doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com British single shots

On one of the other boards a couple of gentleman had very nice examples of single shot shotguns that I presume were made in England. All three were hammer guns.

Where would someone start to look to find a quality single shot shotgun? Around here they're all H&Rs and Savages.

Tim

The only one I've seen for a while is this William Greener 8 Bore ML Fowler from Puglisi Gun Emporium in Duluth MN. While this one may be of an earlier vintage than you have in mind, click on the hyper-link to see a very neat gun.

http://www.pugsguns.com/displayItem.do?id=1372

ps - I've been looking for a decent 18th century Flint or early 19th century converted to Percussion LONG single barrel fowler of US/English heritage as a display piece for many years. Anyone who has one for sale or knows of one please email me at: roger@nacz.com
Thanks

Go to this link all the way to the bottom for the hammer singles.

http://www.micksguns.com/semi-auto%20&%20pump%20action%20shotguns.htm

Mid South Guns has a very nice hammerless Gibbs 20 gauge with safety. It is quite reasonable in price (around two large) and has a lot of condition. These guns are very scarce in this country. I saw this gun at the Chantilly, VA show yesterday.

Single barrel trap guns that were made in the early part of the last century were not all that uncommon on both sides of the pond. Parker, A.H. Fox, L.C. Smith, Ithaca, Baker & others made quite a few of them over here while James Purdey, Thomas Boss, W.W. Greener, Holland & Holland, Westley Richards & others made them and small gauge what they called rook guns over there. There a still quite a few around.

Best, George

Small caliber, single shot rook and rabbit rifles were made in very large quantities in the 1880s. they can be hammer or hammerless actions.

single shot shotguns were commonly made as hammer guns in the 1870s and 1880s and are usually with a stub-twist barrel, Jones under-lever and single back-action sidelock. they used to be very cheap but have trebled in price in five years.

16-bores are common as single barrels in this period. Later singles, made as 'cheap and cheerful' tractor guns, like the BSA Snipe, made from WW2 until the 1980s are very easy to find and very cheap to buy at provincial auctions.