Nice Old Double

[ArtS]

I just bought a nice old double at auction. Never heard of it but it is a Harrison Bros sideplated boxlock. I found 2 of 3 listed but that was it. The others were old listings still on Guns International. All were boxlocks with some simple scroll and plain wood. All dated by the sellers as 1940's to 1970's. The design looks older than that. This one has very good wood, sideplates, ejectors, fine line checkering and pretty full coverage of birds and scroll. The auction listed it as 1915 era and it looks that but the proofs are consistent that it was made in 1974 and in original proof. The only proof anomaly is that the bore diameters are stamped as .729 in both barrels(a little odd) but there is no sign of reproof and the bores are shiny. The gun appears to have received a freshening of the wood and barrel finish at some point and I suspect the bores were polished out or reamed but not enough to put it out of proof. The original proof shows a 12 in diamond bore on both barrels.

The thing that drew me to it was the nice engraving and wood, ejectors, the good stock dimensions and the fact that it is a 12 ga that weighs 6# on the nose. With 26" barrels and .011 and .017 inch chokes, it should be an almost perfect upland gun with 7/8 oz loads.

It amazes me with what is available in English boxlocks. A vintage US double with this wood and quality of engraving would bring many times the price that this gun demanded. It is essentially not collectible, being made by probably a gunsmith finishing Birmingham trade guns, but as a working gun it is hard to imagine other $1000 to 1200 guns that could compete with it. I looked up the street address on the gun and it is shown on the Google Maps as "The Gunsmith House". A really obtuse reference lists the brothers as being in business from 1920 to 1984 and likely related to the people associated with either Cogswell or Hussey.

It needs a good cleaning of the metal and wood followed by a round of skeet to try it out.

[Harold Pickens]

Great find, Art

[Ken Hill]

Art,

If the gun has a 12 in the diamond and the .729 mark it was probably made between 1954-1989. Is it marked bar or 65mm?

https://www.hallowellco.com/british_...0by%20date.htm

Nice looking gun.

Ken

[ArtS]

No it's a 2-1/2" gun with 3 ton proof. The date code is definitely 1974. Nice because it is 51 years ago so C&R.
I mentioned the bore size stamps because not all have this. The 12 in the diamond normally determines the minimum bore. The bore dimension stamps look newer than the rest of the proofs. Since the bores are perfect but there are no re-proof marks, I am suspecting that the gun was freshened up in general and the bores cleaned up to .729 but the amount removed didn't trigger a reproof. Probably in England before it was imported to the states (there is a tiny import mark under the fore end on the lower rib.

[Ken Hill]

Art,

The nominal bore size for a 12 gauge is .729. Can you post a picture of the barrel flats showing the proof marks.

Ken

[ArtS]

I will try to post a picture tomorrow. They are pretty straight forward though. I have done a little digging through my references and believe I made an error. At one time the bores were stamped with several different designations for bore sizes based on standard plugs. For 12 gauge the went from 13/1 for .712 to (I believe) 12/? for .740. It was not uncommon to see barrels of different sizes. At later dates the actual bore size of each barrel is shown to 3 digits and the 12 in diamond with a C was used to show the chamber was to standard dimensions. I'm not sure of the date of this running change, but I suspect it had been a continuing problem as to reproof. When the multiple plugs were used, the tightest plug that would pass was marked as the bore size, but it was not an exact fit necessarily. The proof law required it to be reproved if it was enlarged over .010", but the initial marking was not exact. The more modern versions of the proof law changed to what is on this gun; 12 and C in a diamond for chamber, BNP under crown for nitro proof, three digit bore size stamp, 1-1/8 lead charge, 3 tons/square inch, 2-1/2" chamber length and a crossed swords date code with ZB for 1974 and a 2to designate the inspector.

I started at the point of thinking it was a 1915 to 1920 gun and in the era of multiple plugs. It turns out what is there is exactly correct for an original proof from 1974 with no added work. I am going to measure the bores and wall thicknesses tomorrow to be safe. At the worst I suspect the barrels may be polished but the measurements will tell.