Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out info about such a gun. What I have found so far is it is a boxlock made in 1899. 12 ga 30" bbls #2 of a pair. Will have pics in the near future. Good gun ?????
I think you mean William Evans FROM Purdey. Probably a good gun, but almost certainly made in Birmingham for Evans. The Evans name means a higher price. It's like H&H putting their name on guns made by Scott: you pay a premium for the name.
Yes, and once you have shouldered an English built gun I guarantee you’ll never forget it. How good that particular gun is depends on if any of its previous owners didn't beat it to death.
William Evans worked for James Purdey and when he left to establish his own business he stamped that ‘From” on his guns to attract business, which wasn’t well received by the James Purdey gang.
Unless the order book that contains your gun has been lost, William Evans may be able to provide provenance on your gun. A great number of Evans shotguns were built on the Webley screw grip action, probably sourced from Webley. The serial number ranges available for research are listed in Nigel Brown's London Gunmakers. His indication is that the 1899 guns are generally available for research. A recent post by Diggory Hadoke, known as "smallbore" on this forum, indicates that William Evans generally did not build guns, only operated a gun shop.
A recent post by Diggory Hadoke, known as "smallbore" on this forum, indicates that William Evans generally did not build guns, only operated a gun shop.
That is still the case 100 years later:
Building a Best Gun requires top craftsmanship and materials that cannot be bettered – by definition, these guns are the best a manufacturer can build. Historically, a William Evans Best Gun has always represented exceptional value for money, a fact that remains true today. We employ the skills of the country’s premier Master Gunsmiths, each being specialists in their individual craft. We are able to produce best quality guns at by far the keenest price in London by managing and monitoring the build process through every step. It is William Evans’s gunroom team that controls costs and timings, they who select each craftsman on merit and they who draw each element of the build, testing and quality supervision together - in short, we oversee the commission from start to final delivery. The savings made for our clients by working in this way are dramatic and the net result is a Best London gun that proudly bears the William Evans name.
Too bad it has all the spacers and the really giant replacement forend wood. Metal looks fine. Maybe the forend wood could be reworked and something done with the buttstock. It depends how much wood is left and how much length you need.
One of my nicest shotguns is a William Evans sidelock originally sold in 1901. Beautiful 30" black & white Damascus barrels, quite a bit of original case colors, lovely figured wood, all furniture covered in attractive, meticulous engraving. With the famous Webley screw grip action, the gun locks up solid , fits me well and shoots wonderfully.
I've never handled an Evans boxlock but I can imagine some of those were crafted to the same high standard. The more time I spend on my vintage gun education the more amazement I have at the realization that there was a plethora of real craftsmen in "the trade" and these guys put their heart and soul in their work, the likes of which will never be seen again.
It appears to have interceptor sears and a Webley screw grip.
Gun locks up like a vault. Can anyone interpret the proof marks ?
Wouldn't those be black powder proofs since Nitro is not stamped anywhere? 1896 or thereabouts? The 13/1 indicates the bore should be around .719. At least, that's how I read them. Get the bore diameter and wall thickness if possible.
Looks like one of Mr Webleys guns and yes it is black powder proof .
Is it common for a gun well into smokeless powder era to have BP proofs only?
I know that many Brit sports did not trust nitro powders at first and that up to WWI cartridges which were bought in bulk for big shoots were almost invariably BP, so high was the chance that some of the shots didn't or couldn't (older guns) shoot smokeless. But for a gun, with an essentially mass-produced action, not to have nitro proofs?
Did it have to be specified by the customer in the order, 'gun to shoot black powder only' or some such?
13/1 indicates the bore was somewhere between .719 and .729 when proofed...
Nitro proof was not the standard until 1904 after 1896{?} it was optional . After 1904 black powder proof would have been to order . Many guns that went to the colonies where BP was still used in quantity would have been BP only .
In this case we may never know .
