Purdey production director Laurie Bayliss guides Elite Traveler through the seven key stages of the making of a gun: machine shop, barrel making, locks and triggers, auctioning, stocking, engraving and finishing.
Pieces of Art ! On their website, I saw one pair of Over-and-Under Game Guns priced at £333,000.- It has ‘’Add to wishlist’’ and ‘’Free shipping for orders over £250’’ tags. British humour I presume ;-)
The difference between a craftsman and an artist is attention to detail. The more attention is paid to each and every detail, the more of a masterpiece it will be!
Used to own a Purdey double barrelled hammer gun. Thumb through the trigger guard action, made originally for the 4th Vicount St Vincent. Lovely old gun.
What a beautiful work of art. WOW!!!!!!!My hat off to you gentleman for creating such fine pieces of incredible looking shotguns. Would love to have an opportunity to shoot something like this someday and to those that can own one..enjoy.
Beautiful looking things. I love that you can still buy handmade and exquisitely finished products. Pricey mind you but if you can afford it then that’s what I’d buy.
Fantastisch wie diese Handwerker solche Kunstwerke schaffen. Dabei geht es nicht primär um Technik, sondern auch um Präzision, Können, Aussehen und traditionelle Fertigung.
Truly Exquisite pieces of art work as well as useful rifles. Always dreamed of owning one of my own, however for me it has never been feasible. Nevertheless, wonderful viewing some of these artisans at work!
These are beautiful pieces of art and I’m sure priced accordingly. It’s not the sort firearm you toss in your duck boat and pile decoys on. Royals may use a Purdy for high flying pheasant.
They're about $350,000 for a pair. (2019) I imagine each and every owner with be charming, dignified, honest and self effacing. Someone who lives his life to the highest ethical, austere, self-denying moral standards. (and who probably drives a small, modest and inexpensive car). Right?
To think about custom sports equipment a surfboard must be at the cheapest end of the spectrum and one of these must be at the most expensive. Both made by people who love what they do and are passionate about the final product though.
i did get to hold one few yrs ago but when the owner said it was 45,000$ i very quickly but gently handed it back to him and he had a second purdy as this was one of a set he purchased.. i dont think my rem 1100 he wanted to hold..
south Audley st. close behind the Dorchester Hotel as memory serves.There is still schrapnel imbedded in the façade from WWII german bombs.Good pub across the road.
No more than having a Ferrari will make you a better driver! The point of guns like this is that they are works of art as a Rolls Royce is a work of art. My son has rifles and shotguns with synthetic stocks for his working day but, when he's invited on a shoot he has rifles and shotguns with nicely figured stocks, bit like having a nice car for your Sunday run out. They are beautiful though
My grandfather told me a story of his brother who dipped the barrel of his Purdey into a pond in Costa Rica because it had gotten hot....Barrels split and the gun was ruined. My grand uncle is a blithering idiot
+Kristian Nesbeth They might have separated at the ribs because of differences in coefficient of expansion. Those of us who shoot doubles with splinter forends will often carry a glove in the field, if a lot of shooting is expected. Americans will have beavertail forends made for these guns, too. They are bulky for 12 bores but fine for 20's.
Seems like their hands take a lot of beatings finishing and rubbing the oils/colors in those stocks with no hand protection? Beautiful workmanship. I've never seen a Purdey or Holland and Holland in person, can anyone tell me which is prefered? Great video
600-700 craft hours performed by a team of craftsmen each incredibly skilled in his specific task... it is important to understand... if you were to start from scratch with no skill...and try to emulate their work.. it may take you years to produce a rough approximation of "Best" type. cheers J.P. Purdey & Sons... most respectfully yours
Rusty Shackleford like H&H they don’t use computers and trickery to get the barrels firing straight. the make the barrels, test fire, adjust, test fire etc etc until it fires straight.
at a certain price point a gun can't really function any better. Anything past that price point, the gun now transitions into "functional art" or "investment piece" and there is nothing wrong with that. Some people will pay half a million for a car they don't plan on driving because they know it will double in value in 10 years and they made $50,000 a year when they sell it, while getting to enjoy a piece of art. Guns of this type could be an investment for some, or functional art for others. If I was rich and enjoyed shooting, I'd probably buy one of these knowing it did not make me any better of a shooter, but I got to enjoy a piece of art while enjoying my hobby. Also, the investor side of me knows that high end items like this usually go up in value so why not enjoy my money? Its not like I can swim in room full of cash like a cartoon duck, so why not enjoy it? Hell, if I had the choice between purchasing a $25,000 painting or a $25,000 gun to hang on my wall, I'm choosing the gun every time.
It looks as though the firing pins are no longer removable from the standing breech. As I recall, they used to be. Wonder where they are getting their barrel blanks these days. Italy?
Man...I don't know if I hate or love watching these videos, its like porn for the shooter/ hunter at heart :( Beautiful works of art, if I could afford it I wouldn't leave without several rifles at a time....they wouldn't be able to make them fast enough.
My 19 year old son is a shooting and gun enthusiast, he wants to become a gunsmith , do you offer apprenticeships? We live in Essex so an easy journey into London. Thank you for your time.
@smerd1 Thank you for getting in touch. Purdey does have an active apprenticeship scheme and if your son would like to be considered for it, he will need to email his CV and a covering letter to enquiries@purdey.com. We look forward to receiving his application.
Cheapest on GunBroker looks to be around $13,000. I'd say average used is around $80,000. New they are upwards of $130k. I've seen them as high as $375,000 for matched 4 barrel set (12, 20, 28, 410).
