doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Just joined the 8 bore club

Yesterday I bought at auction my ticket to the 8 bore club. It's not a double, but it is vintage, and big and unusual enough to be of some interest to some here, I imagine:
Single barrel, jones underlever hammer gun; very plain, simple and old fashioned, but 10 lbs 4 oz of oh-so-stout.
On the breech: "Made for Crawcour & Davidson, Geelong (by Chas. Osborne & Co, Birmingham"
Crawcour and Davidson was a small retailer active between 1892-94 in the port city of Geelong, Victoria, which dates it fairly closely and places it locally (to me; none of you!).
The plain twist barrel is only 31", but it balances just ahead of the hinge pin, has an old bead, and a fairly cleanly formed muzzle, so it may yet be of original length.
Looks a bit of a sleeper: lots of grimy patina, crisp profiles and not a mashed screw slot in sight.
Already ordered the roll crimp head and 21 and 22mm wad punches; have wadding, primers, powder and shot on hand; have been offered some cases... I suspect I won't be able to stop grinning once I've fired it!

Sounds like a great gun. Single barrled guns are a great way to get into 8 or 4 bore guns on a budget.

Welcome to the club. I make my cases from Remington Industrial fired cases that I have loads of; just need re-sizing. I guess you can still use 8 bores for wildfowling like here in the U.K.

I was looking at an Osbourne single 4 bore just yesterday and wishing I had a bit more cash on me. Lagopus.....

Now to plan b on the roll crimp head after getting the quote on shipping/ handling... Is anyone familiar with the Gaep tool? Does it mount in a drill press? Does it need any other tooling to complete a rolled crimp over an overshot card?
Actually, we can't use larger than 12 bore for any type of declared game here; but we live in hope of a simple amendment to the Wildlife Act which would stop 8s being lumped in with punt guns; we almost got something changed a few years back, but it was being tackled via the wrong bit of statute.

I don't know about the 8 gauge but my 24 gauge GAEP roll crimp head does mount in my drill press. It requires no other tooling to crimp over an overshot wad (other than a means of clamping the hull to be crimped so that it doesn't spin). GAEP makes the best roll crimping head that I've seen.

I ordered by e-mail, paid by Pay-Pal and it was delivered by mail 10 or 11 days later.

That sounds good, thanks.

Here it is:

A good plain and straightforward gun made for wildfowling. Do you know the chamber length? Is it black powder or nitro proof? Osbourne number books did not survive but there is some information on numbers between 1912 and 1928. I would think that yours predates that. Details of proof marks may help in narrowing the manufacture dates down. Lagopus.....

BP proof, 3 1/4" (I think).
I'm pretty confident of an 1892-94 build date, as the Geelong retailer it was built for only existed under that name in those years.

Great looking gun you have Cadet! I've always thought the English single shot hammer guns were the most elegant old guns out there. I had a 16 Needham (Greener)shown below. It was too light and couldn't shoot it. Don't think you'll have that problem with your eight...Geo