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May - June, 2006 www.doublegunclassics.com Volume 1, No. 6

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Editor:John Campbell

Editorial Office:Double Gun Classics,

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

e-mail: editor@doublegunclassics.comwww.doublegunclassics.com

Contributing Editors:British Gunsmithing -- Kirk Merrington

Work In Progress --Steve DurrenMetal Finishes -- John Gillette

Engraving -- Ken Hurst

The Cover: Here’s a captivating 20 Ga.,made about 1890 by Bozard & Co. of

London (pronounced “Buzz-ard”). Notethat the upper edge of the sideplates are

“bent” or sculpted to follow the stock line. 2

May - June, 2006 www.doublegunclassics.com Volume 1, No. 6

Departments:3 Both Barrels. -- Value of A Double?5 Classics Revisited.--What’s Handiness?17 Double Talk -- Brooks & Thomas22 Good Tools. -- Barrel Stand23 Good Shooting. -- Pat Lieske25 Provisonal Proof. -- Strip & Clean?26 How It works. -- WR Interceptors

In This Issue:9 Vintagers 2006 SxS Festival.This year it was at Rio Brazos near Houston.

12 Top Wood Grows On Trees.Cecil Fredi gambles on great wood for a living.

19 The Heathcote Woodward.J. M. Heathcote invented a major sport, lived in a

castle, and shot this very fine Woodward.

26 Damascus Barrel Prep.Here’s how to rejuvenate a set of tubes.

31 Scott’s Gun Manufactory.It’s 1872, and you tour the W. & C. Scott Works.

37 Poor Man’s Purdey, Part II.The old girl’s past is revealed and the first steps in

restoration are taken.

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.

The double gun guys gathered some-where west of Katy, Texas, in March.Reason? The latest National Side by

Side Festival, conducted by the redoubtableRay Poudrier and The Vintagers.

But to be more precise about thisSpring’s event, it was held at the Rio Brazosclub, which is only about an hour west ofHouston and George Bush InternationalAirport, and a few miles south of I-10 andSimonton, Texas. It’s mostly freeway, andthen an easy drive through the texas ranchcountry (if there’s no rush hour or construc-tion on the freeway).

Believe me, for a northern guy Texasin March is a pure joy; A balmy 60 degrees,green grass, and trees that actually haveleaves on them.

Combine that climate with the golfcourse-like setting of Rio Brazos, a host ofnational and international vendors and gun-makers, plus a spirited cadre of double gun-

ners, and you have a great atmosphere for the2006 Festival.

I’m not stretching my point about theRio Brazos layout either. It actually was agolf course in a previous life. But now, thegrass is mown about an inch higher, and thecourse is sprinkled with target traps insteadof sand traps. Overall, the experience isinspiring. And many of the target presenta-tions on the clays course can clearly betermed “in the open.” Other than sportingclays, there was also a five-stand course aswell as helice… or ZZ birds.

Over at the large exhibitors tent, it wasrewarding to encounter a host of the “usualsuspects.” These included Purdey’s, Holland& Holland, Famars, Jim Barnett, VintageDoubles, FEI and more. In a nutshell, it wasvery difficult to restrain your urge to add justone more goodie to the gun rack or shootingcabinet.

And depending upon the day and18

Vintagers SxS FestAt Rio Brazos.

By John Campbell

For someone who spent most of his lifein Las Vegas and the gaming industry,you’d think Cecil Fredi would know

better than to be a gambler.But this guy is willing to take a bet

anytime… as long as it’s on an old gnarlytree that might yield some terrific stockwood. In fact, Cecil will travel hundreds ofmiles to assess a tree, buy it, then cut it intostock blanks. The only problem is that, evenwith his highly discerning eye and vast expe-rience, Cecil occasionally craps out. He canbuy a tree, dig it out, cuts into it, and simplyend up with some of the most expensive fire-wood in the country.

It’s a roll of the dice. A turn of thecard. Pure darn luck. The wood sometimes

has no figure, is diseased, has wind shakes,too much sap wood, bark pockets or some-thing else that makes it worthless for gun-stocks. In that way, what Cecil does really isgambling. And even if things work out, theaverage amount of usable wood on any stockwood tree is no more than 30%. Some daysyou’re lucky. Some days, you’re not.

Case in point: Cecil once paid $1,300for a very tempting maple tree… and itturned out that there wasn’t a single blank tobe had from it. But overall, it’s still betterthan hitting the casino.

And like any good player, Cecil knowsthe signs to look for.

“A good rule of thumb is that old uglytrees have the best potential for good wood,”

This is a very special myrtle tree log. It rendered the finest myrtle blanks ever cut.

BeautifulWood GrowsOn Trees

Part II of A Series.

he said. “But I’m convincedthat genetics also play a bigrole. Actually, you neverreally know what you haveuntil you cut into the tree.”

And sometimes evengetting to the tree or trees canbe a challenge. The woodbusiness is very specialized.

“It’s almost essentialthat you have a partner in thearea where these trees grow,”Cecil says. “This guy shouldknow the nut grower, knowwhen he wants to cut a groveof trees, and can negotiate thefirst leg of the deal.

