English SxS rifle

[fleener]

the reason it was shooting off was due to slight damage to the muzzle crown.

Fleener

 

[Pukka Bundook]

Fleener,

I'd have to look about the lock marks. I haven't seen a Stanton lock initialed that way, but haven't seen them all by any means!
I think the silver is to protect the wood, but it Is unusual to have it below the barrels.
Normally we see it behind the breeches to protect the wood from charring.

Re. locks;
I have some lovely locks, and it transpires they were made by Joseph Jones. To me a complete unknown, but V high quality and altogether delightful.
With locks, (There were a Great many lockmakers in Wolverhampton) Quality is where you find it!...and you have found it here with yours, whoever it is!

I will ask Bill Curtis, as he has more refence books than I do.
It may be in Donald Dallas' "Boss" book, I'll check, but am in the middle of hay-making.

 

[52Bore]

Fleener:
My cased Alex Henry Percussion Double has the same silver plates at the breech. I believe they are there to protect this area, looks better than dinged up wood caused over the years from assembling the rifle.
Good job on the regulation on such a nice piece.

 

[GREENSWLDE]

These wood protector plates (usually Nickel on nornmal quality guns) were common with Bar in the Wood locks as shewn on the Henry in your post No.23 as the wood is minimal under the barrels.
I have an Ezikiel Backer Double 22 bore Flint gun that came back from India Minus locks ( they must have been left in the case) that has a very interecate plate that protects the wood from Flash damage as well as from hooking in the barrels.

OLD DOG.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

V interesting posts, both 52 bore and Greenswlde.

Here is a photo of the un-cleaned Jones lock, and also the protectors for the wood behind the nipples;

Before clean -up again.

Richard.

 

[Feltwad]

You will also find that these protection shields were also favoured on sporting continental guns
Feltwad



Also to the front of the lock

 

[Col. Batguano]

I have often wondered ho rifles are fine tuned during the regulation process. To watch the modern English makers, it seems to be a nearly endless process of shooting, pulling wedges, re-soldering, shoot again, repeat. With a shotgun I suspect the process is far less precise, as the patterns have to just roughly overlap.

 

[TFoley]

I have often wondered ho rifles are fine tuned during the regulation process. To watch the modern English makers, it seems to be a nearly endless process of shooting, pulling wedges, re-soldering, shoot again, repeat. With a shotgun I suspect the process is far less precise, as the patterns have to just roughly overlap.

I was talking to a salesman from Boss, famous London gunmakers, at a gun show last February about that very subject. In conversation about a beautiful double rifle on the stand, for a tad over $120,000, I asked him roughly how long it took to regulate such a rifle [here in UK a gun is a shotgun].

He advised me that it usually occupied two or three days to regulate the barrels so that they make a set of 'snake-eyes' at 50 yards - the usual Point-blank range for any English double rifle.

Modern replications of double rifles usually get around this expensive 'problem' by having a set of sights on each barrel. No doubt there are people here who will nod their heads at that.

 

[52Bore]

I can understand the flash guards behind/on-top of the stack for protection.

As for regulating, I believe the better makers of the period spent more time doing so.
I’ve never regulated a double rifle, but I made fixtures years ago to restore a British double shotgun but completely disassembled and resoldered. Have used the same fixtures to solder many under ribs since. The work is in the finished, not soldering. So, I would imagine regulating a DR might take some time - I’d imagine they have a muzzle fixture to accurately adjust during the soldering process.
This is going back some time in the 90’s.

 

[Britsmoothy]

An accurate jig would go a long way for initial setting but with shotguns a lot can be done at the muzzle effectively steering the emerging shot. Many an old English double can be inspected with straight edges across the muzzles to reveal some slight relieving here or there.

 

[52Bore]

Fleener:
Will you be bringing this new ML to Friendship in September and possibly shoot in the DR match?

 

[fleener]

I just might have to shoot it at Friendship. Depending on when the match is.

Fleener