Classic Guns
with Diggory Hadoke
As we got into August, sun shining and heat cooking us in our offices, it seemed like the summer started with the CLA Game Fair weekend. Sporting Shooter had a good stand with lots of helpful girls with big smiles and a few of us contributing writers there to show off old guns, give shooting advice or just chat about topics of common interest.
I promisd in July that I would gve away a copy of Vintage Guns for the Modersn Shot to the reader who brought me the most interesting gun. I saw a few. One chap brought a Purdey hammer gun for an insurance valuation and then proceeded to take it to every single stand in Gunmaker's Row. Any time I mentioned it to a stall holder, thier eyes rolled and they said somethning unprintable.
I saw some nice guns on the various stands. Graham MacKinley had a great range of old guns, especially Dickson round actions, in which he specialises. Patrick Keen had others and The Cheshire Gunroom displayed a range of good London sidelocks. Wyane Hurt at the Cotswood gun Room also had some histiric guns, including what he believes to be the fourth gun built by Stephen Grant and the personal 12-bore hammer gun of William Froome, Holland & Holland's legendary Victorian gun regulator and tester (see the book 'Holland & Holland, the Royal gunmaker, by Donald Dallas)
This Hollis rook rifle was brought in by a reader - still in the original .360 calibre and in excellent condition. I thought it a particularly nice example of what is an increasingly popular style of rifle to collect and use.
Patrick Keen showed me this rare example of a Perkes patent sidelock by Boss. This back-action design was ditched in favour of the bar-action in the Robertson era. This one retains a degree of colour hardening and is in good, shootable condition. It is a side-lever model, which was common on Boss guns in the Stephen Grant and Edward Paddinson eras of management.
Graham MacKiney had this William Powell 16-bore with replacement barrels and a bit of colour re-applied. Plain guns of quality like this make good entry-level sidelocks. Graham also hasd a rack of good dicksons and even a side-opening over/under by the Scottish firm.
AA Harvey sold me a lovely 16-bore Boswell hammer gun last year. this year he tempted me with this Purdey pinfire. I'm just not sure I'm ready for pinfire yet - maybe next season?
Here is another reader at our stand with a nice cased James Woodward sidelock ejector with two sets of barrels. He brought it along for an insurance valuation. I'll be at the Midland Game Fair. so bring your gun if you want to do the same.
The Midland Game Fair at Weston Park in Shropshire threw up a few interesting things too:
A nice Belgian hammer gun with gold inlay. this was by appointment to the Royal family and was very nicely embellished. It looks to date from the mid 1860s.
Author and BASC stalwart Robin Marshall-Ball dropped by to swap notes. His new edition of his excellent sporting rifle book is due out next year.
Coffee and cigars! Thanks to all the readers who brought their guns to show me or just to have a chat. The game fairs are where we all get to meet readers face-to-face and talk about things we like to talk about. We had great weather both day and everyone seemed cheerful. Even stall holders thought sales had been pretty good. at least one happy reader took my advice and bought a W. Richards hammer gun for a bargain price late on Sunday, stocked up at Purdey's sale and had a greeat day out. Now we can get on with the shooting season. Until next time.......
