Wonder what the value of a pair of Westley Richards droplock locks would be.
Theoretically they would be fittable to most WR actions considering they were built using common jigs and fixtures.
They come up every once in a while. I saw a set on eBay 4-5 years ago that went cheap. I didn't have a drop lock at the time so it didn't matter. Now I do and wish I would have bought them when I had the chance.
I think the chances of fitting another gun would be about like the odds for a set of barrels from a different gun fitting. There are 2 distinct styles of locks for a drop lock. Some have integral firing pins on the hammer and some have bushed firing pins in the action and a flat faced hammer. Sure there are other slight differences in the ~120+ years they've been made.
The market may be pretty narrow, but they are cool regardless.
I would think a spare set of drop locks would be the ultimate accessory for a WR cased gun. I am even sure more than one was ordered with it. It just makes sense to do so if you are going to a remote location like Africa or India where gunsmiths of any kind might be hundreds of miles away. Not fun to be out on the hunt with a double which only fires on one barrel. One failure away from throwing stones at nasty things that want to eat you or stomp you into pudding.
The problem is finding a gun that they would fit. It is a hundred or a thousand to one shot perhaps, or maybe less. Have you thought about dropping WR an email with good photos attached to see if they can give you some help. They might be able to narrow down a period that they were made or even give you a range of serial numbers that might be a close match. Now I am sure that they will require extensive fitting if I owned them and tried to fit them to a gun. But perhaps they could identify, by a serial number on the lock, which gun they came from. Their records might be your only clue, if any, and that gun might still be a "known" gun. It would be cool to get them all the way back to the gun they were made for.
SGL,
I think someone sold a single droplock on this site for $350-$500 a few years ago. As KY Jon said above, the locks should have a serial number on them. You could look up the serial number on the WR website to get a ballpark of when they were made.
How do you have a pair of locks without the gun?
Ken
Ken, many of the droplocks came with an extra pair of locks. Not hard to loose if case is not there, especially.
Ken,
I have the gun, made in 1904 according to WR. It had been mistreated before it came to me. The barrels were badly repaired after a burst and thin at the critical spots. I kept it going as far as I could. It is now beyond restoration.
It is a single trigger selector model. Before the strongbox became law it was on display as a stripped action. That is no longer possible, it must reside hidden in a steel box.
Strongbox law??? What's that??
Shotguns must be kept in a strong box, safe, dedicated gun room. In short, they cannot be displayed even if inoperable. This is the law in almost all of the EU.
I understand. You don't list your location so I didn't know where you were from.
Shotgunlover,
If you like the gun, what about having the barrels lined?
Mike