Update
4th November 2016
Safely
back from North Carolina
Dear Heritage Guns Update Registrants,
Now I am safely home from my little jaunt over
the pond to North Carolina, I have updated the web site with current prices for
all my USA located stock guns and cases.
My great thanks go to Bob Nay for organising
the venue for my little ‘Show & Tell’, Joe & Patti Norcom for putting
me up and all the like-minded souls who attended our little gathering in
Charlotte on Saturday 29th October.
Since I left the UK, the autumnal weather has
arrived with a vengeance: frosts in the morning and, as I write, lots of grey
clouds and rain.
Tilly and I are out tomorrow for our first day
of the pheasant season, picking-up on our local estate. It will be very interesting
to see how she handles a return to live game after a layoff of nine months.
Hopefully I will have some hair left by 4pm and not planning her retirement!
It is important to note that with the fall in
the Stirling’s value in relation to the US$, our prices are really great value
right now.
Furthermore, helped by the great exchange rate,
our existing US stock of guns have had their prices slashed. All prices will be
subject to shipping costs.
New stock guns to the USA:
William Cashmore 12g BL Pigeon Gun no 4739
This gun appeared unexpectedly in a rather
dilapidated gun case and on closer inspection turned out to be a most
interesting example of a special order ‘Pigeon Gun’. Complete with file cut rib
and standard 2 ¾” chambers, it hid its speciality under a ‘Plain Jane’ cloak
and it was only when the wood had been cleaned up and the barrels measured that
the truth became apparent. It wears the most startling wood and a very unusual
short rib, possibly to increase weight without affecting balance.
$2990
John Dickson & Son 12g Round Action Ejector no
4373
One does not have to look very
hard to appreciate the loveliness of this gun. Complete with Damascus barrels
and a brand new stock, both of excellent dimensions, this is a very desirable
gun. What is amazing is it is actually a composition of two quite separate
guns: the barrels and forend of no 4654 and the action of no 4373. These were
brought together sometime in the past but the project was not really finished.
We have spent 18 months making someone’s dream a reality and are most pleased
with the results.
$12990
Holland
& Holland 16g ‘Climax’ SL no 7455
Bought at auction with thin and
badly pitted barrels, TIG sleeving was the only option to bring this lovely gun
back into service. What is unusual is the quality and condition of the action
and wood: quite considerable amounts of original hardening colour are apparent
is protected areas and the 15” original one piece stock is a classic bit of old
French walnut.
$6350
Thomas
Johnson 16g Bar in Wood Hammergun no 3444
This is another lovely old gun,
relegated to the back of the gun cabinet by thin original barrels. Again, TIG
sleeving was the obvious course of action and we are delighted with how well
the gun has come out.
Featuring the ‘modern’ top lever
and Purdey’s Bolt, it also carries a grip safety so it can be said that this
gun bridges the earlier muzzle-loading and the new-fangled breach loading eras.
$5990
James Lang
12g Back Action SLE no 913
James was only in business under
his own name for a period of about 10 years but in that time was responsible
for producing an impressive catalogue of beautifully finished guns. Many, like
this example, were bought in from the top end of the trade in London or
Birmingham and he appears to have had strong loyalties to certain trade
gunmakers as similar proprietary mechanisms turn up time and again.
$4490
J&W
Tolley 16g Bar Action Hammergun no 6404
When we took this gun in for
restoration, the hammers had been radically shortened, probably with a hack
saw. With careful laser welding we managed to restore them to their original
size and shape, engraved and properly case hardened to match the rest of the
locks’ patina. The barrels feature the original recess choke borings as
indicated by the use of ‘CHOKE’, instead of ‘NOT FOR BALL’, after the
bore/muzzle measurements.
$5590
Wilkinson
& Son .410 RUL Hammergun no 7107
Normally we steer clear of double
rifles converted to 410 shotguns but this little beauty was such a picture, we
had to make an exception. We were won over by her full coverage of engraving,
low weight (5lb 5oz - she must have kicked like a mule when in her rifle
guise!) and excellent stock measurements. Nitro proofed for 3” shells, this would
make a serious tool for game or clays.
$4890
James
Woodward & Sons Hgun no 3417, Cased in Oak & Leather
I have just finished relining an oak
& leather case for this lovely Woodward hammergun no 3417. I am very
pleased with the dark green baize I have used, quite unusual to find this
colour used on a Best London gun but we discovered traces of something similar
under a poor reline job and decided to give it a try.
This gun remains something of an enigma. It uses a
possibly unique bolting mechanism that no one I have approached has ever seen
before. Unprotected by a patent as far as we can find, it was presumably an
attempt to circumvent the Purdey Bolt patent which was still in force at the
time but only for another few years.
