An interesting video look at Percy Stanbury's SXS shotgun - which might have the most major wins for a SXS in shooting history.

Very nice
Thank you

Yes, thanks.

If it's "winningest" in $s it might go to whatever gun John W. "Bet A Million" Gates was using
https://books.google.com/books?id=taMfAAAAMAAJ&dq

Nov. 10, 1900 Sporting Life



$150,000 = about $3,750,000 today

Gates really was a Live Bird competitor; I've found reports of his participation at Carteret, and Palm Beach, FL
http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1904/VOL_42_NO_25/SL4225019.pdf

Does anyone have an idea about the stock dimensions on this gun? Obviously they would fit him but but the general outline would be interesting.

Here is an article on the gun with more technical details:

https://www.thefield.co.uk/reviews/gun-reviews/percy-stanburys-webley-scott

excerpt:

The Stanbury side-by-side has a special aura accentuated by the silver ovals on the butt which record his championship wins. The serial number is 95188, which suggests it was made in 1921. It weighs 7lb 71/2oz but feels lighter. It has very tightly choked (full and super-full), 30in barrels. These are unusual not just in constriction but because they have a wide, flat and tapered, file-cut rib (and are equipped with a tiny mid bead 10in from the breech). The rib is 7/16in wide to the rear, 1/4in at the muzzles.

Most unusually, the gun is equipped with a single selective trigger (the special work of Roland Bloomer), and bears Birmingham proofmarks for 1 1/4oz loads. It now shows London 70mm marks for 2006 (and has bores, somewhat enlarged from their original dimension, with proof diameters of 18.6mm and 18.7mm). With an imperial micrometer they measure .732 and .735. The semi-pistol stock is elegantly proportioned (and not the original). The measurements are 14 5/8in for length, with drop of 1 1/2in and 2 1/8in, with about 1/4in of cast at heel.

Interesting that a top proffessional who depended on his gun to make his living chose a most unbritish spec gun. Boxlock not sidelock, single trigger, longer barrels than standard for the time, tightly choked, high ribbed.

Typical specs though for a trap gun for that period. He really made his living as a shooting instructor. Mike Yardley now owns it I believe. He is a clay shot and gun writer over here. Lagopus�..

I had a WJ Jeffrey that was the spitting image of Percy�s gun right down to the raised rib. Shouldn�t have sold it but the stock it was too low for me.

Thanks for posting!! Very interesting.

Shirley Florent , Doug Florent's wife owns Percy's gun . It lives at The Oxford Gun Club.
Mike Yardley owns Chris Craddock's semi auto shotgun.

Who is Chris Craddock?

I have a Fox A grade that is stocked very similarly with double triggers. I shoot zz bird with it.

A problem I have with shooting sxs doubles is that my dominate eye switches sometimes. I believe my brain gets bored with concentrating. My answer is to put white electricians tape on the rib and taper the width from breech to barrel end. This helps to create a single narrow pointing plane and sort of makes the rib look higher than it is. I was told this old trick by a pigeon shooter and it works for me.

An interesting profile of Doug and Shirley Florent's background from the Oxford Gun company website. Their son David is also very active in the company and there are several more interesting videos on the TSC youtube channel. One thing that caught my eye was the mention of a British Airways gun club. Imagine that today!


Doug & Shirley Florent
Founders and Owners (Oxford Gun Company)

Not many people can boast 40 years in the gun trade. Yet, in 2016, Doug and Shirley Florent are celebrating their 40th anniversary in the business. Doug and Shirley were drawn into shooting quickly and in the early days, they travelled together all over the world shooting F.I.T.A.S.C, trap and English Sporting and competed with some of the greats, including Paddy Howe, Wally Sykes and AJ Smith.

Throughout the late seventies and early eighties Doug and Shirley continued to become more involved with the industry, working closely with the British Airways Gun Club and West London Shooting School to develop an A.B.T shoot which eventually became the start of The Gun Club at West London Shooting School. Driven by passion and hard work, this became one of the busiest clubs in the country, welcoming thousands of new people into the sport and supporting existing shooters in developing their technique and style, as they cut their teeth in the world of instructing.

Having worked with Holland & Holland, Bill Lees at Boss�s Shooting Ground and Chris Cradock, The Oxford Gun Company was started in 1988. Their careers in the industry have undoubtedly been a steep learning curve, but it has given them a clarity of insight into the industry. From retail to instructing and events management, if it happens in the countryside Doug and Shirley have mastered it. At The Oxford Company they have created a community which works closely with local businesses, and nurtures both established and novice shots.

