W&C Scott & Son SxS Hammer 8 gauge

[Rick Roemer]

Hi

Would like thoughts on a W&C Scott & Son SxS Hammer 8 gauge that my friend is looking at purchasing. I don't know much about this maker.

The stock appears to have had some work obviously

Barrels are 30"

There is not much information given about the gun, but the price is low enough to take a risk.

I told my friend I would ask here for any thoughts on this maker. Thanks

[mobirdhunter]

Scott’s are of good quality in my experience and were pretty widely sold to the US market. I believe there is serial number information on them, too.

[Matt Buckley]

I would have him get pictures of the proof marks if he hasn't to take a look at them. W&C Scott made very high quality guns.

[Rick Roemer]

OK, I know next to nothing about proof marks what should it say to make it worthwhile?

I know there’s a lot to that

[ArtS]

I have two; a W&C single and a P. Webley double. The single is a middle grade of the premium line with a London address and the P. Webley is a mid-grade of their line before the buyout. The single is an 1872 manufacture and the double is of near the same vintage. The double is very lightweight and is the only 8 ga I have ever seen which could be considered a legitamate upland gun.

There is only one book I am aware of that has been written on the W&C Scott guns. It is short but with a lot of helpful info.

There does happen to be an 1872 catalog reprint available which is more a pamphlet than a large book, since many of the guns were customs and not to a particular grade. During the early years they didn't have specific grades, just 3 general levels. The bulk of them, the lowest grade, were marked with a Birmingham address. The top two levels carried a London address. This changed toward the latter part of the 1870's.

The Scott may have been the first brand to have been imported into the US on a brand basis. The catalog reprint I mentioned was for the year my single was made, but the catalog makes no mention of a single. The one I have is a very sturdy single frame that appears to have been machined from a double frame. It is somewhat assymetric with a lot of complex shaping and a beautiful hammer arrangement. While I have found no listing for it, they seem to have been referred to as a Light Waterfowl gun. My gun is a cylinder bore of exactly 8 bore and has a full 3-1/4 chamber. I is sized to accept a shell the exact size of the Winchester and Remington industrial loads. Upon firing, new shells fireform to the chamber. The Webley has the same chamber. This makes me wonder if the early English guns and those from other countries may have had different specifications.

Starting about 1872, William Read in Boston became their official importer and listed the gun in their catalog.

An interesting fact is that the 1872 Scott catalog had several pages of product reviews of the guns in the back section. While Read was their exclusive importer, a major portion of the reviews seemed to be concentrated in the area from Lexington Ky up through the Cincinnati OH area. Many reviews were from trapshooters. From old newspapers in our area and the myriad shooting trophies at estate sales and in antique stores, it is obvious that the region was a hotbed of the sport during it's early days. This post civil war era co-incided with the development of the formal horse racing events and likely the two sports developed an interest among the same afficianados. Before the war, the racing was held on main street in town. It became too dangerous due to the people on foot so it was banished from the downtown area. Given that the area was famous for horses, Bourbon (Henry Clay in his day hauled barrels of whiskey to Washington every year to supply the Congress) and duels (it was the national hotbed of dueling long after it was outlawed in most states) it is understandable that a sport based on shooting would become popular.

From the number of reviews from the area vs. the total reported in the catalog, Read must have done quite a business with orders from this area.

[ArtS]

Just read your last note. The gun in the picture looks to be pretty early from the shape of the hammers. My guess, with no info would be mid to late 1870's to to early 1880's.

A London address on the rib would denote a high grade gun. During 1872-1877 or so, they only made 1000 or so guns/year is my rough recollection. After that production ramped up to several thousand a year.

[Matt Buckley]

You can figure out things like if the barrels are black powder or nitro proofed, the diameter of the bores and if that has been changed, choking, chamber length, etc. Diggory Hadoke has an excellent video on his YouTube page that explains how to decipher English proofing marks.

[Phil C]

I would enjoy seeing some close up pictures. I also own an original condition WC Scott and Son 8 gauge hammer gun. If interested I can pull it from the safe and post a few pictures.
I have never tried to get any documentation on my gun and will monitor this post to possibly learn more about the 8 gauges.

[Ed Blake]

I have a Scott 10 gauge circa 1874. It has cyl/cyl bores and a half cock but the locks are rebounding. Great gun. In the UK Scott was mostly a maker to the trade. Scott provided barreled actions to many makers including “best” makers such as H&H. They sold a lot of guns under their name in the US, and under other names as has been described. How much do it weigh?

[ArtS]

As a side note, Scott and many other English makers of the 1870-1880's had some of the most beautiful laminated barrels that have ever been made.