[quote=PM
15lb gun 7-71/4"
Objective handling of the Paradox should be something like the "more or less comparables" that follow:
W. J. Jeffery Double Rifle BLNE, .600 NE, 24" bbls, 14 3/8" LOP, weight = 14# 8 oz, balance = 5 3/8", unmounted swing effort = 2.70, Mounted swing effort = 14.89, compactness = 9.29
Westley Richards New Drop Lock BLE 2009 Production, 8 bore, 34" bbls, 15 1/4" LOP, weight = 12# 7 oz, balance = 7 5/8", unmounted swing effort = 3.38, mounted swing effort = 17.43, compactness = 11.22
Greener SXS side lever hammer NE #11510, 10 - 2 7/8" bore, 36" dam bbls, 14 1/4" LOP, weight = 11.56, balance = 7", unmounted swing effort = 3.08, mounted swing effort = 14.34, compactness = 11.11
Subjective for the above is as follows: weight is " very, very heavy" ie. lots for muscle effort to lift and carry, balance is very forward, but, generally managable, and both mounted and unmounted swings are very slow. The unmount swings are at the top end of heavy target guns and the mounted swings are near heroic at about 1/3 more than heavy target guns. If unfamiliar with such heavy guns, consider shooting a typical pair of game guns --- at the same time!!! The foregoing is in no way intended to imply "poor" handling, rather it is intended to show that such guns do, indeed, require considerable muscle effort.
Advertising for the period indicates increased velocity (I don't have a fully rifled Holland 8 but had another makers gun here for a while a 17lbder and velocities were similar). The fact that the majority of the big bore pdxes were made a couple of pounds lighter than fully rifled guns is a "smoking gun" indication of lighter recoil.
If you have an interest or curiosity in the paradox you might want to invest in Roger Lakes book "Paradox" It would be impossible to duplicate the information in this book, if one were to try and do so on his own. [/quote] I can't come up with a plausible explaination as to why a Paradox might have lower recoil than a fully rifled gun. I suspect that H&H may well have discovered that they could get the same performance on game with the Paradox as with a fully rifled gun. They also knew that they could cut a "couple of pounds" off the weight of the Paradox, but not the rifle (say 15% weight reduction) but also knew that reducing weight would cause a sales problem unless they addressed recoil. Consider the concern for recoil expressed in this thread!! Sooooo, the advertising department "decided" that the Paradox, for unexplained reasons, had less recoil than the rifle. We all know how committed to truth ad departments can be. And, by the way, looking at the recoil and KE table, is it any wonder the .577 and .600 NE's eclipsed the 8 bore?
DDA
