Thread: Ever wondered why H&H takes years to make a gun?

This shows why.

Worked for a landed gent in Scotland back in the 80's. He had a matched pair of 12 Bore Royals (marked 1 & 2) that were his fathers, which I was able to handle and admire on several occasions. These will now be in the hands of one of his sons, which is how many get passed on.

It was nice to see a thorough coverage of the skills and time required. I must have spent a quarter of my working life trying to explain to customers that I could not work to their timetable and they would have to adjust to mine! I once had a 'landed gentry' type who bought in a 1920's H&H Royal with a broken stock. He said 'Pop a new stock on that please. I will be back about 3pm!' He got it back 6 months later, and even then I was rushing it to fit it in around all my other jobs. One of my staff, the late Jon Jones, was apprenticed as an actioner at H&H where he stayed for 11 years. H&H made me very welcome when I visited them in 1989 and gave me the full tour. It is a pleasure to work on guns of that quality but only when the customer fully understands the time involved to produce top-notch results.

My dad recently purchased a 12g H&h 120 year old shotgun. It’s pretty cool I did a couple days clay and duck shooting with it this year and he did a couple days pheasant shooting with it. Awesome to shoot ejects so we’ll just fires them out.

Just looked on their website, $260,000 for a break open rifle?????
I got my Baikal for $150, suckers...

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Just looked on their website, $260,000 for a break open rifle?????
I got my Baikal for $150, suckers...
Attachment 79027

Paid $100 for my 12g.

They do look. Preeeeeeety though

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Just looked on their website, $260,000 for a break open rifle?????
I got my Baikal for $150, suckers...
Attachment 79027

Thats a pretty diverse comparison Ryan. Their Range Rover wouldn't be covered in cow shit & mud either

Originally Posted by Mathias

Thats a pretty diverse comparison Ryan. Their Range Rover wouldn't be covered in cow shit & mud either

It would however be covered in oil that it has leaked...

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

It would however be covered in oil that it has leaked...

Ahh, but it would be virgin, sustainably extracted and harvested using local labour....but yes, it would be leaking.
I think they call it recycling these days ?

Originally Posted by gundoc

It was nice to see a thorough coverage of the skills and time required. I must have spent a quarter of my working life trying to explain to customers that I could not work to their timetable and they would have to adjust to mine! I once had a 'landed gentry' type who bought in a 1920's H&H Royal with a broken stock. He said 'Pop a new stock on that please. I will be back about 3pm!' He got it back 6 months later, and even then I was rushing it to fit it in around all my other jobs. One of my staff, the late Jon Jones, was apprenticed as an actioner at H&H where he stayed for 11 years. H&H made me very welcome when I visited them in 1989 and gave me the full tour. It is a pleasure to work on guns of that quality but only when the customer fully understands the time involved to produce top-notch results.

I think I would have said no worries and when he came back at 3pm I'd have duct taped a nicely figured piece of 4x2 to the tang...

I had the good luck to shoot on several occasions with a purdy several years ago. The gun was made in 1919 and was in slightly used condition.
It still pointed and swung better than any gun I had used before and probably since and the action was faultless and smooth as with virtually no noise on closing.
I dont know if the rabbits appreciated at the time being shot at more with a bespoke gun than my auto 5 but the results were the same.
They are works of art and if you can afford that discretionary spend and want one or a "brace" then go for it.
I recall an episode of topgear where they reviewed a top of the line range rover that had a fitted gun safe with two H&Hs in it also a bar that rover would restock for a year. James May made the interesting comment that each gun was worth more than the vehicle.

I watched that the other day. Amazing pieces of art. Things that stood out for me, 100 people employed across the business and only 75 guns made a year.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Just looked on their website, $260,000 for a break open rifle?????
I got my Baikal for $150, suckers...
Attachment 79027

The difference,Ryan, is yours is a heap of cheap Chinese junk!

Originally Posted by Maca49

The difference,Ryan, is yours is a heap of cheap Chinese junk!

Russian actually Maca.

A heap of cheap Russian junk? That’s better! Even with their tight chrome plated bores hahahahaha, built like a brick shit house, first new shotgun I bought, many yrs ago, was a 12 g U/O Baikel.
The top end hand made guns are really works of art, just to handle some of them is a delight, but I’m bent that way!! Purdy had on in there shop in London, I had the choice of their “Special New Zealand” model or my house in Taupo! No brainer really!!