doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Bonehill Single

Try this again. I posted it last night and no trace of it this morning.

I should be recieving a Bonehill single 16 gauge boxlock today. I have been doing research on it and am coming up blank. I have seen numerous listings and pictures of hammer singles from them, both in the US and UK. But as to a boxlock, I have only seen one and it was this gun, listed on several US auction and sales sites over the last 7-10 years. No other reference at all that I can find. It appears as a reasonably nice grade with nice workmanship and wood. It was either sleeved or constructed using an odd extended monblock style system I found which was briefly mentioned in a patent reference I found for them. The joint seems further up the barrel than I am used to on sleeved guns. The seller states no serial number found. Proofs look normal.

I looked in several copies of Bonehill catalogs from 1888 to 1920, Interestingly enough, the 1920 catalog has a section listing their Quality Singles, but it shows only two models. These resemble the gun but are both sidelock hammer guns (this in 1920).

I would like to ask if anyone has actually seen or heard of one of these.

I will post a picture as soon as I get a chance. Meanwhile, here is a link to an ad where it sold a few years ago.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...ngle-barrel-antique.cfm?gun_id=100665252

Wow!! Pretty thing. We can't wait to hear how it shoots. Good luck with that!!

I have a J&W Tolley hammerless boxlock single in 12 gauge. 29" fluid steel barrels. Stock is a bit short at 13 3/4". One day I'll get around to having CJO put a leather covered pad on it. 5 pounds even. Love the gun.

Ive looked for single barrel game guns in the 12 years since I bought the Tolley. The vast majority are hammerguns. Hammerless are quite rare.

I have seen a number of similar (but generally not nearly as nice) box lock singles including a Holland and Holland marketed ( marked H&H - clearly Birmingham made) 20 bore single.

What is unusual about yours, apart from the overall quality, is the offset cross-bolted top-extension.

The chequering style and “church windows” are very typical of Bonehill guns.

I tried to buy a third level H&H single 20 gauge boxlock a couple of weeks ago. Very plain and didn 't look nearly as well finished as a second level H&H double I own. It went for around $4000 which I thought was ridiculous.

Singles seem to be dirt cheap in England but are really hard to find in the US. If there were some method, it would be nice to accumulate a good size collection in England and make a bulk import.

I have an 1872 Scott 8 gauge Light Wildfowl in next to Best grade, a 10 gauge Galand 34" hammer market gun, a nice 12 gauge Birmingham hammer single, Manufrance Model 36 16 gauge Simplex and this Bonehill. These singles are some of the smoothest working shotguns I have owned (except the Simplex). The Bonehill has barrels that are .040 min at the front and really sturdy at the rear. That puts the weight at 5# 7oz which will be a joy to carry arond the farm. An oddity is that I am not sure if the barrel has been sleeved or that it was originally a monoblock design via a patent that Bonehill secured. I am leaning toward a barrel cleanup and reproof. The front half of the barrel is a typical 16 gauge size with a choke of around 20 thou. However the rear half of the barrel has been seriously opened up and is around .677-.680 in front of the chambers but tapers to .660 at the mid-barrel. It appears to be a true taper. The proof marks show a 17/1 original barrel, but reproof seems to have been in 1950 with a .677 bore, which is still the number 9" down. It is marked Sleeved. This doesn't seem likely with a new tube being used. Also the joint is visible and the top engraving is perfect across the joint and looks evenly used/worn across the joint. I believe the barrel was pitted and a gunsmith cleaned up the inside of the barrel and had it reproved. My guess is that the proof house marked it sleeved because of the visible joint. The relative size of the chamber area vs the barrel itself also makes me believe it was originally a monoblock. Whatever the journey, the barrel is still quite a bit thicker at all distances than the barrels of any other English 16 I own.

One nice touch on the Bonehill is the forend checkering. In the listing attached, there is no closeup but you can see what looks to be a crack or stain crossing the rear checkering area of the forend on both sides. This is actually a very thin ribbon that crosses the checkering area in a whimsical wandering pattern. The ribbon is convoluted and not much more than 1/8" wide, but the checkering is perfectly executed right up to the line along its whole length.

Beautiful single barrel! Enjoy a lot!

I still regret not getting that 31" barrel Morrow & Co. single a couple years ago. It was a very nice shotgun that I believe I would have really enjoyed. A British member here (pedder) won the auction and has used it successfully on driven pheasants.

SRH