http://auctions.holtsauctionee...fno=++100404&image=2

I am a sucker for the old British classic nostalgia. Dreams are free.

Aaron Little - please join in for some serious creative dreaming!

I am drooling over these guns. Just got a more detailed description. One has a repaired stock.

I would appreciate some comments please

Where in hell does Holts get their estimates? 12-1600 Pounds? Low beyond measure. I'd buy these in a minute.
Cal

Cal I hear you loud and clear.

Like the ones I ran past you at the last auction.

But in the end all of them sold within estimate or passed.

The BPEs - Alex Henry , Danl Frase & Woodward all came back for fixed price within estimate! The Danl Fraser 375 Fl had a broken stock that needed replacement.

Right now they have a 475 No2 Boswell that looks cheap.

Nitro proofed Damascus choked 1/4 and 1/2. If bought at that price I would buy them leave them alone and take them on a driven bird hunt. Even as a composed pair what a cool way to fill that square..

Naki, look carefully at the Boswell description. Will need some work. Mike

In good faith I couldn't cut those tubes up to make them into rifle barrels unless they were unsafe. That leads to making entirely new barrel sets from scratch; not impossible, but certainly a costly endeavor. For a proper end result it would probably be necessary to make new forends to fit the rifle barrels, we can't have gaps. And then comes the engraving. We are dreaming after all.

I'm also of the belief shotgun and rifle sets are a compromise, depending on the gun it can go from negligible to noticeable. You either end up with a rifle that is too light for its intended caliber, or you have a shotgun that is too heavy and/or balances incorrectly if you do end up bringing the weight up, or restocking.

The estimated value on that set us comical, they'll go much higher.

Don't forget the lil demon called buyer's premium. 25% on 5k or less. Can sour a sweet deal quickly

I just bought a 16 bore McCririck from Holt's sale several months ago with damascus nitro proved barrels. It cost me $269 for the gun and $379.75 for the shipping. Aaron will receive it so we can determine if it will be a 450-400 BPE rifle. Could not purchase it for that price in the States.

They are exceedingly slow to get it shipped (probably because the gun was so cheap and not a priority).

They will give you all measurements before the sale of bore wall thickness etc... if you email them.

Thanks guys

Here is the info from Holts. Not sure what the numbers mean - chamber, choke etc.?

CONDITION:
No. 5544 .679+ .673+ 22 27
No. 5585 .684- .686- 24- 24

Barrels:
Externally with well-executed re-browned finish, occasional rust spotting and pit, internally generally clean with some light marking (possibly from cleaning in preparation for proof). Barrels 5544 a little dull on the ring, 5585 ring true. tight on actions.
Actions:
Tidy for age, some minor burring to some screw heads, areas of light patination safeties operate ok with snap caps.
Woodwork:
Average surface knocks and bruising consummate with age. No movement discernible to repaired stock 5585

I'm thinking that .679+ .673 is the nominal bore measurement, 22 27 is probably barrel thickness in thousands.
Barrels 5544 a little dull on the ring perhaps ribs need to be re-soldered at some point.

If it's got only .022" minimum wall thickness things are getting risky especially considering the Damascus.

I would leave these two just as they are. On face value they look like a brace of neat game guns, but they are not keepers.

22-thou barrel wall thickness is plenty, provided there are no serious dents or pits. I've had numerous Damascus-barrelled English game guns and I've fired thousands of shells through them. Some makers even filed them thinner than that to keep weight down (notably Boss). I also know of a Dickson 20-bore that sailed through recent London Nitro Proof with 9 (NINE) thou Damascus barrels. It sold for BIG money at Holt's a few years ago.

Good Damascus is good and bad Damascus is bad, just as good steel is good and bad steel is bad. There are a great many old wives tales about Damascus, most of which are utter, utter nonsense.

The big problem with these two is bore diameter. At .679/.673 and .684/.686 they are well out of spec for a 16-bore and will probably give the most horrendous patterns with fibre wads and be only so-so even with plastic wads. Hence the low estimate - it makes perfect sense. They are, in fact, 14-bores with 16-bore chambers. This is a good indication that the barrels were heavily pitted at some stage and had to be honed out rather drastically to remove the pitting.

To try and convert these two into double rifles of sorts would not be worth the time, effort and money, I reckon.

If I wanted a double rifle, Id buy a double rifle, not build one from a shotgun..Its been done but not my cup of tea..besides Id love to own these guns to shoot quail or whatever..The fixing needed would depend on the price at auction, it would be expensive no doubt as quality guns are always expensive to repair even minor repairs...Nice old guns.