doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Birmingham Small Arms

Buzz, the gun is a 12ga, 28" barrels, and weighs 6 pounds 15 ounces according to the seller. Chambers are 2 5/8" and it is choked IC and IM.

Thanks for the catalog information Mr. Hebbes. I have the 1925 catalog on order from Cornell publications. I haven't held the gun so I don't know whether it's a wild-fowler or a game gun. Weight could be either I'd think. I'm hoping it is a mourning dove special...Geo

George the Wildfowl guns had 3 inch chambers and were made as both ejector and non-ejector. I have the latter model. Yours is one of the high grade game models some were as plain as can be with just B.S.A. stamped onto the side. Yours will be pretty scarce as they were generally made for the lower end of the market initially as machine made guns and therefore mostly plain but that is one of the nicest I have seen; great find. If you contact John Knibbs http://www.airgunspares.com/store/ he has the records for BSA guns and can supply more information. I'm sure he would be interested to see the picture too. He wrote an interesting book called 'The Golden Century' which is a concise history of BSA including rifles, air guns and shotguns etc. A scarce book but very interesting.

The BSA dovetail lumps on the barrels are what inspired Winchester with the Model 21. It results in a broad action but a strong one. Lagopus.....

Thanks Lagopus. Your information is encouraging and helpful. I'll check out the link you included with your post...Geo

Geo, what a great find. I always thought of BSA as middle and dependable and in early days would have bought one; bought A&N later for only British. Yours, wow!

My dad's first BSA experience was in motorcycle sidecar July 1942 when the German, transporting him after being shot down, said "Goot bike. Dunkirk."

They first started to make these shotguns in, I think, 1920 as a basic non-ejector. I have seen game scene engraved models but not one like yours. In John Knibbs' book it shows a game pair made for the General Manager of Daimlers dealership in London and cased by Greeners who were in fact next door to the show room. One interesting variant of the BSA gun to look for are the ones supplied to the RAF in the Second World War and used to train air gunners how to shoot ahead. BSA bought them back after the war and refurbished them and then sold them back out again. These guns are usually the plain models and will have a letter 'W' in front of the serial number. A gun with history. A friend has one and was unaware until I pointed it out. Worth looking out for. I still have some of the original Eley Trapshooting cartridges and Tracer cartridges that the RAF would have used in these guns. I still use my BSA Magnum quite often. I think you will like it. Lagopus.....

i had a deluxe BSA had game scene engraving and was a pretty nice gun fit, finish, and wood

Yes thats a lovely BSA....very fancy.
I remember my first firearm was a .22 underleaver air gun....shot a few rabbits& roosting Wood Pigeons with that one , sneaking up the hedge rows in Somerset,
Best Christmas present I ever got, LOL
My dad had a couple of BSA motorbikes, a 125cc Bantam, then later a 650cc...I can still here the sound of that last one, if I listen hard enough.

Lucas...the lord of darkness, they used to say,ha ha
cheers
Franc

My Dad had one of those as well. We were little kids & we would listen for Dad coming home, my sister named the bike, The Booker Bucker.
O.M

I have always thought of the BSA guns as the Stevens 311 of the British gun world. This one brings to my mind the lovely Stevens high grades shown in their old catalogs, which seemingly have no corporeal existence...Geo

Corporeal ............. good lawyer word, Geo.

SRH