doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com English SxS ?

Don't most A&D boxlocks have firing pins integral with the hammers?

I bought a W&S Model 700 this spring - I964 A&F import with 26" barrels. I bought it as a backup/bad weather gun, but have really enjoyed shooting it. The barrels are not chopper-lump - but that hasn't caused me to miss anything yet!

Tommy, give consideration to attending the Fall Southern in Georgetown, SC near the end of Oct. You will have the chance to handle many, many guns in a couple of days. Some vendors will even allow you to shoot guns of high interest to you; typically on a 5-stand course. Bring your LC and shoot the competition, if you like. There will be a lot of nice folks to meet.

DDA

Some A&D boxlocks have integral strikers/hammers. Fabulous, until they break, then, they suck. Some have separate hammers and strikers, but, the strikers must be serviced from the back-better, but, still a pain.
Disc set strikers can be serviced from the breech face in minutes, assuming you planned ahead and bought a tool and a set of strikers. Even if you didn't, it is far less of a tragedy then the other two.
I simply brought the point up to illustrate that research into what you actually want is a good thing.

Best,
Ted

Thanks Gnomon. What is a BLNE? And any perticular brand of your favor i should look for?

BLNE is Box Lock, Non-Ejector. BLE is Box Lock Eector & then SL would be Side Lock with either E or NE.

I think most makers produced these guns up until the 1950s, possibly later. Robert Churchill was a great influence in short-barreled guns; H&H made a "Brevis" that has 26 1/2-inch barrels. The Brevis generally sells at a discount.

I've shot a Churchill XXV but many years ago - as I recall it was a boxlock. Very nice gun. That's the only English XXV that I shot - mine is a Continental gun but you're not interested in these.

It's going to come down to a personal like/preference and if you can make it to one of the doubles shoots you might get to see a number of these guns yourself.

Personally, I think it's harder to shoot a XXV than even a 28-inch barrrel but once you learn, it's great fun and very useful in dense cover.

Have you tried looking at the inventory in Griffn & Howe?

Bird - if you are considering a vintage English gun, take a look at the Lang that Rookhawk is advertising in the "for sale" section - looks nice, price seems very reasonable to me.