doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Vickers-Armstrong Sidelock

I looked at a Vickers-Armstrong 12 gauge sidelock today. 30" barrels and tight chokes with a flat rib. Nice looking gun. I researched the history of Vickers-Armstrong and knew they made military arms, but did not know they made sporting arms. Was this made by someone else and sold by Vickers, or did they actually make guns? The forend latch was a small button in the middle of the forend, not what I have seen on other English guns.

I thought there were a couple of relevant threads but I only found this one:

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=232684&page=1

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

If the Vickers is their "Imperial" model sidelock with helical springs then Geoffrey Boothroyd believed William Baker made them.

The coil spring design was a Baker patent.

They made battle ships, field guns and aircraft too. I think that the only sporting guns that they actually made was a cheap single barrel gun with the sidelocks and boxlocks being made in the trade. Armstrong's home at Cragside, Northumberland is a fascinating place to visit; a lot of history and interesting inventions there. Lagopus.....

Additional info from IGC:

Name Vickers, Sons & Maxim Ltd
Other Names Vickers Ltd; Vickers Armstrong Ltd
Address1 28 & 32 Victoria Street
Address2 Vickers House, Broadway
City/Town London
Country United Kingdom
Trade Gunmakers
Dates 1886-date


In 1898 a specialised steel maker named Vickers & Sons Ltd (founded by Albert Vickers), took over the Maxim Nordenfelt Gun & Ammunition Co Ltd. Vickers & Sons Ltd changed its name to Vickers Sons & Maxim Ltd. The purpose of the take-over was to manufacture the water-cooled machine gun invented by Hiram Maxim in 1885, adopted by the British army in 1889, and first used in the Matabele War of 1893/4. This was the first self-acting machine gun unlike the Gatling and Gardner guns which were operated by a manual crank. The original gun, which needed a 5 man team to operate it, was later replaced by a lighter version nick-named "The Devil's Paintbrush", and this was replaced in 1912 by the "Vickers" machine gun. Vickers moved into Maxim's offices at 32 Victoria Street and they took additional offices at 28 Victoria Street, London. Vickers had formerly had offices at their factory at Crayford in Kent.

The Maxim machine gun in .303 calibre was very successful (it could fire 500 rounds per minute which was roughly equivalent in fire-power to 100 bolt action rifles). It was so successful that its later version, the "Vickers", became obsolete only in 1968. In 1912 the company's name changed to Vickers Ltd and the offices moved to Vickers House, Broadway, SW 1. On 20 January 1916 Sir H Grubb and Vickers Ltd registered patent No. 10178 for a protective sighting shield for the use of soldiers. On 14 March 1917 Vickers Ltd and F G L Johnson registered patent No. 126740 (1918) for a smoke compound for grenades, shells and bombs. On 14 June 1918 Vickers LTD and T K North registered patent No. 131104 for a method of unlocking a barrel from a bolt on automatic weapons. On 27 July 1918 Vickers Ltd and T K North registered patent No. 133980 for the control of the rate of fire of an automatic weapon using the trigger. On 9 July 1919 Vickers Ltd and T J Stevenson and F W Merrick registered patent No. 152400 for an adjustable rear sight with a leaf spring. On 25 May 1919 Vickers Ltd and T J Stevenson and F W Merrick registered patent No. 153930 for a detachable lock on Martini type small bore rifles. On 1 September 1920 Vickers Ltd and J Stewart registered patent No. 161898 for lever safety for Martini action small arms.

In about 1920 demand for machine guns declined, and the company started to make target and sporting rifles and shotguns. A .22 Martini action target rifle named the "Empire" was the first to be made, this was followed by the "Express" sporting rifle in .242 and .318 calibre, each having Vickers designed bullets and cartridge cases. Production was soon started on a single barrel shotgun, the "Vanguard", and later a double barrel side by side sidelock shotgun, the "Imperial". The Imperial used the William Baker coil spring action and these actions were almost certainly made by Baker in Birmingham. On 16 December 1922 Vickers Ltd and A J Palmer registered patent No. 212330 for an aperture rear sight with a click indicator. On the same day Vickers Ltd registered patent No. 212659 for a semi-automatic firearm barrel locking mechanism, they also registered under No. 212660 a gas activated tilting and sliding one piece breech block mechanism. On 3 October 1924 Vickers Ltd and L Tucker registered patent No. 245489 for a single shot or automatic trigger mechanism. On 20 February 1925 Vickers Ltd, C A Larsson and L Tucker registered patent No. 252429 for an expansion chamber to collect fouling in gas activated semi-automatic guns.

On 22 January 1926 Vickers Ltd and L Tucker registered patent No. 266511 for a click adjusted rear sight. Vickers advertised (Shooting Times 19 April 1924) over/under guns which were probably also of Baker design and manufacture. The company made Luger pistols under licence from Deutsches Waffen Und Munitionsfabriken and Mauser Werke.

The company eventually (post World War II?) became Vickers Armstrong Ltd. Hiram S Maxim was recorded as a gun designer / maker at 57 Hatton Garden in 1885. In 1886 he started to trade as the Maxim Gun Co Ltd, and in 1894 this company amalgamated with Nordenfelt Gun & Ammunition Co Ltd to form Maxim Nordenfelt Gun & Ammunition Co Ltd, 32 Victoria Street.

Tim

Some images from Marc:


Vickers Armstrong Limited







Dig, I don't think you included this one in your lock lineup?


Vickers Imperial



Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

1931 Advert for the Imperial

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Thanks for the replies. That is the gun, except the one I saw is highly engraved. Very nice.

They made Luger pistols for the Dutch government too.

Armstrong was a very interesting fellow all round. His house was the first to be lit by hydro-electric power which he generated himself from the lake behind his home at Cragside. I think it was the first to have an internal telephone system too. He patented a very successful hydraulic crane which was demonstated to buyers by one of his workmen called Jack who was very adept in its use. From that we got 'Hydraulic Jack'; a word in common usage today. Just a little bit of useless information as you never know when it may come in useful.

Tim, yes that's the one; the 'Vanguard'; a single barrel centre hammer gun. I used to see a lot of them around but haven't come across one in a long time. Lagopus.....