doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Westley Richards Deeley and Edge

Whitey,
Does it appear to have always been a 22LR? That would put it in the late 1890s.

Whitey got his Field's sidelever Martini from me and I got it from the importer, Thad Scott. It began its life as a 577/500 No 2 Westley Richards with a full-length rib but had been converted to a 22LR target rifle with the rib dovetailed for a globe front sight and a folding tang sight was scabbed onto the hump of the action. It shares the same slim wrist as on the other 2 Field's rifles shown here, as well as the lever-lock for the sidelever. Basically identical to the one shown except for the sights and rib. VERY high quality throughout, except for the conversion sights (now 86ed of course).
Regards, Joe

Steven, thank you for posting that picture of the WRD&E. That is a beautiful specimen and looks to be very late. It appears to have the little lever for changing the trigger to single set. If I get be so lucky! Bob

I'm surprised Thad didn't try to sell it to me. He loveD to dangle stuff like that in front of me. I can't believe how much I miss him!

I know what you mean, his old place is just up the road a few miles (OK a few dozen) from me, I loved to go up there just after he finished cataloging a new shipment.

Here's a pic of the sidelever Martini after partial restoration, for comparison of the characteristic Field's rather dainty wrist shape.

The excrescence you see on the left side of the frame is a spring for retention of the breechblock in the closed position; it also adds a certain snap to the extraction.
Regards, Joe

Bob,
As I wrote in the On the Cover blurb, "Upon disassembly it was noted that the set lever was not attached to anything on the interior of the rifle and in fact had no function."
Yes, the lever is there, as it the tensioning lever-spring, but isn't hooked up to anything which caused a mystery when we shot it and couldn't detect a 'set' to the trigger!


It is a fantastically simple, and elegantly functional rifle action. More straightforward than a High Wall!
Good luck in your Quest!
Steve

I just noticed the "Deep South" location under your name. I can't imagine a "Deeper" location than Indianola. My wife and I live on a farm in southwest Wisconsin. I couldn't understand why Thad would always describe his ATV business like a tractor and implement store until I saw the dug out rice fields next to the raised cotton fields. It all made sense after that. I loved wandering around his vault. I used to help him unpack the stuff the Feds would let him get out of the bonded warehouse. It was like Xmas morning.

'Deeper' is 40-50 miles South of Indianola (G). Thad was one of a kind, we are diminished.

Yes, we have rice, we have beans (soybeans), we have cotton, we have catfish, we have pine trees and we have ALL the flora and fauna that itch, bite and sting. We have the best-looking women (3 Miss Americas) and the most ignorant politicians & voters (highest infant death rate and lowest wage rate).

But we don't have NEARLY enough dealers in fine firearms, only a very few left around here nowadays.
Regards, Joe

Do you remember this J. P. Sauer J.D.? Of all the many firearms I got from Thad, even though it is far from the best, it is my favorite. Thad had it for at least 2 years because someone had foolishly relined it to .223. Thad had way too high a price on it and I offered him way too low a price. Normally he never liked to keep one for more than 6 months. He made me wait 2 years just for fun, so I told him I didn't want it when he finally relented...but neither of us could keep a straight face so he immediately knew I was kidding.

Very fine rifle joel, did you do anything with the bore?