Brian Dudley
10-24-2016, 09:53 AM
I am posting this at request of the owner who is a member here, but does not post much.
I just finished up and returned this VH as a custom restoration. It all started as the owner looking for a high condition original gun, but he was not able to find something that was in his parameters of requirements since he also wanted to shoot the gun. He was not opposed to a quality restored gun however, so he just said to me, lets build something that is XYZ and looks like new. And I was tasked with finding the gun as well.
The only basic parameters were a 2 frame 30" VH with Double triggers and matching numbers with chokes at least modified or tighter. All wood and metal finishes were going to be replaced and restored, so the outward condition was not too important. Obviously, good bores and wall thickness was the most important thing.
After the donor gun was found and purchased, I set out to build the gun that he wanted. It featured, 30" barrels. 2 frame with target weight of 8 lbs. or more. the gun ended up weighing exactly 8 lbs. and balances at the hinge pin. Wood that is a little fancier than what would be on a VH, but not too over the top. The blank chosen was a highly colored piece of American Walnut. Made to his required dimensions (relatively modern, but a little longer LOP at 14-3/4" and 1/8" of cast-off), a Fuller Comb, Beavertail forend, Red Silvers recoil pad, Choked I/C and Mod.
The below photos are the end result. A fully restored gun built to the customers specifications looking the way it would have when it was bought new, or even better in some ways. All stock work, metal polishing, screw replacement, engraving touchups and rust/nitre bluing were done in house. Case colors by Turnbull and chokes cut by Orlen.
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I just finished up and returned this VH as a custom restoration. It all started as the owner looking for a high condition original gun, but he was not able to find something that was in his parameters of requirements since he also wanted to shoot the gun. He was not opposed to a quality restored gun however, so he just said to me, lets build something that is XYZ and looks like new. And I was tasked with finding the gun as well.
The only basic parameters were a 2 frame 30" VH with Double triggers and matching numbers with chokes at least modified or tighter. All wood and metal finishes were going to be replaced and restored, so the outward condition was not too important. Obviously, good bores and wall thickness was the most important thing.
After the donor gun was found and purchased, I set out to build the gun that he wanted. It featured, 30" barrels. 2 frame with target weight of 8 lbs. or more. the gun ended up weighing exactly 8 lbs. and balances at the hinge pin. Wood that is a little fancier than what would be on a VH, but not too over the top. The blank chosen was a highly colored piece of American Walnut. Made to his required dimensions (relatively modern, but a little longer LOP at 14-3/4" and 1/8" of cast-off), a Fuller Comb, Beavertail forend, Red Silvers recoil pad, Choked I/C and Mod.
The below photos are the end result. A fully restored gun built to the customers specifications looking the way it would have when it was bought new, or even better in some ways. All stock work, metal polishing, screw replacement, engraving touchups and rust/nitre bluing were done in house. Case colors by Turnbull and chokes cut by Orlen.
50805
50806
50808
50809
50810
50811
50812
50813
50814
50815