Karl, that’s a really nice EJ Churchill XXV. I always thought a Churchill XXV shotgun would be the perfect forest grouse gun re: short barrels for quick instinctive shooting.
Lloyd, For me I’m a history guy, I like seeing the old Colonial trade firearms at gunshows. To me they are very special, a tangible piece of history. I have one, a lower grade Clabrough and Johnstone, dated circa 1920. In the book 'Trade Guns of the Hudson Bay Company 1670-1970' by S. James Gooding, the first mention of the English breech loading shotgun is first listed in the HBC catalog dated 1896-1901. The book states that "most of the muzzle and breech loading shotguns in this period were made by the traditional London & Birmingham suppliers: Hollis, Bentley & Playfair, C.O. Bircham, C.G Bonehill (Ltd.), W.J Jeffrey & Co., T. Bland & Sons, JP Clabrough, and later JP Clabrough & Johnstone (HBC production between 1894-1920+), Joseph Bourne & Son, and Bentley & Playfair." pgs. 102-105, 147.
What date is your newly acquired 2 inch 12 gauge shotgun? You will have to look and see if it has a J.A mark stamp on the action or barrels. Apparently Joseph Asbury of Birmingham supplied most of the 2 inch gun actions and barrels to the trade between the war years.
Joseph Asbury
