doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Screw-grip

I occasionally see the term "screw grip" but don't really know what that term means. Can someone please explain it for me?

From the book on W.& C.Scott...."a type of rib extension pattened by T.W.Webley in 1882".

I do know Scott made lots of screw grip actions for other makers...looking at the pictures in the Scott book it appears the screw grip action could be spotted by the stepped barrel rib extension.

You may also find it in reference to the Jones Patent underlever, known in the British Trade as 'Lever over guard' in which a lever under the trigger guard swings out to allow the barrels to open. Lagopus.....

lets just say ole' toothbrushes come in handy.

The Webley "screw grip action" has nothing to do with an underlever..."screw grips" were mostly used on box locks

Webley & Scott offered at least a couple screw-grip sidelocks, as shown in Ron Forsyth's article on screw-grips in Shooting Sportsman, Sept/Oct 02. In addition to the rib extension, if you look at the slot in the breech face, you can see threads (hence, the screw-grip) on the spindle.

I think this is it!,..the spindle is the piece you can see around the top lever,...it rotates and engages the bite on the doll's head rib extension




CJ

You're confusing several different kinds of screw grips. There was no "Webley screw grip action". Webley didn't invent the screw grip, and the visible threads on the spindles of some Webley models have nothing to do with the term.

The screw grip was first patented in Britain by Henry Jones in 1859 - an "underlever screw grip for breech loading actions" - typically referred to in the trade as "Jones underlever" or "lever over guard" as Lagopus correctly stated. The Jones is a screw grip action. It's primary (and only) locking system is a screw grip.

The same rotary locking method was then patented by Wilkinson Sword Co. (James Wilkinson) for fastening fore-ends in drop-down barrel action guns. The 1866 screw grip fore-end fastener patent (the familiar side-swinging fore-end lever) was by a Wilkinson workman, which made it Wilkinson's property. Wilkinson Sword Co apparently sold the patent to Rigby before it expired.

After both of the previous patents had expired, Thomas W. Webley and Thomas Brain designed a rotary locking THIRD FASTENER for drop-down barrel action guns that was a direct crib on the previous screw grip patents. In the 1882 Webley & Brain screw grip top-fastener patent, primary lockup is accomplished by conventional (Purdey) sliding double underbolts that engage corresponding lugs milled into the barrel lumps, with a rotary locking third fastener that engages a rib extension. The Webley is a conventional sliding double underbolt action with a rotary (screw grip) top fastener. It isn't a screw grip action, while the Jones underlever is. Webley made a great many sidelocks with their screw grip top fastener (their W & R model was made for dozens of other gunmakers) in addition to several models of their famous boxlocks.

Here's a Webley W & R Model (sidelock) built for Army & Navy:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/conten...erarchyId=11655

Here's a Webley A & W Model (boxlock) for Charles Lancaster:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/conten...jsp?hierarchyId

Note that the same spade head was used for both models.

Here's a Webley A & W Model for William Evans:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/conten...erarchyId=11655

Note Webley's famous "winged bullet" trademark on the flats typical of early guns built for the trade.

Here's a Webley W & R Model for William Evans:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/conten...erarchyId=11655

The photo below shows a front view of the threaded spindle that moves the third fastener up and down to lock on the stepped rib extension. This is from a Woodward marked W&S Proprietary action, a widely used action.



The stepped rib extension is shown above the rear Purdey double bite in this photo.

Tecnically I'd say you were right...Commonly a Jones underlever is called a Jones underlever.

Webley called his propiatary action a "screw grip".

Nitro the rib extensions on the guns you listed don't match the pictures of the rib extension in the W&C Scott book or old catalogs that I have.