BRITISH GUNMAKERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

British Gunmakers of the 21st Century

This is the twelfth book on British gunmakers by Donald Dallas. He has written definitive histories on Boss & Co., James Purdey & Sons, Holland & Holland, John Dickson & Son, David McKay Brown and Alexander Henry as well as The British Sporting Gun and Rifle 1850–1900 and Charles Gordon, Magnificent Madness. He is an adviser to Holts Auctioneers researching provenance, assisting with cataloguing and giving expert opinion.

Quiller Jacket illustrations: Front panel Pair of Smith and Torok 28 bore round bodied sidelock ejectors.

Back panel Pair of Boss & Co. 12 bore round bodied over-and-under sidelock ejectors.

British Gunmakers front.indd 1

An Imprint of Quiller Publishing

Wykey House, Wykey, Shrewsbury, sy4 1ja T: 01939 261616 E: info@quillerbooks.com Website: www.quillerpublishing.com

Holts Auctioneers Auctioneers of Fine Modern & Antique Guns Church Farm Barns, Wolferton, Norfolk, pe31 6ha T: 01485 542822 F: 01485 544463 E: info@holtsauctioneers.com Website: www.holtsauctioneers.com

D O NA L D DA L L A S

E: donald@holtsauctioneers.com

BRITISH

GUNMAKERS i of the j

21st Century D ONALD DALL AS in association with

Holts Auctioneers

I

n the nineteenth century there were thousands of British gunmakers plying their trade the length and breadth of the land building all qualities of gun and rifle.

Gunmakers have dwindled to a very small number today but the nature of the trade has changed from volume production to exclusive best guns only.

British gunmakers have embraced the new technology on offer and by using a combination of CNC machining and new steels allied to traditional gunmaking skills, they are building superb quality guns and rifles to the highest standards. Unlike their competitors, British guns are not entirely built by machine and there is a large element of hand craftsmanship in every example built. Not content to rest on their historical laurels, they have introduced new designs and brought their creations right up to date for twenty-first century requirements.

Guns and rifles are all built to the exact specifications of the customer and no two are alike. Each gun is individually made yet designed to embrace modern requirements such as high pheasants, steel shot and so on.

This book shows the great variety of guns and rifles on offer entirely built in Great Britain today and how British gunmakers still continue to lead the world in best quality guns and rifles.

03/09/2018 13:54

BRITISH

GUNMAKERS i of the j

21st Century DONALD DALLAS in association with

Holts Auctioneers

Quiller

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 3

30/08/2018 12:28

Copyright Š Holts Auctioneers 2018 First published in the UK in 2018 by Quiller, an imprint of Quiller Publishing Ltd. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library isbn 978 1 84689 291 2 The right of Donald Dallas to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patent Act 1988.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge.

All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the Publisher, who also disclaims any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Design and typesetting by Paul Saunders Printed in China

Quiller An imprint of Quiller Publishing Ltd

Wykey House, Wykey, Shrewsbury, sy4 1ja Tel: 01939 261616 E-mail: info@quillerbooks.com Website: www.quillerpublishing.com

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 4

30/08/2018 12:28

Contents

h Acknowledgements 6

Holland & Holland 71

Foreword by Nicholas Holt 7

Longthorne Gunmakers 79

Preface 9

David McKay Brown 84

Boss & Co. 10

James Purdey & Sons 89

Boxall & Edmiston 22

John Rigby & Co. 97

A.A. Brown & Sons 31

Carl Russell & Co. 102

L.W. Butler, Gun & Rifle Makers Ltd. 38

Smith and Torok 107

E.J. Churchill 42

Ray Ward 114

Don Custerson 50

Watson Bros. 118

J.P. Daeschler 55

Westley Richards & Co. Ltd. 124

John Dickson & Son 57

William & Son 132

W.W. Greener 62

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 5

30/08/2018 12:28

Acknowledgements I would like to thank primarily Nicholas Holt of Holts Auctioneers who first put forward the idea for this book. He mentioned that a book like this had not been written before and he wanted to showcase to the world the number of British gunmakers building high quality guns entirely in Great Britain today.

I must also thank the following gunmakers for helping me with information and providing photographs.

Arthur Demoulas at Boss & Co. Robin and Matthew Brown at A.A Brown & Sons Peter Boxall at Boxall & Edmiston Lee Butler at L.W. Butler Gun & Rifle Makers Ltd Chris Cloke at E.J. Churchill Jean-Pierre Daeschler of J.P. Daeschler Andy Marshall at John Dickson & Son Graham Greener, David Dryhurst and Richard Tandy at W.W. Greener Holland & Holland Elaine Longthorne at Longthorne Gunmakers David and Alexe McKay Brown at David McKay Brown Nicholas Harlow at James Purdey & Sons Andrew Ambrose at John Rigby & Co. Carl Russell at Carl Russell & Co. Alex Torok of Smith and Torok John Ward at Ray Ward Michael Louca at Watson Bros.

Trigger at Westley Richards Paul West at William & Son

Photographic Acknowledgements I would like to thank Matthew Brown of Matthew Brown Photography who provided the superb photographs of Boss & Co, A.A. Brown & Sons, W.W. Greener and Longthorne Gunmakers.

6

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 6

30/08/2018 12:28

Foreword

By Nicholas Holt

h

I

was very fortunate to have a father who was a great sportsman and very much a shooting man. He introduced me to the sport at an early age in the traditional manner and I was absolutely captivated by this world of camaraderie, beautiful countryside and the chance to experience the joy of using products built with love, by true artisans. To my mind, there is an element of ‘soul’ to a hand-built gun that far exceeds mere functionality. The hundreds of hours of precision work spent by a whole team of craftsmen to bring a gun to life is absolutely tangible when you take it out in the field, not a mere working tool, but more a magic wand which seems to transform into an extension of yourself.

