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D D o o u u b b l l e e G G u u n n C C l l a a s s s s i i c c s s Sept - Oct, 2007 www.doublegunclassics.com Volume 3, No. 2

Transcript of Double Gun Classics - cornellpubs.com · it was, I decided to use cast bullets patched with paper....

Page 1: Double Gun Classics - cornellpubs.com · it was, I decided to use cast bullets patched with paper. Conventional lubricated cast lead bullets wood leave too much lead in the bore as

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Sept - Oct, 2007 www.doublegunclassics.com Volume 3, No. 2

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Editor:John Campbell

Editorial Office:Double Gun Classics,

PO Box 75, Howell MI 48844 USAPhone: 517-552-1600

e-mail: [email protected]

Contributing Editors:British Gunsmithing -- Kirk Merrington

Metal Finishes -- John GilletteEngraving -- Ken Hurst

Shooting Instruction -- Pat Lieske

The Cover: This exquisite pair of Hussey 12bores was offered at the Fall 2007 Vintagers.

These guns are in their original oak-and-leather case with full kit. Little can compareto the precision and beauty of Hussey guns. 2

Sept - Oct, 2007 www.doublegunclassics.com Volume 3, No. 2

Departments:3 Both Barrels. -- DGC Held Hostage8 Classics Revisited -- The Good Shooter57 Provisional Proof -- Barrel Bulges69 Double Talk -- Hemingway’s Guide72 Good Tools -- The Opti-Visor73 How It works -- The Single-Bite Gun

In This Issue:9 Vintagers 2007: A New Classic!Now at Pintail Point, this event has fresh life.

18 Gun Records From G&H.The well-heeled records are finally opened to us.

25 My Regal Rigby, Part II.A .500 BPE gets some new loads on life.

30 The Damascus Files.A comprehensive look at this barrel art form.

39 Joel Settle’s Pair, Part V.The grand old pair is assembled and tested.

46 Purdey: Inside The Legend.The most prestigious name in guns is revealed.

53 The Field Proof Gun.The mechanism exposes the secrets of recoil.

63 The Shoebox Sidelock.

Double Gun Classics is copyrighted and published bi-monthlyby PAC Associates, PO Box 75, Howell MI 48844. On-line

subscription, $18 per year at doublegunclassics.com Pleaseaddress all correspondence to Double Gun Classics, PO Box75, Howell MI 48844. All content, advertising, products or

services reflect only the opinions or experiences of the authors,or companies, and do not constitute an endorsement by Double

Gun Classics or PAC Associates. No part of Double GunClassics may be reproduced by any means without permission.The reader assumes all risks and responsibilities. Please, donot attempt featured projects if you are not confident in your

skills. Consult a competent gunsmith instead.

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There is more than a little indicationthat the Vintager’s World Side-by-SideChampionship is becoming a bit like

Game Fair. And the 2007 event, held atPintail Point on Maryland’s east shore, wasfilled with supportive rationale for thatthought.

First was the venue. Pintail Point isone of the more “upscale” shooting locales inthe country. The roundel clubhouse is well-appointed and the grounds are not onlyimmaculate but beautifully landscaped andperfectly maintained. There are ponds,marshes, open crop fields, woodlands… andone of the most attractive and sophisticatedsporting clays courses we’ve seen to date.

Add to this an expanded array ofexhibitors from most every corner of theglobe and you have an exemplary event.This year’s panoply of booths included

Purdey, Holland & Holland, Atkin, Grant &Lang, FAMARS, Vintage Doubles, SteveBarnett, Heritage Guns, Dale Tate, GeoffroyGournet, Peter Hoffer, WindshootingAdventures, Gunnerman Books, and many,many more. It was literally a tent sale forwingshooting’s rich and famous.

But this year the horizons of interestexpanded a bit. There was sculpture, art,bespoke clothing, wine, dog training exhibi-tions, pipers and more. Little by little,Vintagers is edging toward Britain’s CLAevent. We’ll admit that at this rate it maytake another 20 years to come close… but thetrend is certainly to be applauded.

