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A nice example of what a Webley & Scott Model 701 looks like.

Webley & Scott 701

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TC

That brings back memories. I spent a lot of time haunting their shop in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s and still have a B.S.A. .22 LR Model 12 I bought from them for £5.

They made something of a specialty of upgraded Webley and Scott guns, and if I remember right also sold a lot of AyA guns. Mr. Brooks was then their gun department manager. I think I saw him one year at the Game Fair on the AyA stand.

When that 701 was made 26” barrels were fashionable, now not so much so. With that and the wall thickness (possibly original for a lightweight 12 bore) I fear that it will struggle to make its reserve.

Still a very pretty gun. It amazes me how little some quality boxlock shotguns sell for in your British market place. Works of art in my opinion.

Was S.R. Jeffery and Son more a retailer/gunsmith or actual gunmaker back in the day? I never heard of him before.

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TC

The SR Jeffery name is very old. I have a centerfire single action with the SR Jeffery name on the lock, it was converted from percussion. I believe at one point SR Jeffery was a maker, maybe not by the time they were retailing Webley 400's though.

Great time to buy a British gun in the UK.

Good question, Tim, but with the British system of using outworkers difficult to answer.

The founder of the Guildford business, Richard Jeffery started in about 1850. A very nice single percussion rifle by him featured in DGJ not long ago. To what extent it was built in his workshops and to what extent he bought in the lock (probably) the Damascus tube (probably) and had it rifled (quite likely) by specialists we are never likely to know.

There is an August 2020 article in Diggory’s Vintage Gun Journal about a Richard Jeffery gun made for him by E.C. Hodges in Islington.

In the 1960’s they appear to have been primarily retailers of guns built by others, but if Lord Onslow had walked into their shop and said “build me a best gun regardless of expense” they could no doubt gone to an actioner, barrelmakers, a stocker and finisher and a best S.R. Jeffrey gun would have emerged from their front door.

They seem to have had family links with various other Jeffery gunsmiths, and is possible that at one time they shared workshop facilities.

Parabola, your thoughts of Richard Jeffery are interesting. Attached is a picture of a Richard Jeffery 10 ga pinfire on the Dougall Lockfast System, and so marked on the underside of the receiver. Also stamped between the bars is J. Wilkes who apparently actioned the gun.

“Left wall at 19”? With 2 3/4” chambers? I’m having trouble with the fact there is a reserve on it.

The first 1 1/4 oz 1350fps load down that tube ought to make a lasting impression.

Best,
Ted

Thanks Parabola. I had a check in Nigel Brown’s, British Gunmakers book, but not much information there for S.R. Jeffery & Son other than dates for their business addresses.

Do vintage British boxlocks typically sell for higher prices into continental Europe? I came across this Webley & Scott, model 702, circa 1975/1976, selling in Belgium for 7,900 Euros? That’s pushing $12,000 where I live. I guess it’s still cheaper than what a new AyA XXV boxlock is selling for now, 10,125 Euros from their website.

Webley & Scott 702

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TC

I've never bought from the English gun auction houses. I understand from posts here that double the hammer price is good general estimate for firearms, but how much does a hard gun case cost to ship to the U.S.?