Stephen Grant & Sons, 67a St James's Street, London
12 bore Bar Action, Sidelever, Sidelock Ejector
no. 5876 (No. 2 of a pair)
Date of manufacture: 1888

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Heritage Guns' Comment This is a superb example of a Best London sidelock ejector from this highly respected gunmaker, made in the heyday of the British gun trade. Interestingly, the dating of this gun is a bit ambiguous: 5876 puts it is the ledger for 1888 but the Not For Ball proof marks were only used until 1887 and the company didn’t become ‘and Sons’ until 1889. The likely answer is that the gun was built and proofed ‘in the white’ as a gun for stock in 1887 or earlier, the number reserved for a No.2 gun in 1888 when gun No.1 was built and the gun finished as the No.2 of a pair in 1889. It would appear that the gun was made an a non-ejector, which was quite common in pairs where the loader could extract the spent cartridges by hand, and converted to ejector probably in the early C20th using the by then out of patent ‘Southgate’ over-centre mechanism and the Beasley ejector trip, aka Holland & Holland ‘AB’ ejector which is still in use today. This conversion has been beautifully executed and finished, looking for all intents and purposes as an original fitting. The action is delightfully engraved, probably by Sumner, shows traces of original hardening colour and is in crisp condition. The original wood has beautiful figure and dimensions and the nitro reproofed 30 3/8” damascus barrels are in good clean condition. With its elegant sidelever, this all adds up to a strong gun that is a joy to shoot and should give many years of service on game or clays with normal maintenance. Presented in a beautiful oak & leather case, relined with ‘Windsor Red’ all-wool baize with some vintage accessories and a reproduction Stephen Grant & Sons trade label. A classic sidelever gun, great value at only £5995

The action is of traditional bar action sidelock design and features:
Sidelever opening, operating a classic, double bite 'Purdey Bolt';
Double triggers bolted by an automatic top tang safety slide;
Roger's cocking levers; 9 pin bar action locks;
Interceptor sears; Disk set strikers;
‘Southgate’ ejectors tripped by shoulders on the cocking levers and
Anson's push rod forend catch.
Gun weight 6lb 12oz.   
Engraving style Very Best fine foliate scroll (probably by Sumner)
with traces of original hardening colour.
Beautiful, fluted fences engraved with acanthus leaf. Gold inlaid SAFE.
Triggerguard and forend iron engraved ‘2’.
Barrels, action flats & forend iron marked ‘5876’.
Locks signed ‘STEPHEN GRANT & SONS’.
Trigger pulls measure approximately: Front trigger 3 ½ lbs Rear trigger 4 ¼ lbs
The original damascus barrels are 30 3/8" in length, chambered for 2 1/2" (65mm) cartridges
and are of brazed 'through' lump construction with soft soldered ribs.
Top rib is of the smooth, concave game type.
Birmingham reproof for 2 ½ ” nitro powder cartridges in 1989.

Approximate barrel measurements at date of publication:

Approximate stock measurements at date of publication:

For the purposes of these measurements, 'Drop at Face' is the 'drop' measurement taken on a line perpendicular to the
line joining the trigger and centre of the butt at approximately 8" from the trigger (front trigger on a double trigger gun).

Patents Exhibited include:

Roger's cocking levers patent no 397 of 1882;
'Purdey Bolt' patent no. 1104 of 1863;
Southgate ejector patent no. 12314 of 1889;
Beasley ejector trip patent no. 20979 of 1889;
Anson's forend fastener patent no. 3791 of 1872.