Antique British gun case restoration project

Altitude sickness · May 12, 2025

I started the project for a nice British gun. But it wouldn’t fit. So the American gun went into a British style case.

Rare Breed · May 14, 2025

Altitude sickness said:
I add another coat of treatment everyday View attachment 659212 View attachment 659211 View attachment 659213 View attachment 659214 View attachment 659215 View attachment 659216

AWESOME yes I am shouting!!! What a work of art that will give you a lifetime of pleasure!!! Extremely well done!!!

pacomb · Nov 27, 2025

Altitude sickness said:
Bob, I used 100% glycerin soap to clean it. And have been treating with Leather N Rich shown earlier in the post. And I’m adding the treatment everyday to bring back this 150 year old leather View attachment 660053Before. View attachment 660058After

Hello Jay

very nice project, congratulations.

I am also working on restoring a 1900 double gun case.

Sorry to ask If it has been already answered, but I cant find it: The leather patches, corners, and edge straps, did you sew the leather and glue it to the case, or did you glue the leather to the case, and sew the new leather, old leather and wood/cardboard as a sandwich?

I too have to make some large leather patches, and was thinking that if I first sew the leather, and then glue, in reality the sew will just be cosmetic and not functional because it wound bound to the leather/structure beneath. O I was thinking in drilling the wood/cardboard with a 1mm drill bit, and then sew.

You can see the photos of my project here https://postimg.cc/gallery/6Nd0h1r

I also have a forum thread but you need to be a member and is in Spanish

farmer_john · Nov 27, 2025

How would someone go about making a new case for a rifle?

pacomb · Nov 28, 2025

farmer_john said:
How would someone go about making a new case for a rifle?

In the near future, I plan to make a new one from scratch, but always for shotgun or express... A rifle one will be too big and bulky. I prefer a leather slip case fir rifles

S Bertram · Mar 8, 2026

rookhawk said:
A friend of mine that is a very accomplished gunsmith has a steamer trunk full to the top with soiled, trashed, ugly, smelly baize circa 1850 to 1970. I asked him early in my gun interest what on earth he kept it for?

When you buy a vintage gun and you need a pad added, you need to move partitions in that original case. If you can find the same era, patina, and soiling of original baize you can adjust the case without creating a mismatched abomination. Sometimes restoration isn't the right thing, keeping max original is the prudent path. A friend on this forum recently had that same circumstance occur and you'd never know the case wasn't 100% original thanks to the use of a 100 year old perfect match of baize being added to his now 15" LOP gun stock's case.

This one is mine, an old gun fit to an old case. I hope to finish the rifle this spring, an Edward Paton .500bpe. I used some baize from a sacrificial case to make up for where I was sort of material. I might not be done with it but for now, the rifle fits nicely.

Antique British gun case restoration project

Altitude sickness

Rare Breed

pacomb

farmer_john

pacomb

S Bertram

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