I hate being right sometimes.

PSE Composites Limited - The next level Rifle Stocks
Dunwaters

Dunwaters

Well-Known Member
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I dropped my old SBS in for a little TLC, nothing major, just a mistimed ejector.
I got a call from the gunsmith, how did I want to proceed? A new cam would be around €250, but he could probably fix the problem by tinkering with the existing one for €50. So far so good.
Then the bad news, it’s only worth around €100 on a good day, no one wants SBS nowadays, particularly not with double triggers and an auto safety.
The current generation of shotgun shooters are a bunch of ignorant philistines who don’t appreciate true class.
 
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Dunwaters said:
View attachment 470899

I dropped my old SBS in for a little TLC, nothing major, just a mistimed ejector.
I got a call from the gunsmith, how did I want to proceed? A new cam would be around €250, but he could probably fix the problem by tinkering with the existing one for €50. So far so good.
Then the bad news, it’s only worth around €100 on a good day, no one wants SBS nowadays, particularly not with double triggers and an auto safety.
The current generation of shotgun shooters are a bunch of ignorant philistines who don’t appreciate true class.
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Might only be worth €100, but if you wanted to replace it with something of similar quality you could easily spend €1,000 on acquiring one and having it fitted etc. A new Italian made SBS will 3 times that.

I actually think SbS are coming back into fashion, especially as a much game shooting is moving back towards walked up / rough style, where a SbS excells.

But most gunsellers won’t spend much on them. Oooh not worth much, heap of shite, not suitable for steel, let me sell you a nice Beretta Silver Pigeon with good wood and beautiful laser engraving - that will be €3,500. Don’t worry about your old gun - I will dispose of it.

A few months later your “old gun” is be sold in the US for USD 2,500 as a nice upland woodcock, grouse and quail gun.

edit: looking closely at the photo - yours is a sidelock so add another thousand or two on the acquisition price.
 
Everything goes in circles with fashion. Right now if you look at society a good few people are hankering for nostalgia, I reckon we've not seen the end of the SxS. May not be dominant but definitely not extinct.

Sounds like in your heart you want to keep it, so do. Its value is what it's worth to you and value is more than just its monetary worth.
 
I have a 12 GA Blaser F16 Game. It is a fantastic shooter. I could never love it.

I have a 20 GA B Rizzini RB. It is a pretty little gun, and kills well. It remains a tool.

I have a dozen side-by-side guns, flintlock, percussion, pinfire and centrefire, and each one is a delight.

Hammers help build affection. The quip about a gun without hammers being like a spaniel without ears was no mere witticism.

It has always seemed to me (however incorrectly) that craftsmen build side-by-side guns, while over-and-under guns are produced in factories. Perhaps that because it is easier to afford handmade side-by-side guns.
 
Mountain Bug said:
I hope you're right. I'm in the market and have my eye on a particular one at auction.


Scott
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Best of luck with your purchase.
I’m not selling mine, at that price the kids can can stick it into the box with me when the time comes.
Literally “ From my cold dead hands” …as a bonus it should cause a nice procedural issue for the relevant authorities.
 
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Mountain Bug said:
I hope you're right. I'm in the market and have my eye on a particular one at auction.


Scott
Click to expand...
Buy the best you can afford. Simon Rheinhold has done several good videos on what to look for. Sidelocks are lovely, but they are somewhat complex. A decent boxlock often represents much better value for money and is a simpler and stronger action.

If you are going sidelock, the London best in any sort of good condition will always command good money, but drop down to the Langs, Alex Martin, Army & Navy and other good regional makers and you get a lot of good value for money.

AyA are also a very very good safe bet for a good working gun, and certainly here in the UK they don’t go for much money. But a good untouched and little used AyA is a much better buy for a working gun than an older worn British gun.
 
If you think it’s hard to sell an sbs now, wait until they get put under the same restrictions as firearms. The problem is that most sbs are designed primarily to shoot birds up to around 40M which they excel at. They’re a little bit lost at high volume high bird shoots and the modern clay ground.
 
Dunwaters said:
. They’re a little bit lost at high volume high bird shoots and the modern clay ground.
Click to expand...
Maybe on the stratospheric stuff where you need half a pound of BB to get em.
However on a.normal high bird shoot I have loaded for a Gent using a pair of 25" barrelled Churchills with imp cylinder both barrels and Impax 7s. He could reach them at good height. Also done same for my old boss 16 bores with 1/4 chokes and 2 1/2" chambers.
 
Dunwaters said:
If you think it’s hard to sell an sbs now, wait until they get put under the same restrictions as firearms. The problem is that most sbs are designed primarily to shoot birds up to around 40M which they excel at. They’re a little bit lost at high volume high bird shoots and the modern clay ground.
Click to expand...
There are SBS built for high birds and long range targets. Often referred to as pigeon guns - tend to have longer barrels, tighter chokes, more weight, especially in the barrels and proofed for 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 oz of shot. They were often built for live pigeon trap shooting were large fortunes were wagered.

Many of these attributes were also found in guns built for wildfowling - the latter tend to be at a lower price point.

 
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