh YES. Please document refurbishment
0:27 the value dropped? To me, it's all time's high. Back in the past, a Westley Richards Mauser in .318 used to cost 18 pounds in the most plainest finish. Today, the starting cost of WR rifle is 45 000 pounds, which, if we recalculate the price in the 1920s worth of a British pound, is going to be 800 pounds.18 to 800, the price has grown for 44 times over 100 years. It's insane, even if we consider the improvements of technology.
0:52 From my perspective, licensing and steel shot are only adding the problems.
2:20 Honestly, I don't see any way to bring british gunmaking back to Britain. This problem can be divided in two smaller problems: lack of market and the labour price. The market for hunting arms is shirnking, because of many reasons: general population getting poorer, the taxation, the poor public image of hunters, the growing interest in tactical application of firearms (because average tacticool guy or self-declared sniper buys more ammo and accessories than an average stalker or bird shooter), the hunting losing its value to the economy.
I'm not British, I live in ex-Socbloc country, and here hunting used to serve both as the way for government to make money (by selling canned game meat to the population and selling fur all over the world) and as a hobby for the population that was rapidly urbanising. The government spending was also helping to make this hobbies affordable, and the government was interested in supplying hunters and sportsmen with decent quality firearms. The fall of socialism, privatisation and neoliberal reforms resulted in rapid price growth, the cuts in government spendings resulted in people abandoning rural areas faster than ever, the shrinking demand for hunting arms and unequal competition with foreign gun manufacturers resulted in major decrease of the production of firearms and accessories of the old state-owned and newly privatised factories.
To build new gun factories in Britain, you'd have to hire skilled craftsmen and create a proper market for those firearms. This means, that the people should recieve better wages or use some tax-payed services to save whatever they earn, the manufacturers need craftsmanship schools to have more qualified workers. This would require at least going back to pre-Thatcher policies, if not coming up with something even more harsh. Something that would scare the City bankers and lots of people who actually keep money in British banks and offshores, and launder their cash there.
It happens because times change. It happens because the world economy, technology, and laws change. In regard to double guns, I am opposed to this change, but there is little I can reasonably do to stop it. Our options are few. To keep shooting we will need to change.
? I'm still shooting 100+ year old guns on game shoots. And will until I die.
Isn’t it all about the labour cost?
Yes that does not help
Sign of the times, I'd guess more people are giving up than taking up shooting in the uk, and those new shooters are probably more clay orientated than game.
I love English guns,,but there's none over here in the US,,and customs and shipping from UK is ridiculous,,I can buy a brand new Browning for the price of shipping that gun to the US,,so there it is
We’re just too expensive to make it a viable option.
Why do we think the gun trade is any different to the saga of the decline of British industry?
It would be interesting to see your gunsmith take an Old English SS from purchased to tidy, then on to make it mint. Along with the costs for us mere working class. 😂
British guns are among the best in the world and currently represent superb value. Gun dealers and clay grounds have shot themselves in the foot this last few years and let themselves down where british guns and side by sides in general, by selling cheap inferior quality guns ( Kofs, etc!) and then wonder why better quality guns languish on there shelves unsold. Stop selling and stocking such guns and promote instead our own British guns. It would really help if shooting grounds started exclusively laying on vintage gun open shoots with decent purse - I don't mean just the odd shoot but almost half and half vintage guns and others. the market is flooded with rubbish over and unders with 5 and ten year warranty!!!!
the main reason the English gun fell from favour was cost ,aided and abetted by shooting schools who got good deals to promote o/us mostly cheap continental imports .most people having shooting lessons were given ao/u saying you'll get on better with this,it's easier to shoot with .sxs weren't an option .! David and many others ,you only have yourselves to blame for the decline of the sxs .
Old english guns are my favorite particualy sxs muzzleloaders.
It's not always easy to find a buyer for these here in America. But when you do.... a gun that sells for £1000 on holts can easily bring $3k-$7k. I loathe the english for not appreciating some of the best art/mechanical workmanship they've ever produced. Sub £500 gun is easily $2000 in america
But it's not always easy selling these guns in the US. We Americans can be just as unappreciative of the fine old guns.I know of a large collector in my area that is practicaly giving them away. Hundreds haven't sold and probably wont.
You`re hiding the action of the ejectors again David.
English shot guns are the best but cost a fortune that’s why and don’t afford it.
I would love to own an english gun.if i had my choice though it would be a scottish made dickson
I’d like to see that 👍
Boss the best English gun makers.
Sorry. Purdey.
@philt5782 no chance
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but English guns, much like the English cars just aren't very good. Why would anyone want to buy an uncomfortable, unergonomic and unpopular (ugly) side by side anymore? For a portion of the price you could go with just about any of the big companies for a solid entry/mid level under over that would last longer and perform better.
What utter bollocks on all of your points. For one there is a thing called gun fit. And how many Kofs or ATA's will still be going in 100 years time? I will be handing my 100 plus year old Edwardian guns to my son when I go. And he will be enjoying them on game for many more years. Yes they break, but as a gunmaker I am regularly repairing broken Italian and Spanish guns all the time. Absolute nonsense you speak.
@@philt5782 Do the Spanish and Italian guns have more or less rounds down the tubes? I bet you they have far more.
I'd bet you my DT11 that no English made SXS could stand up to the use of a modern over under.
Sure, they may have that craftsman's touch to them and I am not knocking the skill and workmanship that goes into a English SXS, but the proof is in the pudding. They are ugly, unwieldly, and impractical when it comes to modern shooting conditions.
Could it be the rules and the regulations are killing gun makers over there and you can get something similar from another country for cheaper. Or could it be the lifestyle that’s pushed over there is more driven towards college and not craftsmanship
Is that a trick question?
Because they're obsolete junk. I appreciate a nice english gun dont get me wrong, the work that went into some of them is just incredible. But Theres just no market for side by sides anymore. Most People just buy one to put in the cabinet and use once a year at either a dedicated clay competition, or an early season driven game day.
Nobody grows up learning to shoot with a sbs like people had to back in the day either. A cheap kofs or yildiz o/u is a much better option for juniors or someone just starting out. And thats why the market for sbs is dead in my opinion.
Obsolete junk? That’s hilarious 😆
Junk they are not, and there is a market for side by sides albeit small. Some people do still grow up learning to shoot with such guns but they are certainly in the minority.
But I do agree that there are so many options out there now. A good, fitted, over and under would be an excellent choice.
Absolute nonsense.They are junk compared to my 100 year old Edwardian sxs's that I and a lot of my customers regularly use on game. There's a reason they are still around after 100 years. How many of those cheap kofs or ATA's do you think will be around in a 100 years time? NONE. What tosh you speak.
english guns are very expensive
Have you any aya 25s in stock
If you email contactus@theshootingchannel.co.uk we can help you with this.
Meh guns are tools to me so an older gun like that if it breaks isn't worth fixing in my mind but pay 500 for a modern gun you have access to warranty and easier to get spare parts for it
So many cheap new guns available