https://auctions.holtsauctione...L6Y-Rr5smgZjvQpAPYEo

The French cannot be trusted!

I say that in jest, the food, wine, women and chapuis and verney carron I can jive with.

https://auctions.holtsauctione...refno=163684&image=9

The second.

He made another in .577 T. rex.

That thing is almost as ugly as a Blaser thingy.

That thing is a waste of wood and metal. He should’ve just stuck with scroll engraving, as those cats look like a 3rd grader drew them.

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:
He should’ve just stuck with scroll engraving, as those cats look like a 3rd grader drew them.

I read that before opening the link. I assumed that was the standard internet hyperbole. After looking at the rifle I have to agree with you. Holy smokes!

The cape buffalo looks to be on the level of a 4th grader...

I’ve said it 1000 times - I’m not rich enough to afford animal engraving I find satisfactory. Cats are probably the hardest to get right - most look like cartoons.

The animal engraving is poor to say the least. What I find even more objectionable is the Blaser-esk disproportionate lines between the action, grip, and butt stock. Hideous ... like a Blaser contraption. The lines completely lack any semblance of flow and beauty.

The cats... ouch

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
That thing is almost as ugly as a Blaser thingy.

The engraving is very well done, but I have to agree with you on this one! it looks like belongs on the walls of a French whore house instead of in a safari camp.
......................................... MacD37

20lb 3oz

That engraved lion in the middle of the underside reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite's sketch of Trisha.

Come to think of it, Napoleon Dynamite also sketched a Liger. Looks like the same work to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
That thing is almost as ugly as a Blaser thingy.

Well its very French, with really quite unusual styling and a good deal of innovation. It’s definitely different and I don’t see any harm in that, in that different/ innovative is what moves design forward. Most double rifles, even over and unders are pretty much 100 plus year old design that hasn’t really been changed. Blasers etc have moved things forward.

As for this, well not sure about the animal engraving, but that unless done extremely well animal / bird engraving is not for me - especially modern laser engraving.

I would like to have a good look at these rifles and would be interested to see how they handle. It may be that once in the hand they may be things of beauty, but they don’t look right.

The wrist reminds me of a Remington model 8...which had trouble standing up to 35 Remington rounds...How on earth would that thing hold up to 500 NE ?

quote:

Originally posted by Heym SR20:
Blasers etc have moved things forward.

The maker did a lot of work.

I wonder if he was commissioned to do it that way.

Besides knowing how much time and effort it took.

It doesn't do a thing for me.

Have a watch of this. These two rifles are weirdly beautifully and intriguing. I get them and I get the engineering expertise etc. They are Art, but not beautiful - a bit like Picasso’s version of a gun.

https://youtu.be/STWJW9pCZR0

quote:

They are Art, but not beautiful - a bit like Picasso’s version of a gun.

This was a standard action type and size as built by the French gunmaker Buchet. It is identical to a 460 Wby I saw in a Gun Digest in the 1980s or 90s. It is every bit as hideous as I remember as a kid! I can almost guarantee it would handle like a club. And what is with the lack of checkering? I would hate to haul up that stick to point at a pissed off critter with sweaty hands!

The maker IS Buchet .. Claude Buchet. I have visited his premises/farm in France and seen all of these guns in person. The most astonishing thing I recall is that the barrels are ONE piece of steel, no solder or braze or weld anywhere, not even the ribs or lugs. Same with the forend irons which have a vise design. And he liked Weatherby ctgs.

You can all piss on them but he did everything from raw blanks to finished items, the workmanship was superb, and I doubt any of you guys is as good at whatever it is you do, than Claude at his chosen vocation. One of the guns he had engraved in Belgium, I think it was the 300 Wby, and the others he engraved himself.

He is now passed I believe.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:

You can all piss on them but he did everything from raw blanks to finished items, the workmanship was superb, and I doubt any of you guys is as good at whatever it is you do , than Claude at his chosen vocation. One of the guns he had engraved in Belgium, I think it was the 300 Wby, and the others he engraved himself .

A BOLD statement considering those 2 lions!

I am far more impressed with the makers machining and design skills.

To worry about the engraving.

There you go. The engraving is not what is extraordinary about these rifles.

Give me a traditional English double any day and preferably one of the older models.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
That thing is almost as ugly as a Blaser thingy.

......But not quite! However they could cause a

Not the calibers I'd choose for a double. Not my taste in engraving. Not the weight I'd like to lug around after jumbos.

BUT...

High degree of craftsmanship? Yes. Novelty? Nothing else like it. Inventive, functional, unconventional? Yes, yes, yes.

I get the mixed emotions of being repulsed and intrigued at the same time. That may be a part of these rifles' odd charm. I'm impressed overall.

I'm sure I cannot afford it so I won't worry about whether I like it or not.... but if pressed (because I know you guys care what I think, LOL) it's not my cup-o-tea from stem to stern.
Wow, that's a butt-load of work on that rifle!

Zeke

I don't like FRENCH Airplanes either!!... but would I fly one??.....YES, own one, NO....Thinking Falcon/Dassault and now the Great KODIAK from Idaho is French owned!!

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
That engraved lion in the middle of the underside reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite's sketch of Trisha.

I must agree on the lions and the beaver tail forestock, Not to my taste either!
.......................... MacD37

quote:

Originally posted by Heym SR20:
Have a watch of this. These two rifles are weirdly beautifully and intriguing. I get them and I get the engineering expertise etc. They are Art, but not beautiful - a bit like Picasso’s version of a gun.

https://youtu.be/STWJW9pCZR0

I loved it when the kid doing the talking said, “It’s one of those guns that I suppose we should ask, why does it exist?”

Then he said, with a look of wonder on his face, “I don’t know.“

Need to engrave over the lion like a bad tattoo
Mud flap girl would be better than that

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
Come to think of it, Napoleon Dynamite also sketched a Liger. Looks like the same work to me.

That is without question the ugliest single firearm of any kind that I have ever seen in my life. It looks like someone tried to take parts from 4 different rifles and make one out of it.

The lions looks like two retired porn stars.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
That thing is almost as ugly as a Blaser thingy.

I was thinking the same ...