doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Purdey - what's your take on this one??

I think a letter from Purdey's would clear up the story of this particular gun. However, Dallas says that the exact type of action is not included in most day book entries. I think he used the word "never" but I am reluctant to repeat that wording.

It's definitely a Beesley action. You can tell by the placement of the pins.

Curl

If we forget about the sleeve job...The Miller and the pad kill that gun for me.

Capt. Curl, what do you think about that flat edged sideplate? Have you seen one before? I don't have a picture of the early hammerless that was sold at Greg Martin some time back, but it's as early a hammerless Purdey I had seen at that time. I wonder if that gun has the unusual sideplate?

Bill, you know that even on my best day I'm meerly a dabbler in shotguns. When I first looked at the gun we're talking about I took note of the flat edges. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought maybe I had seen one before. I can't say for sure either way, but I'll look through my archives and try to round it up.

I'll also note that this gun, though unmistakeably a Beesley lock, has fewer pins than the later Purdey locks. There was a discussion on NitroExpress.com a while back about design changes to the Beesley system that resulted in more pins. Some of the far more knowledgable members here ought to be able to shed light on this.

Curl

I don't think that they built guns to Beesley's patent until after 1880. The top rib also mentions Whitworth Steel Barrels and they don't appear to have been used until after 1897. That address on the top rib is wrong for a gun of this style. I don't think that this gun is all that it seems. Lagopus.....

For the sake of this discussion, and for posterity I will post the photos from the GunBroker ad that started all this. The GunBroker listing won't last long.

Here they are:






























And here's the comparison photo referenced in the initial post by OWD:






Curl

Notice there are only five pins in the subject gun as compared to seven pins in the "comparison" gun.

Curl

Yeah, this gun is all over the place.

The address on the rib seems to be too early, the locks are funky, the bbls are suspect, and what is the meaning of Purdey's Patent on the bottom of the action? And if it's on a Gibbs & Pitt action, it's different from any I've seen.

It's a mystery to me. I emailed the seller for the serial # so I could check it, but no response.

BTW: on the later, comparison Purdey, check out the the drop point. THAT's how those should be done. Too bad the forend iron looks like it came off another gun. I don't know why Purdeys did that.

OWD

Lagopus, I am going just from memory, but I seem to recall a discussion with XChisels etc. identifying a gun with Whitworth barrels from Purdey in the early 1890s. By 1897, I think Whitworth tubes were used by many makers in Britain and abroad.