doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Single Barrel Game guns

Last year I picked up a very nice Tolley 12 gauge single barrel game gun circa 1910. Noticed on Guns America recently a Woodward Single barrel Game gun. And I've seen one other Tolley, very similar to mine but in 16 gauge.

Can anyone explain to me why they would have made these guns? Who was the intended market?

They were made exclusively for the crack shot who never missed with his first bbl..:)
I can see lesser name makers making em to sell to farmers,working men etc cheaper.But I'm sure a single Woodward wasn't exactly cheap.
Perhaps lighter for ladies or youths?
I'd like a nice one myself!
Franc

Single barrel guns ,both hammer and hammerles ,as in a single Anson and Deeley style , were made in quantity for both the home and export markets. Later Webley and BSA produced single barrel semi hammerless guns in large numbers as was the Greener GP gun. The Quality ranged from the very nice to the god awful.They ranged from very light small bores to heavy weight wildfowlers
As to the Woodward ,which Woodward are we talking about? Thomas or James? I have also seen a single barrel side lock with a false lock plate on the other side , all that I have seen have seen right handed actions or locks .

Terry Lubzinski has shown photos of his 10 gauge single bbl. Greener. It's a useful beauty that he uses for pass shooting geese. Hopefully he will provide details of this interesting gun.

The Woodward I mentioned can be viewed here:

http://www.gunsinternational.com/WOODWAR...un_id=100155231

It does not look like an cheap gun, nor is it priced that way. It is a single sidelock, WITHOUT a false sideplate for the opposite side.

The Tolley I have and the other Tolley I saw were both boxlocks and of good quality.

I wondered about the woman/child rational but thought given being a 12 gauge and being less than 6 pounds, the guns would have a significant recoil, which might lessen their value to a smaller, lighter person.

Regards,

James

They are bad for hunting Bobwhites over pointing dogs:

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...true#Post168173

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...true#Post165914



Best,

Mike

Mike, thanks for the links. Those look like nice guns. Wish mine was a 16, but love it regardless.

The sort of shooting that was probably done with such guns would not have been heavy. One elderly gentleman I knew who owned one ,would walk out with his dog through some wood land he owned taking his single barrel 12 bore [Name has forsaken me] and maybe 6 or 7 cartridges in his pocket. If he shot 4 of them he considered it a good afternoon shooting.
As a point of interest a man I worked under as an apprentice, who's Father and uncles had worked in the Birmingham trade [prior WW2] used to build single barrel hammerless barreled actions , most he told me, went for the colonial and commonwealth trade.

I've always assumed these high quality singles were used for informal rough shooting with plenty of walking, just as gunman describes. No real need for firepower, not enough shooting for the recoil to be a bother, and the lightness a very real advantage.

I had a single barrel game gun with an ejector and everything, it was called a Winchester Model 37 . I was 13 and it was my first shotgun. I know it was a game gun because the first time I fired it (or any shotgun for that matter) I got game, a cock pheasant. Lucky me!
Steve