Right: This 101 year oldBastogne walnut tree was100’ tall, weighed 100,000pounds and producedabout 900 stock blanks.But it had to be topped, cutand the stump dug outfirst. Below: Just the firststage of scrap wood thatcomes off a good treebefore top blanks are cut.

While it is sound advice to “buy thegun, not the name,” it’s even moreprescient to acquire both when the

opportunity arises.And in this particular case, it appears

that there are two historic names attached tothis exceptional Woodward hammer gun, notjust one.

Everything began at a local antiquearms show at which I generally have a dis-play. This show was no exception. I’d set upmy things on Friday night, walked throughthe existing tables of dealers who were alsosetting up, and then left the hall. I hadn’tspotted a thing that gave off any sort of“electricity.” But, there were many emptytables to be filled before the show opened thenext morning.

On Saturday, I was at my table beforethe opening bell, and spent the obligatoryamount of time uncovering and arranging the

guns and odd bits that I was offering for sale.When that’s done, I’m faced the usual show-opening quandary. Should I stay at my tableand possibly garner some quick sales? Or,should I tour the fully displayed show to snaga treasure before the on-rushing proletariathad too much of a chance? Predictably, Ichose the latter course.

And depending upon one’s perspective,things were going quite well as I loopedthrough my fourth or fifth row. I hadn’t seena thing that gave me the jitters. Oh, therewere many nice pieces… but not a one ofthem generated that magic that a collectorknows instantly.

Then I walked past the tables of afamiliar dealer. He was a good enough chap,but dealt mostly in beat-out pre-cartridgearms. Not the kind of stuff that I was gener-ally interested in.

But for this show, the fellow had

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changed his modus operandi entirely. Insteadof his usual array of rusty lockplates and bas-ket case muzzleloaders, there were two fulltables of British side-by-sides! Some werehammerless. Some were hammer guns.Some were in great shape. And some were inpassable shape. Some were even in trunk

cases.For a double gun man, it was like

walking into a miniature version of theGleneagles auction. But little did I know thata monumental piece of shooting history wasliterally close at hand.

The voltage started to course through

The name Woodward is a Best gun legend. The steel buttplate is tastefully engraved.

The Jones underlever is self-returning to lock, and requires only a minor tap to seat.

Many old doubles have Damascusbarrels that are pitted, incorrectlyfinished (blacking instead of

browning), or need refinishing for some otherwell-founded reason.

For example, I once had a set of bar-rels that had about 90% of the originalbrowning but had a bright spot on one tubethat was about a half inch wide and threeinches long. It was bare, clean metal, andappeared to be where someone tried to “cleanup” some light corrosion… with somethinglike naval jelly!

Of course, this required that the wholeset of barrels be re-browned. Unfortunately,there is no acceptable way to touch up abrowned barrel. Although some will disagreewith this, I’ve found that any fix is almostmore obvious than the original problem.Blacked barrels are another matter entirely.

But whether the barrels in question are

Damascus or fluid steel, browned or blacked,you can often save some money and gainexperience by correctly prepping the barrelsyourself. If you’re careful.

And if your barrels are for a gun youtreasure and respect, it will pay to send thebarrels out to a professional finisher.Attempting to do a first-class brown or blackjob yourself is a fool’s errand. Why? For anumber of reasons. First, you do not havethe experience to do a first-rate job. Simpleas the job seems, this experience takes yearsto acquire. Secondly, you will spend moremoney on the materials and containers thanthe job’s worth unless you intend to do thework full time. Thirdly, the chemicalsinvolved are often highly corrosive and theirfumes will attack any ferrous material in yourshop… or your wife’s kitchen. Believe me, itisn’t worth the baloney. Especially when youcan get a darn good pro to do the job foraround $300.

Curriculum Vitae.

Damascus BarrelPrep.

By

Connor Duncan

We had frequently been struck, whenlooking over the files of Americanpapers, with many allusion they

made to the wonderful shooting power of“Scott’s guns.” Nearly every Americannewspaper report of “Hunting Club” matcheschronicles, as a rule, the fact that numbersshoot with Scott’s make.

Now being curious in all concerningsporting guns, our curiosity became excitedas to who this celebrated maker could be. Itis a well-known fact that Americans are notby any means partial to guns manufactured intheir own country, and will always buy in

preference and English gun. On this account,we are inclined to arrive at the inference thatthis gunmaker might possibly be Scott ofBirmingham, in England.

Some little time since, having occasionto visit that large manufacturi9ng town, itoccurred to us that we might readily verifyour suspicions, and at the same time gratify along pent-up wish to view a large gun factoryin full work, and see the rough wood and ironturned into the elegant and perfect gun. As itturned out, we were right in our conjecture;and we found that the “gobbler-slaying,“coon-smashing,” and “tarnation shooting

This window into double gun history was originally published in London’sBelgravia Magazine, August 1872, and reprinted in W. & C. Scott’s catalog of 1872.

