doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com irish shotgun inputs please

im heading over a fellows house to view his guns.
i never heard of irish shotguns.
anyone care to share some common names and quality points?
good years, bad years, bad names etc...thanks.

http://www.downnews.co.uk/the-irish-gunmakers-and-their-hidden-legacy/

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?41628-Irish-Made-Shotgun-Kavangh

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=12737187308&searchurl=tn%3Denglish%2Birish%2Bscottish%2Bfirearms%2Bmakers%26sortby%3D17

any modern arms currently?

bobski,
Woodcock Hill (Thomas Bland) has a Joseph Braddell of Belfast Ireland on their website priced at 4K, it's a 12 gauge boxlock non-ejector. There is number of photos on the site. It's the only Irish gun I've ever seen while perusing the various shotgun websites. Hope this helps.
Tim

Rigby was probably the most well known name, back in the day.

At one time I had a yearning for an Irish side by side with my mother's parents both off the boat from Kerry. An Irish or later a Celtic gun has long been on my bucket list.

My hunting lead primarily to Kavanaugh and Rigby. What I found over the years was in terms of guns made in Ireland proper there really was not much out there in the market worth buying. That which was, tended to be well used worn out Boxlocks. All were 12 bore.

I do not know if shotgun production in the 20th century was closed down by laws or market competition from England, or demand changed, but not much here in the USA worth loking at. Rigby left Ireland in 1897 so that maybe an indicator.

I do not know if Belfast made guns are really Birmingham guns finished in Ireland or not.

Maybe some of our UK or Ireland posters could provide more information Irish made Shotguns.

I did find Scottish guns a more useful objective to track. In particular Alex Henry and Alex Martin celtic engraved guns. They are not common but do come on the market from time to time. Currently Champlain has a nice one, but they value more highly than I can afford to.

http://www.champlinarms.com/Default.aspx...&GunID=2936

McKay-Brown also has some beautiful Celtic engraved guns, but out of my market.

The most common Irish made guns I see on the market here in the USA are muzzle loading pistols, not shotguns.

You've never heard of John Rigby?

They've made some fairly decent guns over the centuries. As a matter of fact they still do.

https://www.johnrigbyandco.com/about/history/


This one can be had for a mere pittance of $99,000.00

http://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-fo...un_id=100283808

Is Rigby really an Irish company? Given their moving shop to England over a hundred years ago I am not sure it can still be classed as an Irish maker. Most Rigby shotguns one might run into are more than likely not Irish made.

Yes they are a quality maker through their history, though seemingly more rifle focused.

Even your tongue and cheek example is a London gun.

As for the question of quality points for an Irish made shotgun vs other shotguns, I believe they are the same as any British made, Continental made, or American made gun.

Braddell , at least until the last decade or two, was still in business in Belfast. Many Braddell guns in the early 1900s were started, at least, by Bentley and Playfair and Hollis Bentley and Playfair.

Just a note, but I'm not aware of any type of infrastructure existing in Ireland to support a gun making trade. Especially due to the early decentralized nature of the industry, such as was found in and around Birmingham. Anyone know of any Irish component manufacturers or secondary service providers such as Stockers, Actioners, Barrel Finishers, etc? It seems to me that whatever firms that operated in Ireland, with a few previously noted exceptions, could be considered to operate like many English Provincial Gunmakers did, sourcing everything from components to finished guns from England.

Regards
Ken