$7790
Two gun cases are being stored in NC and their
prices have been slashed:
Oak & Leather Single Guncase by WR Pape ref
281442
A lovely old WR Pape case, lined with original
green baize and fitted with an original Pape paper trade label. Some small
internal repairs
Web site price $1190 Now $1090 Save $100
Leg of Mutton Guncase, suitable for barrel lengths
up to 36”, ref 221050
This beautiful old LoM
guncase is very unusual in its barrel length and we are sure that someone out
there must have a use for it.
Web site price $390 Now $290 Save $100
The discounted guns are as follows:
Holland
& Holland 20g SLE with TIG sleeved 26” barrels no 11971
Web site price $9750 Now $8590
Save over $1100
Lovely, early
Royal gun with bar action locks. This gun has had an eventful life and now
sports a well figured replacement stock and completely new forend equipped with
Southgate ejectors.
Henry
Clarke & Son 16g Backaction SLE with 30” TIG sleeved barrels.
4th in our ‘Accipiter’ series.
Web site price $6350 Now $5490
Save over $850
Originally built as a
12g, this has been my very own ‘go-to’ gun for game and clays in 2015 while I
explored the proposition of having my late father’s Blanch SLE rebarrelled as a
16b. I have to say I have been won over by the delightful, steady handling of
this gun and my clay scores and game shooting averages have been a revelation.
There is no doubt now that I will get the work done on the Blanch to mimic the
Clarke.
Web site price $8350 Now $7490 Save over $800
We know is that this was made for a 'Lord Cremorne’ as a sidelock ejector
circa 1883 although the form of ejector featured was not invented until some
years later and is probably a later improvement. The gun has been restocked and
given new forend wood to a very high standard. The locks exhibit the
interceptor sear most commonly used by John Robertson of Boss & Co fame and
are of fabulous quality so it is reasonable to assume that the gun was at least
actioned in John Robertson's Soho workshops. What
sets this gun aside from many Best shotguns of the era is the truly lovely engraving:
not too fine to be almost invisible, not too bold to be ostentatious.
Henry
Atkin 12g SLE no 434 Cased
Web site price
$9195 Now $8490 Save over $700
We know is that
this was made for a 'Walter Peake' in 1883 and that it was rebarrelled by Henry
Atkin Ltd between 1960 and 1971 when they were at the Bury Street address. The
gun has also been restocked to a very high standard and it has been suggested
that this might have been gone at the same time as the rebarrelling. We are
fairly certain that the gun was not made originally as an ejector and was
converted to the very reliable 'Southgate' system, probably around the turn of
the C19th. The locks exhibit the interceptor sear most commonly used by John
Robertson of Boss & Co fame and are of fabulous quality.
T
Murcott 16g Mousetrap SLNE no 2446
Web site price $6695 Now $5490 Save
over $1200
This gun is a
fine and rare example of an historic design which looks so normal today but in
its time was truly ground breaking. It was the first commercially successful
hammerless shotgun and many of the features that we see in modern
double-barrelled guns are present here. Theophilus
Murcott was well known in his day for innovation and the quality of his work
and his gun's success was helped by copious advertising in the sporting
periodicals of the period and much editorial copy.
Web site price
$ 4995 Now $4370 save
over $600
This gun is
built on the highly successful Gibbs and Pitt design of lever cocking action,
one of the first hammerless designs to be welcomed by the shooting public in
the gradual changeover from hammerguns. Use of this action by Roper reflects
the high esteem the Gibbs & Pitt action design was held in by the buying
public at the time. It was well designed, solidly built and retailed by nearly
all gunmakers of the period. 2 ¾” nitro
proof and choked Full/Full as original! A real game getter!
Web site price
$4350 Now $3990 Save
over $350
This otherwise
'normal' A&D boxlock action is profusely covered with fine border, scroll
and foliate detail and this coupled with the grip safety, interceptor sears,
excellent barrel measurements and sensitive restoration makes it a pretty and
interesting gun for either game or clays.
Details of
all the guns can be found on our stock pages with links to the person usually
holding the gun on consignment.
Most
of the guns mentioned above are nitro proofed for a minimum of 2 3/4"
cartridges and all are pre-1897 unless otherwise described.
Lastly
a reminder that we now have a Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heritage-Guns/1456166597974211.
Facebook
is not everybody’s cup of tea but we will post photos and news there that are
not relevant to our main web site pages.
Enjoy
your guns and shooting wherever you are!
Toby Barclay
Links
to our show venues can be found on our Home page.