doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What is this called?

I like Larry's explination. They sure don't look anything like a sidelock.

The sideplates on my Cogswell and Harrison Avant Tout crossover twelve bore are fitted as closely as if they were Holland or Purdey sidelocks thank you, except that the screws and pins are not there. They are gracefully curved to the right around the crossover wood and nicely engraved in almost full coverage of medium scroll. The pictured gun is a Hellis embellishment that is not often found on the guns of any other maker. Everyone should be noted for something.

Are the plates Flush with the rest?
I thought some makers "Sunk" the plates into the wood..as in sunken sideplates.I've never seen one in the flesh, but I thought I saw one in a Boothroyd book that sure looked sunken in lower ...perhaps it was the angle of the pic though
Francottes did a lovely job of the sideplates though,eh?
cheers
Franc

It's a very handsome old gun. We went through the "sideplate/false-sideplate" discussion not long ago. IMO, they are correctly called sideplates. They really are sideplates, not "false" sideplates. False would be to call it a sidelock. I don't think they add anything to the gun pictured but it is a good looker nevertheless, I'd be proud to own.

I'd suggest that the plate would be likely called a bolster in this case. The size of the screw clearly removes it from a decorative function and puts it right there with a strengthening function.. Maybe a pigeon gun? I vote for that. Does it have a safety? Sure wouldn't be necessary for those puny Brit gamebird loads. Not in a Hellis at any rate.

Or maybe the stock split first.

WtS

You see those little plates on quite a few guns from Hellis. I think I've seen almost the same thing from at least one other Brit maker, although I can't remember which.

Some of the Coggies have conventional, one piece plates. Others have a visible "split" in them. But in either case, except for the "split", they look a lot more like a sidelock than what you see on the Hellis. But having "authentic"-looking plates isn't necessarily the mark of a high dollar gun. V. Bernardelli did some very nice ones on their Roma series guns, including false pins that really made them look like a sidelock.

With the advent of modern high tech glues and adhesives, it should be a cinch for me to make my Coggie into a "sidelock" by applying little domed metal circles to the sideplates.