doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Purdey/Audley House visit

I was in London for a brief trip over the weekend and visited Purdey's Audley House in central London. They were incredibly pleasant and accommodating even though I made no purchases. I would have considered some snap caps, but I didn't see any out. If you are passing through, I would recommend a visit. Thought I would share some pictures. There were a couple of interesting guns on display including a one of four Schmidt triggerplate action gun and a four barrel (both under over and side by side, I guess).

https://imgur.com/a/purfey-audley-house-aBGcYBY

Great pictures. I'm glad you had a good visit.

I was only there once, in 1999. I was upfront in that I wasn't yet in the position to buy a Purdey, but that I'd always admired them. They were super gracious, and showed me a few guns. I did buy snap caps then.

More recently, Nick Harlow was very helpful when I was researching a Purdey double rifle built in 1895 that I purchased last year. Would love to get back to London next year and stop in and say hello in person.

Chris

I really like these types of posts. Thanks, Daryl

Fans of Webley & Scott guns owe it to themselves to buy the Crawford and Whatley book : "The History of W.& C . Scott Gunmakers. Although a slim volume, it's packed full of information. Until I read a quote from near the end of the book, I was not aware of just how important a role the 700 series guns played in the firm's history:

"Approximately 85,00 double guns, of which the Model 700 series accounted for one-third were produced by Webley&Scott from 1897 to1979.

I forgot to mention, one of the most interesting guns I saw wasn't at Purdey, it was in the Wallace collection. It was a nominally circa 1815 flintlock double, but it appeared to be a shotgun with very thin barrels unlike all of the others, which were clearly rifles, many with the octagonal standard barrels I am accustomed to seeing. I have never seen something resembling a bird gun that was manufactured so early in the 1800s. This is the gun:

https://wallacelive.wallacecollecti...p;objectId=61631&viewType=detailView

Here are photos of that gun and other nice flintlocks:

https://imgur.com/a/wallace-flintlocks-3L3g3cw

You can see the bird gun style barrels in the 4th picture.

Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing Dan.

“Tir a vol” or, shooting flying, was a French pastime, in particular of an exiled English king. The English, at the time, typically netted or shot at sitting birds, and the French weapons intended for the sport were far better developed than what was used in England.

Charles II brought the sport back from France after the monarchy was restored, in May of 1660. He also brought back an exceptional pair of French fowling pieces well suited for the sport, which, were copied and further perfected by the English.

The rest, is history.

Best,
Ted

Ted, do you have any English language references regarding that era? I would be interested in read more about it!

Dan,
Seek out the December/January issue 1990 of Shooting Sportsman magazine with the Michael McIntosh article titled “Paul Bruchet”.

It fills in the facts I posted very nicely, after all, I don’t want to completely rip off a long dead writer.

Best,
Ted

Go ahead, Ted, give us the wonderful old quote. I love it.