A history of the hand-me-down
The decline of many a beautiful Victorian shotgun can be traced through its ownership lineage.
Ordered by the squire and used on driven pheasant days in polite company, at first. However, the 19th century was so inventive, and progress so rapid, that a gun ordered in 1860 as the pinnacle of firearms development would be positively old hat five or 10 years later and had to be replaced.
That lovely pinfire shotgun would either be left in the gunroom and not touched for the next 150 years, or handed to the gamekeeper, who would subject it to much rougher treatment than had his master.
When the next hand-me-down made it to the keeper, the old one would go to the gardener, who would be harder still on the gun. Eventually, it may end up in the hands of
