William Read & Sons

[William Woods]

A recent online auction listed a 20GA double by William Read & Sons. I do not remember having seen one of these guns. I looked in the Blue Book and there was no listing for this gun. I checked for a listing in Guns International and could find no listing for this gun on that site.

Since the auction was in my general vicinity, I decided to go to the preview.

This little double appeared to be manufactured in Belgium even though the William Read & Sons was listed as Boston. This shotgun appeared to be well built.

Can any members shed any light on this gun?

Thanks for any information.

[Dave Noreen]

Here are the pages from the 1906 Wm. Read & Sons catalog --

117014

117015

[Bill Murphy]

Is this what your gun looks like?

[Jerry VanHorn]

As I recall....Wm Read was a retailer. He changed the name to Wm. Read and Son in about 1856..and was gone sometime in the 20s. I have a .36 caliber Plains rifle retailed by him..

[Arthur Shaffer]

I have a rare 1872 high grade single shot 8 gauge light waterfowl gun by W. C. Scott and Sons. It came from the original owners home which was in Boston. My research revealed that Read was the exclusive importer for Scott, a deal that had only recently been put in place. A copy of the 1872 Scott catalog had several positive reviews of the Scott guns from the US, a lot of them from the midwest and by trapshooters. These all quoted Read as the source of their guns. They apparently had a good share of the relatively high end import market across the country at one time. Their catalogs of the later 19th century were large and listed all types of sporting goods. I believe the guns marked by them were contract guns. Their high end imports were marked by the maker.

[Bill Murphy]

I believe Read retailed Lindner guns.

[William Woods]

Is this what your gun looks like?

Mr. Bill,

If you posted a picture, it did not come through. The prior posted picture from the catalog does not show enough detail for me to make a comparison.

The Read shotgun I saw was a boxlock action with fine line checkering. It had the front plunger forend release (I cannot recall that name of that action, old age memory), fluid steel barrels, and well executed engraving. The gun appeared to have pins instead of screws in the frame/receiver. The chokes were CYL/IMP CYL with my Galazan brass gauge. The barrels measured approximately 27 1/2" long and did not appear to have been cut. The length of pull was 14". I have some Brownell's chamber gauges that have lines measured at 2 3/4" and 3" for the 20 GA, so I could not get an accurate chamber length.

Even with my lack of knowledge of such things I could tell it was a well-made shotgun. The only part that did not seem to be of a higher-grade piece was the quality of the wood of the buttstock.

I had bid on the shotgun but was "sniped" by the end of bidding. I tried to up my bid but was unable to get in on time.

The "gun guy" with the auction company said he had never seen one in his lifetime, and he had worked for the company for several years and in a gun shop prior to his time with the auction company. This fellow was in his 60's and has been involved in the business for his adult life.

I was unable to reach the guy from the auction company this morning to find out where the little gun ended up.

[Dave Noreen]

Murphy post a picture!! You must be dreaming!!

[William Woods]

Murphy post a picture!! You must be dreaming!!

Mr. Murphy and I must have several things in common.

[Bill Murphy]

My question was referring to the catalog picture.

[keavin nelson]

I have a William Read & Sons 16ga, that was built for them in Belgium per the PM. Very nice gun with Krupp barrels. I shoot only 2 12" shells in it, as the chambers are short a bit.

[William Woods]

My question was referring to the catalog picture.

Thanks for the reply. I could not tell much from the catalog picture though.

I did not get the shotgun. I was "sniped" at the end of the auction.

[Allen Peterson]

Just as an aside William Reed was related to my Mother. His grandson was a dentist in Lynn Ma. just north of Boston and was retired when I was a lad but he did a little work from his home office and put braces on me in the early 60s.

[William Woods]

I have a William Read & Sons 16ga, that was built for them in Belgium per the PM. Very nice gun with Krupp barrels. I shoot only 2 12" shells in it, as the chambers are short a bit.

Just as an aside William Reed was related to my Mother. His grandson was a dentist in Lynn Ma. just north of Boston and was retired when I was a lad but he did a little work from his home office and put braces on me in the early 60s.

