Brian Dudley
10-25-2017, 10:01 AM
Some consider the H&R doubles built in the 1880s under license from Westley Richards to be the "best" American double built. Not many went out of the factory during the relatively short period of manufacture. And VERY few of their top grade ($300) were built. Here is one of them in 12g.
The wood on this H&R was very poorly refinished at one time. It was heavily over-sanded, and still had 80g sand scratches all over it. Whatever finish was used was glossy, heavily applied with runs and did nothing to show the color or figure of the wood. It was almost a honey tan color with that finish on it. The checkering pattern was barely visible.
The buttstock was barely salvageable from the sanding it inflicted, but it cleaned up well. The forend was a different story. It was so over-sanded at the metal that using it would be a poor decision, so it needed to be replaced. During disassembly, the forend latch fell out in 3 pcs. It was a very thin and delicate piece that would likely not hold up to weld repairing and then the inletting process for the new forend. Since it was a A&D design and very similar in shape to the latches used on AH Fox shotguns, I decided to retrofit a new Fox latch for use on the new forend. It was a very good solution which required a little reshaping of the barrel lug. The Fox latch was only a little bit longer than the original H&R latch, which was of no concern since all the wood was going to be new anyway.
After making of the new forend with horn tip, the new latch was engraved to match the original by Gournet. It was then hardened and colors removed as to match the condition of the rest of the gun.
An oil finish did absolute wonders for the original buttstock. When I stripped the finish and sanded it to 320, I could tell that it had very nice figure, but that was only amplified by the new oil finish that was applied.
The original borderless checkering pattern was recut on the wrists. And the pattern from the original forend was cut new on the replacement forend.
A new Silvers Pad finished off the back end of the gun.
57854
57855
57856
57857
57858
57859
57860
57861
57862
57863
57864
57865
The wood on this H&R was very poorly refinished at one time. It was heavily over-sanded, and still had 80g sand scratches all over it. Whatever finish was used was glossy, heavily applied with runs and did nothing to show the color or figure of the wood. It was almost a honey tan color with that finish on it. The checkering pattern was barely visible.
The buttstock was barely salvageable from the sanding it inflicted, but it cleaned up well. The forend was a different story. It was so over-sanded at the metal that using it would be a poor decision, so it needed to be replaced. During disassembly, the forend latch fell out in 3 pcs. It was a very thin and delicate piece that would likely not hold up to weld repairing and then the inletting process for the new forend. Since it was a A&D design and very similar in shape to the latches used on AH Fox shotguns, I decided to retrofit a new Fox latch for use on the new forend. It was a very good solution which required a little reshaping of the barrel lug. The Fox latch was only a little bit longer than the original H&R latch, which was of no concern since all the wood was going to be new anyway.
After making of the new forend with horn tip, the new latch was engraved to match the original by Gournet. It was then hardened and colors removed as to match the condition of the rest of the gun.
An oil finish did absolute wonders for the original buttstock. When I stripped the finish and sanded it to 320, I could tell that it had very nice figure, but that was only amplified by the new oil finish that was applied.
The original borderless checkering pattern was recut on the wrists. And the pattern from the original forend was cut new on the replacement forend.
A new Silvers Pad finished off the back end of the gun.
57854
57855
57856
57857
57858
57859
57860
57861
57862
57863
57864
57865