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Forums10
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Jul 28th, 2025
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,250
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,250 |
If your interested in function, its the locks, but if your interested in field preformance its the barrels.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,462 Likes: 89
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,462 Likes: 89 |
Example....a short time back a friend bought a no-name English hammer gun. Nice looking good condition gun...nice barrels.
The day I looked at it....I cocked the hammers a couple of times (both hammers felt like you needed a come-along to cock them...kinda like an old Remington hammer gun).
I commented that if I were you I would send it back before the 3 day inspection is up. Yesterday the left lock decided it wasn't going to fire.
A SxS is only as good as it's locks.
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,598
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,598 |
We have to remember that history shows us that the Birmingham craftsmen lived with their families in tenements, lofts and attics above the the workshops.I can remember playing kick the can in the tenement yard whilst handcarts scurried by.... Who pushed the carts? I know it sounds like a strange question, but I am curious. Were these adults or children? In Liege, at the turn of the century they would have been children. A journeyman was often hired based on the number of sons he had. The sons were expected to run errands, deliver parts, etc. I am wondering how close the English trade was to this. So much of what you describe sounds very close to the trade in Liege and the US. Pete
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 5,021
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 5,021 |
Relatively speaking, the English gun industry is so well documented that there has to be a way, without the help of the individual firms, doubtful they would really want to help anyway, to trace parts back to the original maker.
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 184
Member
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Member
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 184 |
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,457 Likes: 336
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,457 Likes: 336 |
Pete, one of the more recent British gun books had something to say about the guy who pushed the cart full of gun parts etc. I cannot remember if it was the Greener book, or the Boss, or the Purdey, or another, but it was one of the ones published in the last few years. They even had a name for the fellow who did this work.
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,971 Likes: 103
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,971 Likes: 103 |
Salopian, I've said it before and I'll say it again: WRITE down all of your memories of those years! You've got the knack and the interest. If you need a pen I'll gladly send you one. I smell a super multi-part article for the Double Gun Journal....
John McCain is my war hero.
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 203
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 203 |
Could a Birmingham trade builder of best guns for the London "Makers" have sold essentially the same quality gun direst to a retail customer? If this did not occur to any extent were they prevented from doing so by their agreements with London, or because they preferred to stay as "wholesale" best gun builders only.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,462 Likes: 89
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 15,462 Likes: 89 |
I don't really believe there were any "wholesale best gun builders"....anymore than I believe they could all build best guns.
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 433
Member
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Member
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 433 |
Yes, they did. Birmingham had the engine, but London had the trump - the West End addresses and Royal Warrants - and thus a retail power that they couldn't meet with in house production alone.
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."
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