My admiration for those who can create such masterpieces is unbounded and it was partly because of my passion for their wonderful engineering and for the sport as a whole that led me to set up my company and be involved with guns on a daily basis. I am tremendously privileged to be able to see and handle such a wide variety of guns, the like of which often wouldn’t be seen outside of a museum or private collection.

Whilst the glorious history of British gunmaking is deservedly well-documented, there is relatively little focus on celebrating the fabulous quality and continuing innovations in gun design still being produced here in the UK. There has been a great influx of good European brands to choose from in recent years, so I hope this book will help shine a spotlight on the wonderful alternatives our current domestic makers have to offer as they continue to make history and push the boundaries of gunmaking excellence.

7

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 7

30/08/2018 12:28

Preface

h

I

n the ninteenth century there were thousands of gunmakers the length and breadth of Great Britain. Manufacturing was concentrated in London and Birmingham and these two cities churned out firearms in their hundreds of thousands from the cheapest to the best quality.

By the twenty-first century, due to a combination of circumstances, this situation had changed drastically to the extent that the number of British makers actually building guns could be counted on the fingers of both hands.

Yet, although this volume production has been consigned to history, the small number of British firms manufacturing sporting guns and rifles today build guns of the highest quality using the latest technology, with the end result being some of the finest guns and rifles available.

They are entirely made in Britain to exacting standards and although some of the designs date back over a century, they have been refined and brought up to date using the very latest CNC technology to create an amalgam of man and machine with one result, best guns only.

All the gunmakers offer bespoke designs and their guns and rifles are built to the exact requirements of the customer. They are designed and built for twenty-first century use, an exciting mix of tradition and technology.

This book aims to showcase what British gunmakers have on offer today. Quite simply they build the highest quality guns and rifles in the world using the latest contemporary technology allied to the hand craftsmanship of the gunmaker.

Donald Dallas

9

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 9

30/08/2018 12:28

Boss & Co.

ij .

B

oss & Co. were established as far back as 1812 when Thomas Boss completed his apprenticeship with Joseph Manton. After working for the trade he set up his own business a few years later and right from the start decided to build best guns only. Since this second decade of the 19th century, Boss are unique amongst British gunmakers in that they build best guns only, hence their sub-title ‘builders of best guns only’ is entirely apt. This, coupled with a relatively small production, gives Boss & Co. an exclusivity over all other gun manufacturers and is the reason why they are held in such high esteem today.

Thomas Boss died in 1857 and the business was continued by his nephew. In 1891 his nephew sold the business to a Scotsman, John Robertson, who not only possessed a prodigious talent for inventing, but also had a flair for good design.

John Robertson designed the classic Boss sidelock ejector, light elegant and racy, that soon acquired the accolade ‘the racehorse of best guns’. This gun continues to be built by Boss & Co. today.

In 1894 Robertson invented the first reliable single trigger mechanism, a marvel at the time, to the extent that Boss & Co. have become synonymous with the single trigger gun. In 1909 he invented the Boss over-and-under gun.

This was the first over-and-under gun in Great Britain and in addition, its construction and design were so good it has been copied by many others and is regarded by many as the finest example of an over-and-under design. It has a very slim depth of action, yet it is immensely strong. To show the exclusivity and best standards of Boss & Co., only around five hundred have been built since 1909.

10

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 10

Boss & Co. is a privately owned firm today and at their factory in Kew, London, they build what are probably the most exclusive guns in the world. Building exquisite guns and rifles is what Boss does; they do not sell clothing, shooting accessories and the like. Boss & Co. are quite simply ‘builders of best guns only’.

Boss are unique amongst British gunmakers today in that they still build guns by hand in exactly the same way as they were built in the 1920s and 1930s. The actions arrive as big billets of steel and they are all hand filed and shaped, hence each individual gun has a subtle shape of its own. No two guns are alike and every part of the gun is bespoke, from the type of rib required, action shape and so on. The lines of the gun or rifle are paramount to Boss hence their lack of adoption of CNC machinery that tends to turn out very similar guns.

Side-by-side guns take two to two-and-a-half years and over-and-under guns three to three-and-a-half years to manufacture. Due to the individual hand-built nature of each gun, a specific price cannot be quoted. The side-by-side and over-and-under guns are available in 12 to .410 bores. An exciting recent development is the re-introduction of over-and-under rifles in calibres .500, .470 and .375.

Website: www.bossguns.com Tel: 0208 948 2781

Opposite Pair of 12 bore round body side-by-sides 2

30/08/2018 12:28

BOSS & CO.

11

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 11

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

Pair of 12 bore side-by-sides 12

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 12

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

20 bore single trigger round bodied pinless over-and-under 13

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 13

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

20 bore round bodied single trigger side-by-side 14

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 14

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

Pair of 12 bore over-and-unders 15

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 15

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

Pair of 12 bore over-and-unders with extra barrels in oak and leather case 16

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 16

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

Pair of 20 bore round bodied over-and-unders 17

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 17

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

20 bore single trigger over-and-under 18

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 18

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

.410 single trigger over-and-under 19

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 19

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

28 bore over-and-under 20

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 20

30/08/2018 12:29

BOSS & CO.

28 bore single trigger side-by-side 21

BRITISH GUNMAKERS.indd 21

30/08/2018 12:29