We must also disclose a little about thesurrounding area of Vintagers: QueenstownMD. Not far beyond the Chesapeake BayBridge, it impresses us as a moderatelyupscale resort/residential area, and a mostpleasant environment to be in. A good many

ByByJohn CampbellJohn Campbell

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The Vintagers loomed large on the grounds of Pintail Point on Maryland’s east shore.

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Above, a black lab demonstrates the finer points of water retrieves for an apprecia-tive audience. Below, black powder 5-stand is fun but smoke-laden... and the beauti-ful grounds of Pintail Point are punctuated with exceptional stands and grooming.

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If there is such thing as a “Grand OldName” in the bespoke American firearmsbusiness, it’s Griffin & Howe.

The firm began when Seymour Griffin,

a cabinetmaker by profession, purchased hisfirst Springfield rifle in 1910. This was justafter President Theodore Roosevelt returnedfrom his African safari and wrote the classic,

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Gun Records Now Available For:Von Lengerke & Detmold.

Griffin & Howe.Abercrombie & Fitch.

Catalog covers courtesy of Cornell Publications, photos by Griffin & Howe via website.

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What good is a regal Rigby doublerifle it you can’t shoot it? And inpursuit of that goal, I first consid-

ered ammunition.Brass for the .500 Black Powder

Express (BPE) is the same as for its nitrocounterpart the .500 Nitro Express (NE). Andas you might expect, the .500 BPE was theprecursor of the nitro cartridge. Today, .500brass is readily available at a (relatively) rea-sonable price from Huntington DieSpecialties. Fortunately, my rifle came withabout 35 empty cases. At a later date, I wasable to get more .500 BPE brass fromHuntington. In fact, the price was so good Ibought 100 cases. Thank God, and the freemarket, for Huntington Die!

With the Rigby’s bore in the conditionit was, I decided to use cast bullets patchedwith paper. Conventional lubricated cast leadbullets wood leave too much lead in the bore

as they slid over all that pitting, and I amalways leery of using jacketed bullets inthese old guns.

Beside that, I had made a cast of bothbarrel bores and came up with a groovediameter of .505. This was done from themuzzle end of the barrels where they are inpretty normal condition. The only jacketedbullets I know of in .505 diameter are sup-plied by Hawk in Salem NJ, and are ratherexpensive.

I had a mould on hand that casts bul-lets at around .500, and a few wraps of my100% rag bond paper brought them up to therequired diameter. The finished bulletweighed in at around 430grs. -- somewhatheavier than what was originally loaded inthe 500 BPE, and just a little lighter than thebullet used in the nitro-for-black loads(440grs.), but close enough for starting.

Who knew how it was going to 25

By Tom Oppel

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The Old Ribgy Shoots The Old Ribgy Shoots TToo.oo.

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The story of Damascus gun barrelsactually begins about 1000 yearsago… with swords. And it should

come as little surprise that our tale originatesin or around the fabled city of Damascus,Syria.

The original Damascus steel swordsmay have been made in the vicinity ofDamascus from 900CE to as late as 1750CE.Damascus steel is a type of steel alloy that isboth hard and flexible; a combination thatmade it ideal for swords. It is said that whenDamascus-made swords were first encoun-tered by Europeans during the Crusades, theygarnered an almost mythical reputation. ADamascus steel blade was said to be able tocut a piece of silk in half as it fell to theground, as well as being able to chop through

normal blades, or even rock, without losingits sharp edge.

The origins of the name Damascusremain controversial. Although it would seemobvious that it refers to swords forged inDamascus, there are several equally likelysources of the name. One potential source isthe swordsmith himself: the author al-Berunirefers to swords made by a man he namesDamasqui. Another author, al-Kindi, refers toswords made in Damascus as Damascene.____________________________

From Mind and Hand: Manual Training,the Chief Factor in Education by CharlesHenry Ham, 1900

Indian steel or “wootz”…produced inthe form of little cakes weighing about two

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The Damascus Files.

A Comprehensive Look At The Most BeautifulGun Barrel Material Ever Developed.

By Drew HauseAs Adapted From His Landmark Work, “The Damascus Barrels Picture Trail”

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pounds each, in the…city of Golconda, inHindostan, was transported on the backs ofcamels two thousand miles to the city ofDamascus, and there converted into swords,sabers, and scimitars......A detailed historical discussion of Wootzsteel from India to the Middle East andEurope. Also mentioned is the article byMaj. General Pavel Anossoff “On theBulat” published in Gorny Journal(Petersbury), No. 3, 1841. p. 157-315describing his production of Wootz.

