Adding Pretty......

[Dave McCracken]

I'm told there's an Archeological site in Africa's Great Rift Valley that dates back over 1.2 million years. Primitive hominids who may have been our ancestors brought lumps of obsidian and chert from miles away to shape their hand axes there. They did so up to .2 million years ago, making the site not only the world's oldest workshop but the longest used.

Looking over the rejected hunks of rock and partially shaped axes left behind shows that Homo Habilis, a bipedal hominid otherwise very similar to a chimp, oft conformed the ax blank to show off colors and veins in the rock.

In other words,the love of beauty was there before we invented/discovered fire, the wheel, religion or 870s.

We have always loved beautiful things, including weapons. See the fine artwork of a 16th Century rapier, or one of Joe Manton's flint fowlers, or the graceful lines of a Southern Mountain rifle, like Shaker furniture.

Shotguns fit in neatly. Even utility grade single shots like the old H&R, Iver Johnson or many Stevens have an economy of line and graceful junctions where metal and wood conjoin.

British aristocrats had fine doubles built that look good to non shooters and shooters alike. Even pumpguns like Winchester's 97 had a 19th Century industrial cosmetic that reminds us of an era and still serves in the field or when things go bump.

Quality American made shotguns of the last 150 years by makers like Parker Bros, Ithaca, LC Smith (Hunter Arms) and Fox oft had the cheapest guns made use the same platform as the premium grades, the differences being finish, fit and decoration.

The Custom Shop at Remington, rumor has it, continues the tradition with the 10 Millionth 870 being an Exhibition grade past the letter grade and with lumber reserved for decades. Time will tell.

All things boil down to economics. Many of us shoot good but plain shotguns, and maybe dream of moving up to art that shoots, or just stuff that's not ugly.

Here's a couple ways.....

First, companies like Boyd's and Wenigs offer stock sets for many US made shotguns from Industrial to Museum grades. New wood, well finished with some figure, can add a lot to the looks of your present shotguns.

Note, hanging on to the old wood may be a good idea. Just because a shotguns has little collector value now doesn't mean it will always be the case.

Another note, having the new wood made to your dimensions so the shotgun shoots where you need it to is a very good idea.

Refinishing the wood is within many of our skills. And oft it can result in some pride besides that merely of ownership. Restraint is good here,I've done a couple pumps and a Ranger marked Stevens but would pass on a Sterlingworth or Trojan.

Few of us have the resources to redo metal, but experts in this advertise in magazines like Shooting Sportsman, Double Gun Journal,etc. Good ones aren't common nor inexpensive.

Handy folks can contact Brownell's about rebluing supplies and techniques.

I would urge caution before plunging in deep on this. Some old guns will lose value if refinished, and those dings and scars are tangible evidence of experiences long gone. Conserve, conserve, conserve....

Other upgrades for your pet are engraving and inlays.. Good engravers have about the same hourly rate as top cardio surgeons, and waiting lists measured in years. Bad engravers, in my jaundiced opinion, aren't worth the lessened rates.

And engraving can cover up a multitude of ills, and many dealers know it. And like Horseradish, a little can go a long way.

Having said that, I have to admit one of my When I Win the Lottery fantasies involves having hot rod flames inlaid in red and yellow gold around the ejection port of Number Six and that number inlaid in gold in the receiver near the grip like the Brits used to inlay numbers 1 and 2 appropriately on matched pairs.

That's a private joke, but a real wish....

Finally, there's one more way to make a shotgun prettier, and that's by shooting it. Shoot it often.

Take a 9 pointer that stands as a county record with a single slug from a bolt action Mossberg others call ugly.

Take a true quail triple from a covey rise exploding like feathered bomb fragments with a short barreled riot gun with black painted wood and myriad metal finishes.

Run a Wobble round low gun and back it up with a 23/25 Flurry with a pumpgun made in 1955.

Screw in your two tightest chokes and run the Teal and Rabbit stations with a new O/U you've waited a very long time to buy.

Twice.

I guarantee whatever shotgun you do stuff like this with will look mighty pretty thereafter.

Trust me....

 

[mswestfall]

Dave,

Way back in my high school years I remember sitting around after work shooting the bull with a couple of co-workers. The topic of guns came up. The overtly liberal anti-gun History graduate student from the local university told us how much he disliked firearms.

Another guy sitting with us went to his car and retrieved a Colt 1911. The History student looked it over in silence for several minutes. He put the pistol down and commented on the workmanship involved in making the pistol. We didn't try to sway his opinion. We just let the gun speak for itself.

Golf clubs, footballs, baseball gloves are all nice but a firearm can be a truly beautiful piece of craftsmanship.

Thanks for the post.

 

[sm]

Dave,
Another well written original post by you, thanks!

You know my take on all this.

Steve

 

[PJR]

I like a pretty gun but not when pretty is at the expense of either performance or practicality.

Sideplates on a boxlock are an example. They are more expensive, harder to fit, need to be engraved and often make a stock weaker and harder to remove. With advance apologies to the people who own them I've never seen the appeal of a Beretta 687EELL for target shooting when a Beretta DT10 is in about the same price range.

Wood upgrades are another example. I see a lot of fancy stocks that are very poorly laid out. They look nice but won't withstand the constant pounding compared to a plainer stock with proper grain in the wrist. I have custom stocks on three of my guns each with modestly upgraded wood. I passed over much fancier wood in the selection process in return for properly laid out blanks.

Pretty is in the eye of the beholder and sometimes the pursuit of pretty can make a nice gun look trashy. A few years back at a fancy hunting camp I saw a Galazan Fox FE grade. The workmanship was first rate but the Fleur-d'-Lis checkering, ornate engraving and gold inlays (including two lightning bolts on the barrels) made for a gaudy and unappealing combination. Galazan's Fox CE is more to my tastes. It is an elegant gun with modest engraving and a case-colored receiver that to my eye puts the far flashier higher grade guns to shame.

The question of pretty versus practical doesn't apply just to o/u and sxs. I replaced a not unattractive wood stock on my 870 for a Hogue overmolded stock. It gives me a better grip on the gun, permits use of the sidesaddle and is softer on my shoulder. When something goes bump in the night it's positively beautiful.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Ms, most folks of that ilk fall apart when confronted by reality. And an amazing number of those purporting to be "For the people" do not wish said people armed, but exempt themselves from a general ban. Liberals are oft autocrats.

And hypocrites. That Grad student had slept safe each night because people with guns stood by to protect him.

Thanks, Steve, I knew you'd like it.

Amen, Paul. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. And gaudiness is bad. BTW, those lightning bolts turn up on original Foxes and Ithacas.

On a stock, I like to see the grain run straight through the grip at a minimum and hopefully all the way down to the toe. I'd rather have strong than marblecake. When I picked out my Beretta, another got turned down because of a doubtful area at the nose.

And beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. We have plenty of evidence here on this forum that lots of folks like the matte black finished shotguns so much they take pictures of them and post them on the net. That keeps them so busy they do not seem to fire them much.

If at all...

 

[Superreverb]

Amen, Paul. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. And gaudiness is bad.

Heh........

<Sloooooowly slinks away from thread and down to gunsafe to remove fuzzy dice hanging from magazine cap on TC #2.....>

 

[Dave McCracken]

Do the dice offer any advantages, SR? Like recoil reduction from dampening barrel harmonics?

(Removing tongue from cheek)....