doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hoping to learn about inherited Westley-Richards

Hello all! I'm a long time milsurp gun collector, but not very knowledgeable about high end shotguns. I recently inherited this Westley-Richards side by side and I'm hoping to learn a bit more about it. I'm familiar with the brand, but not a lot of detailed history on the guns. I got it from my uncle, the story is his father, who was an RCAF officer in WW2, brought it back from England. My uncle (and I guess his father) was unfortunately not a gun guy and didn't treat it with the appropriate respect, including cutting down the butt, I imagine for my uncle to use when he was young, and then extending it back out with a piece of another gun. They did a surprisingly decent job but it was still a crime to do that to a Westley-Richards!

What I do know is it's a single inertial trigger boxlock with 29" barrels and 2 1/2" chambers, fairly open chokes (although I haven't figured out the specifics), and according to the serial number search (7266) on their website it was made 1886 - 1896. However the proof marks seem to date it later than that - is there any chance it was sent back and reproofed for nitro powder? It has very little engraving, most examples I see are heavily engraved - would this have been a gun for general market rather than built for a specific customer? Did they do that at the time? The ejectors aren't working but otherwise it functions nicely and I actually took it grouse hunting this weekend.

Can anyone tell me more about it? I can certainly take more pictures if that's helpful.

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Welcome to the board. Nice gun.

Looks like 1884 pat. Sometimes called gold name really nice guns really well made

Welcome to the forum. Interesting first post.

Yes, your gun has been re-proofed (between 1904 to 1925). It was originally proofed for black powder as a 12 bore with bore measurements (9 inches from breech) of 13/1 i.e. .719-.728.

Prior to re-proof the bores were honed out to 12 bore and should now be between .729 and .739.

Westley-Richards can no doubt tell you, for a fee, if it was made for a specific customer.

Thanks for the photos. It is a very attractive gun.

What Bro. Parabola said - the Crown over R indicates the reproof



There is clearly a crolle pattern underneath the blueing, and fingerprints



What load did you use for grouse?
The gun certainly needs to be evaluated by a double gun specialist. Let us know where you are and we might be able to recommend someone nearby.

The ejectors are like gunlocks one for each barrel and you need to have someone experienced in deeley ejectors repair them.one of the main differences between this Westley Richards and the much more common A&D is the way the cocking is accomplished.it is a very nice gun that only had the name in gold and no other engraving but it was not an inexpensive gun.welcome to the forum and enjoy your gun.

An interesting WR article on the gold name guns Gold Name. At the time Simon Clode (WR managing director) thought very highly of them.

Ken

That is a beautiful rifle built on a A&D action the gun the op has post is a different cocking system and used on early gold name guns .mc

Thanks all for the replies! I used Challenger 2 1/2” Classic Double target loads. I’m in Winnipeg, Canada - don’t know if there’s anyone around here who knows classic doubles, it’s hard enough finding any gunsmith these days. I’m definitely going to get an archived search from Westley Richards although I don’t think it’s in the budget for a couple months.