Above, Farsi script called Ta'liq...the pat-tern of swirls is similar to 'Turkish' crollebarrels. Below, Naskh script, which issomewhat like 'Horse-shoe' crolle.

Top, a 13th century wood carving fromCairo, Egypt, with a “Crolle” pattern.Second, a Turkish muzzloader from the1700s with a pattern welded barrel.Third, a Greek/Albanian Miquelt with apattern welded barrel.

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Just as no two fingerprints are the same,no two double gun restoration jobs seemto coincide either. Especially with the

finer guns.So, in the case of the Joel Settle pair,

important decisions were yet to be made,especially those regarding metal finish.

The frames of these guns were of par-ticular concern. I was very suspicious thatthey had been “coloured” in some way.Perhaps it was old colour case, cold blue…or something. Regardless, I didn’t like it.The total impression was muddy, and itlooked, well… a bit shoddy and unsophisti-cated.

If I were willing to accept the “conven-tional wisdom” regarding this situation, I

would have simply polished out the framesand associated parts, then sent them off to areputable craftsman to have things re-cased.My issues with that were multi-fold. First, Iam not overly enamoured with the flamboy-ant case colours rendered by many refinish-ing services in the U. S. Such high-tempera-ture work is always liable to induce partswarpage, so a subsequent hard fitting couldbe in the cards. Thirdly, the character ofthese guns did not plead for a “factory-new”look anyway. And finally, I thought someform of muted “brightening” would be all theframes needed. If this were done right, itwould accentuate the darker, recessedengraving strokes.

After careful consideration, and an

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Certain brand names in this world haverightfully become synonymous withthe finest of their product genre.

These storied icons of perfection and respectmay have equals, but they have no betters.

Such is the case with the name Purdey.This grand old name of field sport is

known around the world… and always spo-ken with pride and reverence. For there isnothing finer than a Purdey gun or rifle.

A Purdey is the Rolls Royce of sport-ing guns. The Tiffany of rifled barrels. The

Medici of grace and prestige.It all began back in 1813. In that year,

the Americans had just failed to captureMontreal in the War of 1812 -- and inEurope, Napoleon had been finally turnedback at the Battle of Leipzig. This was alsothe same year that Joe Manton’s head stock-er, James Purdey, left the Manton shop,worked for a short time at Rev. Dr. Forsyth’s,and then decided to strike out on his own ingunmaking.

Thus, began a legend. And along the

Inside British Gunmaking, Part VII:

PurdeyPurdey..AA Look Inside Look Inside The Legend.The Legend.

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Currently, it’s a gunsmith’s jigsaw puz-zle. But when I first saw this old W.& C. Scott sidelock, it presented a dif-

ferent kind of challenge: Believability.The on-line ad showed a genuine Scott

12 bore back-action sidelock priced at only$1400!! Instantly, I thought one of threethings had to be the case: (a) the seller hadno idea of it was worth, (b) the price was amisprint… or, (c) there was something seri-ously wrong with the piece.

Predictably, the correct answer was“c”: The frame, sidelock plates and otherengraved exterior surfaces of the gun hadbeen “dressed up” by some deranged UK“gunsmith” whose favourite toy was a pow-ered wire wheel. (The same fellow apparent-ly also got his hands on a Purdey that Iexamined recently… but that’s another story.)

The good news with this Scott was that

the engraving had not been totally wiped offby the wire wheel… but it was far from“crisp.” The gun had also been sleeved with28-inch barrels. Unfortunately, the crafts-manship evident in that job was only slightlybetter than the wire wheel clean-up effort.Rather than an invisible joint between thenew tubes and the Damascus demi-bloc,there was a very faint solder line. Thisbetrayed only modest skill at the job, ratherthan the undetectable joint that true expertsachieve. Still, the bores were perfect, therewas plenty of barrel wall thickness, andchokes were 1/4 and 1/2. The good newswas that the stock was surprisingly sound,with no cracks or chips.

