What is a Best Gun?

Some readers may have heard the term "best gun" being used sometimes, especially in older books. So what is this "best gun" and what is it better than? We will study all about that in this post.

It turns out that the term "best gun" doesn't necessarily mean what you think it means. It is actually used to describe a very specific type of firearm in the industry. A "best gun" is a double barreled shotgun usually with side lock actions, a specific style of stock, intercepting sears etc. It should have a high quality of workmanship and finish and is usually a top-grade gun model that is offered by the manufacturer. It is intended to compete with other manufacturers products in factors such as quality, workmanship and finish, not on price. Many of these "best guns" are custom made for a particular customer, as can be seen in the video we saw earlier in the making a custom shotgun post. Such customers are willing to pay the extra price to have a high quality product made by highly skilled craftsmen. They are not only high quality products, but literally works of art as well.

Some of the most famous "best guns" were made by British manufacturers, such as Holland & Holland, J. Purdey & Sons, W.W. Greener, Westley Richards, Boss & Co., Joseph Lang etc. These manufacturers pioneered the standards in the mid 1800s for what is regarded as a "best gun" today and many of them are still in business currently. To this day, a "London Best" quality firearm is regarded as one of the highest quality firearms made and is usually one of the most expensive shotguns around, some costing more than the latest Ferrari or Lamborghini sports car! Even used "London Best" shotguns are expensive.

A "best gun" manufactured in 1925 by Boss & Co.

The above example is a shotgun manufactured by Boss & Co. in 1925. The gun is a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun with barrels arranged one over the other (known as "Over/Under" or "O/U" type). This is currently worth about $50,000 today.

A recent "best gun" made by J. Purdey & Sons.

The next example we have above is a modern shotgun made by J. Purdey & Sons. While they used to produce different grades of firearms over the years, they currently concentrate on producing very high-end firearms mainly. Purdey's basic price for a entry level shotgun is $52,000 and a double barreled "best gun" starts at $90,000 or so and additional engraving and inlays such as those in the image above can add tens of thousands of dollars to the price. The current master engraver, Ken Hunt,who started as an apprentice at Purdey in the 1950s and is now an independent artist, charges $90,000 for his work alone and only does 4 guns a year currently. The fit is incredibly precise to about 1/1000th of an inch tolerance. It takes 500 hours or more to produce one shotgun and Purdey produces only about 100 guns a year currently.

While London is known for its "best guns", they are also made in other places around the world. We will take a look at these in future posts.

Custom Fitting a Stock

In our last post, we studied how a high end custom shotgun was made. In there, we noted that the shooter was measured for a gun. So what is the need for all this? We will study that in this post.

When a firearms manufacturer makes a shotgun (or any other type of firearm, for that matter), the general rule of thumb is to make it so that it fits a large percentage of the customer population. In the case of shotguns, they assume that the buyer is male, right-handed, about 5 foot 9 inches tall, weighs between 160-170 lbs. or so, is right-eye dominant etc. (i.e.) the ergonomics of an average male human in the particular country that the firearm manufacturer is based in. So what happens if the buyer does not meet this standard -- for instance, the buyer could be left handed or above 6 feet tall or below 5 foot 5 inches and weigh more than the average weight, have a shorter neck etc. Female shooters are usually shorter, have longer necks, shorter arms, breasts, higher cheekbones etc. In such cases, the shotgun doesn't fit the customer so well.

We already studied some of the basics of stock design many months ago in this post. The reader is advised to read that first, to get familiar with some of the terminology of the various parts of a stock.

Some of the many factors that make a shotgun comfortable are balance, weight, cast-off (e.g. if a person has fat shoulders, the stock may be angled to one side to allow them to aim properly), length of the person's neck, eye dominance (right or left eye) etc.

In the 19th century, most firearm stocks were made of wood, so unless the stock was custom made to fit a certain individual, anyone who was not of average dimensions had to make do with a firearm that didn't handle so well. In the latter part of the 20th century, firearms manufacturers did make some improvements to help people who did not meet the average dimensions. One way they did this was by making stocks of different sizes to satisfy more of the population (such as guns made for women and youth models). Another way was by making adjustable stocks.

Click on images to enlarge

The first stock we see in the picture above is made by a German company called J.G. Anschutz, and the second one is made by an American company called McMillan. The stocks are made of different materials (laminated wood vs. fiberglass). However, they both feature adjustable combs and butt pads, that can be adjusted for different shooter preferences. Many shotguns also feature adjustable triggers that can be moved forward or backward.

In extreme cases, one may replace the adjustable stock with a precision fit stock, such as the one shown below:

Click on image to enlarge

With a stock like this, the user can adjust the comb angle (not just the height) to adjust for any face, adjust the recoil pad angle and distance to fit any shoulder, adjust for any cast-on or cast-off etc.

Another way is to visit a good gun-smith for a custom stock fitting. Any good stock maker usually has what is known as a "try gun" in the trade.

Click on image to enlarge. Image taken from W.W. Greener's The Gun and its Development 9th edition, which is now in the public domain.

This is a gun-maker's tool, that allows the maker to adjust the stock to any length, bend, cast-off and butt shape. This can be used to fit anyone who needs a custom built stock. The try-gun is adjusted until it fits the customer properly and then the measurements and positions of the various movable parts are noted and given to the stock maker to carve a custom stock to these measurements. Famous high-end gun makers from the 19th century, such as Purdey, Greener, Westley Richards etc. used such tools to make custom stocks for rich customers and still do so to this day.

Making a Custom Shotgun

We studied the overall process of gun making a couple of posts ago and studied the specifics of manufacturing replica Colt revolvers in our last post. In this post, we will look into the process involved in making a custom shotgun.

James Purdey & Sons is a well-known British custom manufacturer of firearms and has been in business since 1814 (the year before the Battle of Waterloo). The name "Purdey" is practically synonymous with high-end shotguns and rifles and the prices of their products start at about $100,000 or so. This London-based company counts many members of British, European and Indian royal families as some of its customers and is one of the most prestigious manufacturers of rifle and shotguns in the world.

In the video, we can see that they use some of the finest materials to manufacture the weapon: walnut wood from Turkey for the stock, electric discharge machining (EDM) to machine some of the components, skilled craftsmen to engrave some of the rifle components, unbelievably high precision fitting of the parts etc. The customer is measured for the weapon and the gun stock is custom-made to his requirements. This is not only a work of art, but is also a very precise and well made weapon, which accounts for its high price.

Enjoy the video!