doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Old gold?

Hello, I'm new to the forum, and new-ish to shotguns in general. I recently inherited a side by side 12 gauge, with damascus barrels and the markings, "C. Playfair & Co. 138 Union St. Aberdeen". This gun apparently traveled over from Europe with my great grandfather's family, some time in early twentieth century as far as I can gather. There is some decent scrollwork on the metal, the checkering on the fore-end and stock is worn, the gun looks plenty used. There is a monogram or similar on the butt plate, looks like "ALC". My understanding is that this is a Scottish piece. I've been told not to shoot it with commercial loads due to the damascus barrels and the age of the gun. Are there any loads worth considering, or is this strictly a hang-over-the-mantlepiece item? I'd appreciate any wisdom on the matter, particularly of the yes-you-can-shoot-it variety. Many thanks!

This is from the IGC database:

Charles Playfair was born in Perth, Scotland in 1799. He was apprenticed as a gun maker (where is unknown) and in 1821 went on to establish his business as a gun maker and fishing tackle manufacturer at 56 Union Street, Aberdeen.
In 1823 his son, also named Charles Playfair, was born.

In 1825 the firm moved to 94 Union Street.

In 1841 Charles Playfair was elected Deacon of the Incorporation of hammermen.

In 1845 the firm moved to 70 Union Street, and Charles (Jnr) moved to Birmingham to go into partnership with Thomas Bentley.

In 1860 the firm moved to 138 Union Street (it seems the street was re-named Union Bridge at some time), by this time they held a Royal appointment to Prince Albert.

In 1875/76 the firm changed its name to Charles Playfair & Co.

Charles Playfair (Snr) died in 1876, and the company was bought by Robb (no further details).

In 1882 the company moved to 142 Union Street, and in 1925 to 18 Union Terrace with additional premises at 18 Diamond Street, the Union Terrace shop selling guns and the Diamond Street shop selling fishing tackle and other sports goods.

In 1955 the company was taken over by William Garden Ltd of 216 Union Street (who were taken over by John Dickson in 1968).


Pete

There are many of us who shoot old damascus and/or fluid steel (no real difference in strength for equal quality barrels) barreled guns. There are a number of "rules" that will greatly aid your safety in shooting. I'll name as many as I can think of off hand.

1. Shoot only guns known to be still in proof or properly vetted by a gunmaker/smith of known reputation (ask further with your location and you will get recomendations).

2. Shoot only loads of known low pressure and recoil. There are good low pressure (kind to the metal parts) loads commercially available and many reloading data sets. There is no surrigate for knowing the pressure; "light load," "low brass/base," etc do not tell you anything about the loads pressure. For low recoil, keep shot charges at or below 1 oz and velocity at or below 1200 fps. Many shooters are well satisfied with 7/8 oz at 1100 fps. Black powder does not assure low pressure.

3. Most old guns have had quite a lot of shooting and, to some extent, abuse or neglect. If you are going to shoot one, plan on spending some money fixing it.

4. Read every book you can lay hands on about double guns. Dig hadoke's new book contains a very broad and deep look at modern use of older guns. Read it!!!

5. Approach this subject with great care. It is known to create addictive behaviour.

So, your gun is likely from the 1860-75 time frame. It was a properly made gun and of good quality when new. The next issue will be to determine its current condition. You need to get it to a good gunmaker/smith for evaluation. You have a hunk of family history many can only wish for. Take care to learn to shoot it properly, if it is truly shootable. Wrecking such an heirloom out of ignorance is not an option!!!

B Ranelagh,

Welcome to the Board. Plenty of knowledge, freely shared here, as you see above. Be interesting if you can take the barrels off the gun and post some pictures of the barrel flats and the action flats as well as the engraving and the barrels to have a look at the pattern in them.

There's a primer on posting photographs, which must be digital and uploaded to a website such as photobucket.com that hosts pictures first.

Regards, Tim

Thanks to you for your replies, gentlemen. I'll post some photos as soon as I can.