Another interesting aspect of this gunwas that it was a back-action hammerlesssidelock. While a back-action design for thisstyle of double is not totally uncommon, it 63

First, This W. & C. Scott Needed Resto Skills.Now It Needs Assembly Skills.

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There is something very civilisedabout a fine double gun, a brac-ing day afield, and a good stiff

drink… only after the arms are packedsafely away, of course.

In fact, some of the best times insporting memory have transpired aftera generous series of good stiff drinks.

That is why this book rings sotrue and welcome in the Nanny Statesociety we have created today… andhave allowed to envelope and white-wash our personal characters and pas-sions. Au contraire. The men andwomen this volume chronicles were notonly historic writing talents par excellance, but racontourers and, by today’sliberal standards, shameless drunks.Many of them were even of the sport-ing persuasion.

The most notable of these was,of course, Ernest Hemingway. Papa’sprowess with rifle and shotgun needs noembellishment here. Neither does his pen-chant for a cocktail. In fact, within thisbook’s pages he is quoted thus:

“A man does not exist until he isdrunk.”

Although Hemingway was quite eclec-tic when it came to drinks, The Hemingway

Double Talk.Make Mine A Double.100-Proof Reading ForThe Sporting Literati.

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The Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers.Illustrated by Edward Hemingway (grandson of Ernest); Written by TV writer Mark Bailey.Published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, PO Box 2225, Chapel Hill NC, 27515-2225. Availablefrom Fair Chase Books, 925 Valley Pike, Lexington VA 24450-3352, phone 540-463-9189

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Controversy has always been thelifeblood of the sporting firearmsindustry. For centuries, every very

new invention, whether large or small, wassaid to offer a marked advantage over some-thing else. So has it been with doublegunbolting systems.

And to be frank about it, every greatgunmaker has claimed that his particular sys-tem is strong beyond all necessity. Theshake-out of that competition has most oftenfavoured the Purdey underbolt system. It isthe accepted means by which the strongestlocking action can be effected.Unfortunately, “strong” is a relative term.

For example, no one has everbesmirched the famed Parker gun for itsstrength… but, in reality, it has but one smallbite to hold it closed. And that bite is farinferior to the double bites offered by thePurdey bolt. The Winchester Model 21? Aparagon of strength! Why they once made a.405 Winchester double rifle on that action.But look closely and you’ll see that the M-21has a simple and “whimpy” single bitedesign. Again, seemingly far inferior to thePurdey bolt.

So does this mean that the single-bitesystem is weak? Not on your life! All itmeans is that the Purdey bolt (and variousother “treble-bit, wedge-fast, bank-vault-solid” locking systems) got a bit more posi-

tive press than the perfectly adequate top-bolt, single-bite system. It’s no more compli-cated than that.

So, rather than profess our own viewson the subject, allow us to submit for yourapproval (pardon us Rod Serling) the testi-mony of Henry Sharp from his classic book,Modern Sporting Gunnery.

“The late Mr. Westley Richards used tosay that it was more mechanical to bolt at thetop as well as at the bottom, and it is not dif-ficult to understand that the bolting powerderived from the top position is far greaterand more reliable than that obtained frombolting in the under position. The con-

How It Works.The Single-Top-Bite System.

Westley Richards introduced the moderntop bolt, but acknowleged bottom bolts.

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Jamestown Toolworks

Excelling in the Craft of Fine Woodworking Tools

Custom tools at no additional charge Will construct any plane, scraper or chiselin any profile, length, or width

Phone: 208 884-4455 Email: [email protected]

Pictured above is a Jamestown replica of a Norris mitre plane in bronze and rosewood

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Coming... In The Next Issue:Purdey: The Inside Story Of A Legend. Part II.

Not all of Purdey is at Audley House. Most of the gunbuilding is in Hammersmith.

The Field Proof Gun, III.The next installment of this unforgettable venture into early ballistics.

The Damascus File. Part IIMore rare information on the origin of Damascus barrels Not found elsewhere!

My First British Double Rifle.Tom Oppel tells of his first love affair with this unique genre.

Joel Settle’s Pair: Epilogue.With this historic pair restored, Settle’s own grand daughter tells us of the man.