Thank you for the reply. There may be others on here that have/will have Read guns that may want to contact you for information on the family. I am sure Mr. Nelson's gun is a fine shotgun. I enjoy the history of old guns.

Thanks again.

[Russell E. Cleary]

And in addition to imported and Wm. Read-marked contract guns, Wm. Read & Sons, according to a PGCA Research Letter on my father's 12-gauge DHE, ordered from Meriden and retailed Parker guns.

[Drew Hause]

Wm. Read was a major retailer of U.S., English and Continental guns
An old thread on DoubleGun
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=167803

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/i-QDH5drZ/0/1fd097eb/M/WilliamREad-M.jpg (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/i-QDH5drZ/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/i-6dkWZ86/0/dabdb71e/M/WilliamRead5-M.jpg (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/i-6dkWZ86/A)

[Drew Hause]

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/i-kqKkg7Q/0/b16bc9b6/L/Wm.%20Read%20%26%20Sons-L.jpg (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/Vintage-Sporting-Ads/i-kqKkg7Q/A)

[Dave Noreen]

Them 45 caliber Sharp's hammerless rifles for $6 sound good to me!!

[Daryl Hallquist]

I had a Lefever D Grade with two sets of barrels. It was cased in a fine leather case with the William Read label on the lid interior. The case was obviously original and made for the gun.

[Tom Kidd]

Here are two Wm. Reed and Son Gun cabinets that I have been fortunate to have acquired over the years. One came from the Asa Packer Estate and the other from a residence on Lake Placid, NY. The one in NY was on the third floor of a summer residence and I had to round up some heavy duty young fellows to help me lower it down from the bedroom deck in a rope sling, and I wasn't Navy. There was only a spiral stair case going up, so it must have been lifted to get there in the past. I have two different Wm. Reed catalogs from the 1880's and they are pictured and the only difference being the hardware.

Mom, commandeered one for her glassware, the other is mine, I think! Well, this old fart can't rotate the photos, please feel free to do so for me. Thank You!

[Russell E. Cleary]

Right-side up.

What company manufactured the clock?

[William Woods]

Here are two Wm. Reed and Son Gun cabinets that I have been fortunate to have acquired over the years. One came from the Asa Packer Estate and the other from a residence on Lake Placid, NY. The one in NY was on the third floor of a summer residence and I had to round up some heavy duty young fellows to help me lower it down from the bedroom deck in a rope sling, and I wasn't Navy. There was only a spiral stair case going up, so it must have been lifted to get there in the past. I have two different Wm. Reed catalogs from the 1880's and they are pictured and the only difference being the hardware.

Mom, commandeered one for her glassware, the other is mine, I think! Well, this old fart can't rotate the photos, please feel free to do so for me. Thank You!


Very nice looking gun cases. Thanks for posting.

[Tom Kidd]

Good Morning Russel,

Here are a few photos of the clock and included is my orig Fox trap gun, to keep this thread on track. This has been in our family as long as I can remember, and Dad kept it running when I was a kid, then it would only run for short periods. In the '80's he took it to a clock man in Allentown for a long overdue cleaning and now it runs for nearly a day per wind and keeps time to +/- 5 minutes per day when company visits. It is a family clock from my Dad's Pa. Dutch side, that was a wedding present in the late 1800's. Everyone seems to like it, is it a desirable piece??

[Bill Murphy]

Nice Foxes, Tom.

[Drew Hause]

Parker listing in the 1906 Wm. Read & Sons catalog

https://photos.smugmug.com/US-Makers/Parker/i-rzN5nCM/0/fcdb26e7/L/1906%20Wm.%20Read%20%26%20Sons%20catalog-L.jpg (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/US-Makers/Parker/i-rzN5nCM/A)

[Dave Noreen]

From the Wm. Read & Sons 1906 catalog --

117233

117234

[keavin nelson]

With all the interest in Wm Read & Sons, I felt compelled to dig mine out of the safe. A 16ga w/28" barrels and good dimensions it fits me well, as it did in the early 90s when discovered at the Kittery Trading Post.

[charlie cleveland]

that's a fine looking gun.....charlie