Hunting dogs, fine firearms, and enjoying both.
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Mar 4th, 2013
When it comes to high-end side-by-sides, Purdey is the name most people know. The one you see here is a 20 gauge, built on the company’s famous Beesley-patent action. It’s a modern gun, built in the early ’90s, and it’s in fantastic original condition. A friend of mine was kind enough to show me see [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Feb 6th, 2013
The James D. Julia auction company puts on the finest firearms auctions in the US. The sales catalogs are part of what makes these auctions so successful. With full color pictures and lengthy descriptions, these catalogs do a great job of showing, and selling, every lot in the auction. These catalog usually cost $40 a [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Jan 10th, 2013
Last week I put up this post about shooting a James Purdey & Sons .303 double rifle. I had a lot of questions about that rifle, and I wanted to share some more pictures of it with you. I also snapped some pics of a Holland & Holland double rifle that I saw the same [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Jan 8th, 2013
James Purdey & Sons is one of the world’s most famous gunmakers – and for good reason. They’ve been making some of the world’s finest rifles and shotguns for almost 200 years. This video is an interesting look inside the company. It’s good, but long (1 hour and 30 minutes). To make it easier to [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Jan 2nd, 2013
Here’s an as-good-as-it-gets, best quality James Purdey & Sons double rife. Of the 30,000+ firearms that Purdey has made, fewer than 400 of them have been hammerless double rifles. The one you see here is .303, snap-action underlever, made on a Beesley action and in excellent original condition.
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Dec 2nd, 2012
It was a good week for double-barrel shotguns. Several nice O/U and side-by-sides hit the market, including the ones listed below. Boss, 20 ga, O/U: 26” barrels, Choked M/F, single selective trigger, ventilated top rib, 2 ¾” chamber, straight grip, checkered butt, 95% original, case color hardening, 98% blue, wood finish and checkering. Even though [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Nov 26th, 2012
Here they are, my five favorite doubles that popped up last week on Gunsinternational.com… -W & C Scott Kinmount in 20 Gauge : a lot of gun for the money. Kinmounts were made between 1980-1985. This 20 gauge has 2 ¾” chambers, a straight grip, ejectors, modern dimensions (14″ LOP, 2 1/8″ DAH, 1 1/2″ [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Nov 15th, 2012
Constantine & Pletcher in Cheswick, PA, is having their fall, 2012, Sportsman’s Auction this Sat, 11/17 @ 3:30pm. They have a bunch of Parkers double barrels coming up, including an 8 gauge and a 12 gauge with 36″ bbls. There are also a couple interesting Purdey side-by-sides, and a real nice Alexander Henry percussion shotgun. [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Sep 10th, 2012
Traditions die hard, especially in the gun world. When hammerless shotguns like this came on the scene in the 1870s, shooters had already been using hammer guns for hundreds of years. A lot of these people were unwilling to give them up. Before the hammerless era, shooters used external hammers to cock their guns. They also [...]
Posted in DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUNS on Sep 1st, 2012
Henry Atkin, Sr, used to be one of the big boys of the London shotgun trade. Coming from a family of gunmakers, he learned his trade at Purdeys. In 1875 he went out on his own and by 1890 he was doing so well that he moved to Jermyn Street–a prestigious part of town . He [...]
