doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Downton Abbey

Well, I watched the opening episode tonight and watched the guys shoot at a rabbit with one of the mystery guns. Still no clue as to the identity of the guns.

Strange gun manners though. Tom shot at the rabbit twice broke down his gun and handed it to the other guy and proceeded to run off (after the rabbit, I presume)...Geo

ME too- He fired the double almost like a single triggered gun that doubled- BangBang- the muzzles were pointed at about waist high level, no movement or tracking, then he opened the breech, the spent shells ejected, and instead of giving the opened gun to a servant (loader) he handed it to Lord Gillingham (whereas he was the chauffeur at Downton Abbey before he married Lord and Lady Granthamn's daughter Sibby--Then he jogs about 80-- 100 yards, comes back, but nothing in the game or shell bag- later, after he gets his shotgun back from His Lordship and the three of them walk back, we see a defunct hare in his off gun hand. I am an avid watched, for like this character Tom, I am a Mick of bog-trottin' lineage, and I like to see just why us Green Irish hate the frickin' Limey Upper Class-

Interesting to watch the movie "The Shooting Party", which I believe was James Mason's last before he died. He plays the owner of the estate, and is shooting a pair of hammerguns. At the end of the movie, Edward Fox (playing a renowned shot who's being challenged by a young upstart--even though they're not supposed to be counting) fires at a low bird and kills a beater. Other than referring to the bird as a woodcock when it was clearly a pheasant, pretty good movie.

I seem to recall the Edward Fox character saying something to the effect that Henry Holland was skilled at fitting the odd shooter and made a good gun, but he preferred Purdey's because of their smoothness and that they were he go to maker, or at least words to that effect.

I do recall at least one of the other shooters used H&H and I think the James Mason character shot a pair of hammerguns

that is correct, the son-in-law was widower to the youngest daughter

Old Colonel what you are recalling is from this which has one of the closest to a real Edwardian driven shoot scene on film, the filming was done at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire.

In the Christmas Special Downton showing (may not yet have been show in North America), things kick off with a house party for the grouse shooting and scenes on the moor.

A point I noticed was that during a brief scene the guns were walking from one stand to the next. A few guns were sleeved in canvas slips, which struck me as out of place. Whilst I am fairly sure basic canvas slips were available in the late 1920s, the photos I have seen of shooting at that time have never shown gun slips being used.

In fact I can remember as a boy/young man that shoots I attended in the 1960s/early 70s carrying opened guns between drives was the norm, slips not coming into fashion until the late 1970s/early 1980s.

Tim

Yes I muttered and chuntered while 'she-who-must-be-obeyed' watched the Christmas episode. Please don't think it an accurate portrayal of grouse shooting. It's just a bunch of Luvvie actors shooting guns with black powder blanks in who have probably only had two seconds instruction how to use a gun from someone else who has little idea either. Probably with nothing more than a reminder to push the safety catch forward and point them somewhere before pulling the trigger. The bit that amused me was how close the together the beaters were. Usual distance apart is around 100 yards; big places those grouse moors! And with dogs ranging between. A bit like those spaghetti Westerns that should be taken with a pinch of salt. Lagopus.....

We brought back our present Labrador [censored] from England when she was 10 weeks old. She was bred by a seasoned citizen and long time Field Trialer named Vince Mitchell. He was responsible for the shooting footage in the "Shooting Party". He described the scene as ludicrous.

Whoops! I used the British term for a female dog. Tut, tut