Chamber/Cartridge Length Addendum
 

Gentlemen:
In support of other discussions about chamber length v. cartridge length, I thought I’d submit some insights from a professional English gunmaker – information recently sent to me by Mr. Barry Kearnan, of Australia.

It all began with my recent Double Gun Journal article about “Gurney’s Purdey.” This tale launched Kearnan on a quest to discover the identity of A. R. Buxton: The original owner of his Cogswell & Harrison double. So… with the able help of my friend Robert Hodges of the UK, it was discovered that Kearnan’s gun was made up as No. 1 of a pair for Abbot Redmond Buxton – the nephew of Samuel Gurney Buxton, who was the subject of my DGJ article. A. R. Buxton was the son of Gurney’s brother Henry – who himself was a wealthy banker and a keen cricketer.

But provenance aside. In the early 1980s, Mr. Kearnan had sent his No. 1 off to Clive Lemon in the UK for refurbishment. And it is Lemon’s insights into chamber length, cartridge length and the vagaries of re-proof that I felt might be of interest here. The wisdom in this letter, and especially Lemon’s third paragraph is self-evident.

John,

Thanks for posting this information. The letter is from 1981. I wonder if the makers are following this same approach today.

Ken