The Oxford Gun Company is first and foremost committed to rewriting the stereotypes attached to shooting, and showing the world that it's a sport for everyone.

https://www.oxfordguncompany.co.uk/shootingschool/experience.php

I�ve learned that if my off eye takes over it�s because the stock is slightly low. I notice this on dropping targets. In place of white tape you can use chalk

Interesting history. Thanks for posting.

Regarding British Airways gun club, many large companies here in the states had/have gun clubs. Standard Oil/Chevron had a shooting facility for its employees and later the public for decades. North American/Rockwell had a gun club. McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach CA had a gun club that met at a local range. I think all the major aerospace companies in California had a gun club.

A followup video of actually shooting the Stanbury shotgun:

The gun does not have a higher than standard rib as a previous poster has suggested. It is a standard Webley, or Scott rib, maybe tapered, but not otherwise unusual.

I am curious about one early statement. He said it was a "SxS but built like an O/U." What did he mean? Was he referring to the single trigger?

I think it’s noteworthy that Percy managed to win the National Skeet Championships on more than one occasion despite its extra full choking.

Lagopus , Mike Yardley bought a similar spec Webley and Scott both as a homage to Percy and as he shot well with it. I’m sorry that I have no reference for the article but I think it may have been in a comparatively recent Field magazine so probably available online. Edit to add A full review of Mike Yardley’s Webley can be found on Shootinguk online under the title Webley and Scott 700 shotgun review. The gun was sourced at William Evans and was built on a 700 action as a pigeon gun ,heavily choked but double triggered in contrast to Percy Stanbury’s gun.

The flat file cut rib although not a raised rib would still have sat higher than the more common concave game rib of the time.

Interestingly Chris Batha in an article in the British Shooting Times 14th October 1999 wrote that the gun had the following specifications

Drop at comb 1 1/2 inch and 2 1/8 inch but a cast off of 7/16 inch and a weight of 7lb 11oz

Interesting that a competition gun would have a checkered butt. Looks like it’s choked tighter than Dicks hat band

He was probably referring to the stock dimensions of the gun and its likelihood of shooting high in comparison to the game guns of the day

When competitors saw that stock, there must have been a collective "gulp'. Gil

I like how they referred to it as a "Side to Side".

It is unlikely that anyone has won a national skeet championship with a full and full choked gun. He obviously shot another gun or this gun with another set of barrels. Screw chokes, I hope not.

According to Mike Yardley. ,who I think would know , he used the Webley 400 for all his clay pigeon shooting and all his game shooting. I have never heard mention of a separate open choked set of barrels and if this was the case they surely would have been mentioned at some point in the discussion of his successes , perhaps you have a source of such information to back up your conclusion.

In the video, David called it a Webley 700. However, if it was built in 1921, it wouldn't be a model 700. The shotgun in the video looks like it has the Screw Grip rib extension. More likely is a customized Proprietary Model 400.

TC

It was a 400 and was described as such in the Mike Yardley article in DGM’s link earlier

The book “Successful Shotgunning” author F. Blakey page 50 describes Percy’s gun as a Webley and Scott side by side “choked full and full and he used it for skeet, trap and all his live bird shooting”


Edit to add Mike Yardley’s book Clay Pigeon Shooting : A History. Page 7 has a full page photograph of Percy Stanbury at the Skeet Championship meeting Northolt Middlesex, in September 1949 showing his shotgun to E T Peacock ,a fellow competitor, the gun appears to be his 30 inch barrelled Webley.

I was thinking about those tight chokes and the Brits going to steel shot, but this video must have been just before that transition. I looked up the shells and they were described as having very hard shot containing antimony.

Thing of it is with the hundreds of British BLNE guns out there, Anyone could configure Mr Stansburys gun for themselves. It would be a bullet proof shooter.

I know Webleys and it is definitely a Model 400, otherwise called their Proprietary gun. And it does have the screw grip action as all of that model did. .

And it clearly has disc set strikers that the 700 never had

The combination of longer barrels with a raised flat rib a single trigger and a straighter stock is not the norm on blnes .The suitable pigeon and wildfoling guns are not as numerous as the concave ribbed 28 inch barrelled lighter guns and single trigger gun s were never as popular. It could be done though and as prices are probably comparatively cheaply but a little searching would be required.