doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Double Rifles, Paradox Guns & Gauge Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Alex Henry Double Rifles problem

Small world, I owned the .360 Alex Henry that went to SKB that was sold to Steve Nelson. Fully engraved double rifle made for the Maharaj Rana of Dholpur. I bought it from Tom Ondros who told me his x-wife threw the locks away when he was hunting out of the country. I own an Alex Henry .360 double rifle bar lock action in beautiful condition. I tried to make copies of those locks and finally gave up. I am no machinist and the task was too hard. I talked to an English gunsmith that would do the work, but at that time it was quoted as over $12,000.00 and up to 2 years wait. Those locks would have to be fully engraved to match the action. SKB is right, the locks were hand fitted to the actions and my good .360 locks would not fit in the one missing the locks. I might be able to find the molds my brother made for casting the internal lock parts and individual pictures of each piece. Unless the work can be done by yourself, its a loosing proposition. Good luck!

I didn't see any Henry marks on the second rifle. It's a guild gun made for the trades. No names is common, the retailers had their name put on and many believe that the name is the maker. Not always so.

What about Colin Stolzer of Stolzer and Sons?
http://www.stolzergunsmithing.com/

Could he possibly do this sort of work? Very talented gunsmith. Wonderful rifles by the way and good luck.

Charlie

IMO there's quite a few that are capable of doing it. But the cost/benifit ratio would be out of sight! The Royal might be worth 6-7K and the guild gun 4-5K. The 360 isn't a in demand caliber IMO.
IF others wanted a second barrel set and these could be adapted, would be the best use of these. Others might want the wood. But I might be wrong..

AkMike,

Couldn't agree more about them not being worth the effort of having locks made, but it sounds like the OP wants to restore them. Then again he might not want to after he thinks long and hard about the prices involved.

On the top one I see the firing pins are missing also but I would think that a much easier fix.

Man....doesn't that make you want to just sit down and bawl like a little girl?

Larry, I have a Northcoat bar action hammer gun receiver with hammers and firing pins. The lock layout looks similar to the inletting you have. If you think this might be of help as a donor gun you can contact me via email. My email address is in my profile. Daryl

Thanks to all who took the time to comment. There is a lot to think about here. I agree that the cost is a factor. I would like to avoid the situation where you put 100 thousand into restoring a car that would sell for 35 thousand. The AH I would consider doing but the guild gun I think is a better candidate for finding a donor gun.

What name is engraved on the rib of the barrels? To confirm they are Alex Henry make a call to Dickson & Sons to get a description to confirm with the serial numbers. The back action doesn't appear to be an AH. Although AH rifling was common for many makers.
Neither of these 'crank' locks, which is good for restoration cost.
The bar lock AH has a rather late serial number, I have a .360 falling block close to this number and it was made in 1901!
My uncle Bill Roberts (deceased 2004) build a few AH bar locks and they were in line with Brazier quality for no less than $1000 each in the white 10+ years ago. My guess to get one top lock today will run a little more. PLUS you need hammers!!!
Interesting that the AH bar lock rifle have no engraving, even seem to have border line engraving.
Jim (long time friend of mine) and Steve can certainly do the work, reach out to them. Another avenue may be Bob Roller in W.Va. He builds locks and I know he has a small pattern bar lock off a baby Whitworth. Then again, the internals of his lock may not fit the inletting of your rifle? I don't know if he'll be interested in fitting the lock to the gun. If so, he could make the lockplate oversize.

Left out.. AH 2nd quality seem to have border line engraving.