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A really interesting discussion between TGS Outdoors and Holts Auctioneers on British Boxlocks,the workhorse of the side by side world, pre the Spanish import period.

Boxlocks Explained

A very interesting and entertaining video.
Here in the UK with the current dire British economy and £ versus $ it is a fine time to consider a purchase.
Many , many SxS are simply not wanted here by the younger shooting enthusiast , gunshops will give you very little money for a SxS either as a sale or a part exchange for a new or used O/U.
For the novice you would be well advised to purchase Diggory Hadoke's book Vintage Guns for the Modern Shot ( a super Christmas present????).
Experts amongst you will realise that birds or targets can be shot equally as well with a SxS as with an O/U but at a fraction of the cost of an O/U but with far greater joy and excitement.
Enjoy the video , have more enjoyment reading Diggory's book , but have exceptional joy and entertainment shooting a wonderful British made SxS.

Yup....Johnny Come Lately and Simple Simon???[/quote]

This is doublegun.com where bragging how much better one is than everyone else is important and insults are stock in trade.

I don't see this as a sale promotion. It will exist well after the auction is gone. It doesn't particularly promote any one gun, or is it clear that any, much less all of them are for sale next week. Overall, it's a nice production that is about 1000 times better than I've seen by others on guns of any type on Youtube. I even learned something. And how many other places will one get to see the drop locks on a Wesley. And how many times is too many to view a Dickson? I can live with the inaccuracies for just those things alone. I can only hope they will make another soon.

But go ahead and pick it apart. That's what you guys do.

It is useful to know that some things might be easy to acquire but can be very expensive to keep. Anyone who lived in England and bought a used Jaguar knows that.

Soul.... well you tell a 25 year old shooter that he has to pay 3000 dollars for a new V spring on his soulful English boxlock, plus wait for a year for the work to be done and see how far you get in popularising SXS shotguns. pre or post war.

Annoying to see them hold a Greener next to an Anson barrel set, get told of the details and never get a close up of the things. Seems that the video was got up in a hurry and camera work and editing were rushed.

Seeing that there are some hundreds of boxlocks in the auction catalog I get the need to drum up interest in the type.

Simon sounds so confident about what he says and admittedly this sort of clip is for the casual observer. However, as usual there are unfortunately historical errors in what he says. The most egregious of these occurred early on when he conflates WW Greener the father, who hated center-break guns, with his son. The two broke over the issue and did not speak for 10 years. This sort of thing unfortunately leads one to sort of want to move on to something more intellectual and accurate.

Particularly as the Facile Princeps was the relatively uncommon first model with the swinging cocking hook attached to the front lump.

That’s who Jonny’s videos are made for. And Simon joins him to hype the next Holt’s auction. Lol[/quote]


Yup....Johnny Come Lately and Simple Simon???

Great video and well worth the time.

Great video, but I sure wish all the true experts here would show what they can do with a better one. The bar has been set and it seems many think they can do much better. I'd love to see it done.

One of my favorite TGS episodes with Jonny was his in depth discussion of the Beretta 680 and progeny series. With a Leatherman tool, he stripped it down completely with commentary that parts availability is readily accessible, inexpensive, with no fitting required. The genius of the replaceable trunnions, ejector assembly, etc. was demonstrated. Well worth watching for those considering the series or owners who seek affirmation of their choice. Gil

A very good book on the A&D is John Campbell's The Birth of the Boxlock which utilises a hell of a lot of research done by myself about William Anson

Hey Brent...... chill out man. Have you watched many of Jonny's video's? He has done a ton of them. He started as an employee in a gunshop and began the videos as a way of promoting the shop and it's wares. His videos have been so successful that he moved to doing them full time. Simon joins him, typically shortly before a Holt's auction and the topic is usually germane to Holt's ambitions for the auction. A sales promotion. THAT'S WHAT IT IS!

That doesn't mean it's bad, evil, useless or a waste of time. One poster here, who hasn't often contributed to the conversation, called a spade a spade in a humorous way. Big deal. One of the reason's Jonny's videos are so successful is because he imparts a lot of good information, targeting those who don't know very much about classic SxS, in a very accessible and entertaining way. But that doesn't mean they aren't, at their core, promotional vehicles.

Of course it doesn't promote any one gun. Holt's auction isn't selling just any one gun. But you don't need to be a university professor to figure out that low and mid range boxlock prices in the UK are tanking. That happens when there are lots of sellers and not enough buyers. So doing a video focusing on the qualities inherent on British boxlocks makes perfect sense. It's promoting a product range or class, not an individual item. Companies do that all the time.

My son will be learning that lesson shortly with his new to him TR6.

I learned it well with larger sailing vessels. I’ve just struck a deal to look after and maintain a 30’ sloop (Alberg 30 for those who care) with someone else paying all the bills. Oh, and they don’t know how to sail the boat. Lol. So basically I have a boat to sail literally whenever I want and someone else is paying for it. Dumb luck. Should be good for a 5 year plus kick at it.