Mortimore & Son 10 Bore
 

I wasn't looking for another gun but last week I ran across a nice side by side 10 gauge for sale by a maker I was not familiar with, Mortimore & Son in Edinborough Scotland. The gun appealed to me for several reasons, original 28" fluid steel barrels, proofed for 3 1/2 10 gauge shells, English grip, modern dimensions but a tad long for me, 8 1/2 pounds, tight and overall good condition. I put the gun on hold until I could learn more. I was able to find that Mortimore & Son started out in London and was one of London's oldest gun makers before moving to Scotland. They merged with John Dickson in 1938. I put a few pictures I took at the store on a Facebook page and asked for general information about the maker. I was quite surprised and very pleased to get the following reply from a Mr. Peter Croft across the pond, it's more than I could ask for, his reply is below.

This gun was made for a Mr F.W.Smith and sold on the 1st August 1929. It had 28" steel barrels with 3-1/4" chambers choked Full & Full. It weighed 8lbs 9oz and it was stipulated in the original order that there was to be no checkering on stock or forend. The original stock dimensions were: Length to centre 14 5/8". Drop at comb 1-1/8" Drop at heel 2-1/8". In the intervening years the chambers were lengthened and the gun proofed for 3-1/2"(89mm) cartridges. The stock and forend were also checkered at some time.

How do I know all this? I used to own this gun and the info above came from Dickson's when they were still in the Frederick Street shop. Sam Wilcox looked it up for me and I've just read all that info off Gary MacPherson's business card that I wrote everything down on.
I had the Silvers pattern rubber recoil pad fitted by former Churchill Gunmakers stocker Jeff Tyrrell who lived a couple of doors from my Mum in Sutton Coldfield.

I often speculated on why the gun had been ordered with that specification. Across the Firth of Forth there are large numbers of greylag and pink foot geese in Fife and there also numbers to be found east of Edinburgh. Both these areas have rich arable farming and the geese flight into the fields to feed. It's my belief that the gun was ordered with 28" barrels to make it handier to use when hiding in a ditch or hedge alongside the fields. Omitting the checkering would, no doubt, have made the gun easier to clean because the rich soil can soon clog up checkering. The choice of a 3-1/4" 10ga would give quite an improvement on 12 magnum performance. Whilst not as powerful as an 8ga, with it's 28" barrels it would have been a lot handier and with its 1-3/4oz shot load it wouldn't have been far behind the bigger gun in performance.

Rob Foster remarked that the gun would "kick like a mule". Well it wasn't that bad although with Winchester XX 2-1/4oz loads recoil was a bit brisk. I shot a number of geese with those big Winchesters and didn't find the recoil excessive. It shot best with the 3-1/4" load of 1-3/4oz. I would load that in a Winchester or Federal case trimmed to 3-1/4", with a Remington SP10 wad and Blue Dot powder. Rolled turnover closure. These proved very effective and I once shot a carrion crow at 85yards with that load (measured 85 not guesstimated).

I don't know what else to tell you about the gun but if you care to message me I can give you a phone number you can call me on if you want any further info.

Mortimore built many double barrel percussion guns in the early to mid 19th century. You have a dandy turkey and goose gun.

My wife's father had a 12 ga Mortimer percussion SXS. It supposedly was used by his father to hunt with.

Now that beats the heck out of a Parker letter. Nice going Pete. Let us know if and when you call him.

He and I have been chatting via Facebook Messenger. He seems like a very nice man who also trains Labrador Retrievers. A true English gentleman. I believe you two would get along quite well.

From Peter Croft's response: "I often speculated on why the gun had been ordered with that specification. Across the Firth of Forth there are large numbers of greylag and pink foot geese in Fife and there also numbers to be found east of Edinburgh. Both these areas have rich arable farming and the geese flight into the fields to feed. It's my belief that the gun was ordered with 28" barrels to make it handier to use when hiding in a ditch or hedge alongside the fields."

On both trips to Scotland for driven birds in December 2004 and 2006, we stayed in this exact area, just south of St. Andrews. Although we did not hunt geese, his detailed comments on the habits and local hunting methods (e.g., "ditch gunning") for Greylag and pink-footed geese are precisely descriptive of the style and type of pursuing them. They were very abundant and the locals very adept at taking their limits, particularly at night. which is (or was) legal there at that time. Their calls are very distinctive and reminded me of a comined "yodel" of our Snow geese mixed with the gutteral trill of Atlantic brant.

That gun would have tested my will power as I’m trying not to buy anything :rotf: I’ve got one 10 with long chambers but it’s a hammer gun also fluid steel barrels , but this would be a nice edition even if it isn’t my preferred maker .

My will power in that regard dissipated rather rapidly after receiving Mr. Croft's reply about this gun.

For many years the 10-gauge 3 1/2-inch Magnum shells, back when they only carried 2-ounces of shot, carried the admonition "USE ONLY IN GUNS WEIGHING 10 1/2 POUNDS OR MORE."

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I am correct in assuming the guns on our side of the pond ?