Hi all,
I just picked up a H&H double rifle with that had been polished out and converted to a 20G 2.5 case length (according to the new proof mark stamped on the barrel flats) it shows a "5 drams x 2¾" logo engraved on the side plate on one side and Holland & Holland on the other with H&H on both back plates.
The workmanship is very nice and it closes using a Jones underlever.
Regards
Martin
Are we to congratulate you or console you ?
Console. 5 drams is a pretty stout load. Would have been a hell of a rifle.
I have had several BPE double rifles that were converted to smoothbore guns. Two 20's & One 28 gauge. This may be a dumb question, but is it possible to convert one of these back to it's original rifle caliber? Just wondering.
Best Regards, George
George:
I stumbled across a BPE double rifle converted to shotgun in a local gunshop a few years ago and was interested enough in the idea of converting it back to a double rifle to call Mr. Merrington. He was quite candid with me, suggesting that I'd be far better off investing the funds for the purchase and conversion into one that had never been butchered.
Rem
Homeless jo suit yourself you always have all the answers.
Martin
Martin, I apologize but I’m kind of confused also, great name but it’s a double rifle converted to a 20 gauge shotgun. The weight of it must be kind of out of whack, don’t you think?
treblig. It is just a little solid feeling more like a light 2.75 10G sbs. It should soak up the recoil and be a great starter gun for my grandson as we tend to sit out for pigeons for about 4 hours at a time without any walking involved.
Regards
Martin
Someone should be shot with the gun for doing that to it
regards, Mike
Sorry bavarianbrit, I didn´t mean to sound rude there, best, Mike
What's the barrel length? Most rifles are relatively short barreled.
Hi,
66cm or 26 inches bbls.
Have yet to use it on the pigeons.
Regards Martin
What a fantastic starter gun for a young lad! An H&H! I hope he brings down a double gaggle of pigeons with his new gun. He won't care one bit about the weight or what it was in it's former life. He'll just be one thrilled boy!
I would imagine that the reason this was done is that the barrels were either shot out or rusted out, so really they were just making the best of a bad situation. Economics were obviously a consideration or they would have re-barreled the rifle.
Regulating rifled barrel liners would be a very difficult proposition. I have relined a bored out rook rifle to a .22 hornet but that's simple compared to a double rifle.
Bob,
Condition is very good I think it was bored out due to the fact that shotgun permission from the police here in the Uk is much easier to get than getting a rifled firearm permission.
Sad but thats the UK.
I will try it myself on pigeons this weekend in Dover area, so watch this space.
Martin
Bavarianbrit, I wonder why on earth the owner didn´t sell the double rifle as it was and buy a nice secondhand Holland shotgun and pocket the change ???? I´m baffled, best, Mike
Mike,
Although this wouldn't apply if the conversion was done in the US, in the UK many rifles were converted to shotguns when the rules changed back in the 60's (may have the decade wrong - before my time).
Rifles were split off from shotguns in the terms under which they were licenced. For rifles the weapon was licenced, and still is; for shotguns the emphasis lay with the person. ie. one could have as many shotguns as one liked but each rifle had to have a 'reason for ownership'. This is still the case which is why the British rifle enthusiast is rarely a collector - they would need a special licence (or a very understanding local firearms department) to have more than one rifle for any particular purpose.
Therefore rifles without any real purpose were turned into the appropriate gauge shotgun and kept for the children or occasional use round the farm/estate.
This explains the huge number of Rook Rifles converted to 410 shotguns.
Before this kicks off another tirade from some on the horrors of the British firearms legislation, I for one am pretty pleased that every 'old boy' doesn't have access to a rifle in our overcrowded isle.
However, I do regret the trashing of so many lovely old rifles, a terrible shame.
I think I would consider a compromise here: make it to a cape gun.
With kind regards,
Jani
Point taken Toby, some of the different laws in different places make me smile. For instance a .22LR is reasonably easy to acquire in the UK for knocking over rabbits but here in Spain with nearly 60% of the land mass still National park or Cotos given over to hunting you can only get a .22 if you are in a shooting club as it is illegal to use them in the country !!! Bear in mind there are no restrictions on numbers of rifles here, I have in my cabinet a .44, a .375 and a .500. I can use the .375 on rabbits but not the .22 ! Apparently they were used in poaching a lot and also back in the 1950´s there were quite a few ricochet accidents so the rimfires were banned in the field, shame. best, Mike