doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Henry Atkin "by Purdeys"

That's good info. I wasn't aware you could use shells longer than the chamber length without increasing pressure. Any sources for low pressure 2 3/4" shells?

Commander, the correct interpretation is you can shoot LOW pressure modern loads with the longer hull length without experiencing a pressure rise that will put the gun at risk. There is a pressure increase, just not a large increase. So your shell has to be well under the load the gun was originally intended to shoot. But why shoot the longer shells when RST, GameBore, Polywad and William Larkin Moore all have 2 1/2" shells available in correct pressures for your gun. Or as mentioned above reload your own with both pressure and length correct.

The English have their 'Holy Trinity of London' ie Purdey, H&H, Boss, and I have mine 'ABC'. Being cheap I want top quality, but not top price for 2nd hand. In case you're wondering, 'ABC' stands for: Atkin, Beesley, und Churchill.

CM - there is usually a pressure increase associated with shooting hulls of longer length than the chamber. However, the increase in pressure is significantly proportional to the chamber pressure. Low chamber pressures have little pressure increase and higher chamber pressures have more pressure increase. The European (CIP) pressure standards are somewhat lower than USA (SAAMI). Brit guns are proofed/reproofed with CIP loads in mind. Stay away from SAAMI standard loads for older guns. CIP are OK, but lower pressure is better and obtainable. There are good choices available purchase for vintage guns. The use of 2 3/4" hulls really comes into its own for reloading. Most loading manuals list numerous low pressure loads suitable for vintage guns. The key to this issue was a clear understanding of the pressure rise from hulls longer than chamber length; we got it.

All the from Purdey boys were sued by Purdey save Frederick Beesley. His action helped Purdey keep a grip on the top spots - no wonder eh!

Thanks guys...I'm slow, but trainable! For info, I shot the 2 1/2" GameBore #7s today at sporting clays and the gun did great. I think I'll just leave the gun as is and shoot the 2 1/2" rounds. I won't be using this one routinely for sporting clays; just wanted to shoot it today. I think I have found me a great quail gun.

Got a case of Vintager #8s from Polywad. They shoot like a dream and have much less recoil than the Pure Golds. I see that Polywad now has the Vintager shells in their Spreader form. Anybody used these in an old double? ...How 'bout performance?

CM - I "roll my own" spreader loads in low pressure and light shot charges version based on the Galandi X-post wad. They are very effective at reducing the choke effect of tightly choked guns. I strongly recommend that people try this route before opening tight chokes. You can always pen the chokes - they are less easy to put back.

I have used the Polywad spreader loads in some tightly choked 16 bore pre war German guns with excellent results. Beats having to bore out the chokes, when the next collector/shooter might prefer them original.

There are a number of golden rules for buying and using vintage guns:
1. Buy the barrels over the gun;
2. Buy the gun over the name; and
3. Fit the cartridge to the gun.

Guns this old tend to have custodians rather than owner, I think.
I'm glad you've gone the sympathetic route; I think you'll appreciate shooting it so much more for just a tad more effort.
RG