By C. Waddy

7

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Some things in this world are so highlyregarded that their mystique aloneserves as a kind of protective barrier.I felt this “force field” of sorts as I

placed the Purdey onto the bench and con-templated my next move. I soon came to theconclusion that everything I would do withthis gun would only happen after carefulthought, analysis and consideration for everyaspect of every potential consequence. Aresponsible person does not barge into aPurdey any more than he would bull his wayinto the engine bits of an Aston Martin.These are special territories.

But before reaching for any tool, it wastime to evaluate and methodically analyze thegun that lay before me.

The stock was scuffed but not crackedas far as I could see. It had one small“gouge” ahead of the trigger guard, but thatmight steam out… mostly. The forend had avery small chip out of the left top edge. Itwas almost not noticeable. The checkering

looked worn but good, except for a fewscratches and minor gouges in the forearmpattern. These could be fixed. The caramel-colored wood was well figured with blackstreaks.

I measured the drop at comb at 1 1/2”and the drop at heel at 1 1/2”… Altogether avery straight stock of English character.Length of pull to the old pad was 14 3/8”.I placed a couple of snap caps into the cham-bers and dropped the tumblers. The triggerpulls were wonderful and smooth! I havenever experienced such perfect trigger pullson any other shotgun…ever.

It was barely visible in the vibrantDamascus pattern of the top rib, but therewas, indeed, the legend “J. Purdey & Sons,314 1/2 Oxford St. London” Obviously,this gun predated Purdey’s move to AudleyHouse.

Because of the Beesley action’s self-opening feature, it is difficult to assess anylooseness of a Purdey without removing

14

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PPPPoooooooorrrr MMMMaaaannnn’’’’ssss PPPPuuuurrrrddddeeeeyyyy....Part II.

ByJohn Campbell

If you’re going to work on the barrels of adouble gun, you’re going to need somekind of barrel support.

The reasons for this are manifold.First, double gun barrels are long. Even theshort ones are 25” or so. And clamping bar-rels in a normal lead-padded vise jaws allowsa lot of unsupported mass to just hang outthere in space. And of course, gravity is yourenemy. In conjunction with any kind of workon the barrels, it tends to pull them down androtate them in the vise… not good.

This problem is exacerbated by the factthat double gun barrels are delicate. Even thebreech end. So a lot of torque on the visehandle is apt to get you into serious crush-ability issues. You just can’t “make ‘ertighter” to cure things.

And when the time comes to work onthe muzzles of a barrel set, the relationshipbetween tube fragility and a vise-like gripbecomes even more critical.

By supporting the other end of the bar-rels, relief is simple and effective. A propdefeats gravity. And it also allows you toapply the minimum amount of clampingforce from the vise to hold things firmly…but not too firmly.

Fortunately, a good barrel support iseasy to make. All you need is a section of2x6 plank about 8” long, a section of 2x4about 8” long, a couple of deck screws, andsome padding material. Anything else issuperfluous.

Other designs for a barrel support arecertainly possible, but this one is ultra-simpleand as effect as any. And keep in mind thatthe length of the 2x4 section depends on theworking height of your vise above the benchtop. A taller vise will require more length; ashorter one, less.

In one end of the 2x4 section (the

Good Tools.A Barrel Support

Stand.

22

The barrel stand supports the long lengthof the barrels while the lump is held in alead-protected vise, preventing injury.

AT ISSUE: STRIP &CLEAN. Top British andcontinental gunmakers andgunsmiths recommend aregular “strip and clean” offine double guns. But withsmokeless powders andevolved gun design, is it stilla wise thing to do?

KIRK: Yes!DGC: What’s the generalrationale behind a strip-and-clean? Profit or pre-caution?KIRK: Think about it interms of your car. If your carstill runs, why bother chang-ing the oil every 3000 miles?Same with a gun. Justbecause it’s still workingdoesn’t mean that it’s beingwell-maintained. Good main-tenance prolongs the servicelife of good car or gun.When I worked in Houston, Iknew a fellow who had twoidentical 12 Gauge autos thathe would use for the water-fowl season. Why two?Because when one stoppedworking, he’d start using the other. I toldhim to bring in his first gun after every oneor two hunts and I’d clean it up properly. Hedid, and he never used the second gun again.

Granted, an automatic builds up more crudfaster than a double, but crud still builds upin both types. Keep a gun clean and it willwork reliably.

Provisional Proof.Answers From An English Trained Gunsmith.

WithKirk Merrington.

25

This head page from a Purdey owner’s manual empha-sizes their views on yearly gun cleaning and maintenance.

Ashotgun’s safety does not make any-thing safe. It merely makes it moredifficult to engage the trigger with

the sear and fire the gun in the normal man-ner.

Even with the safety “on,” the tum-blers of a gun are still cocked. And in mostdesigns, the only thing keeping them fromwhacking the striker and firing a shot is theinterface between the sear noses and a verysmall ledge of metal called the bent. Jarthose two out of engagement, and you’ll get aloud bang… whether the safety is on or not.

This is why it is gun handling gospelto keep the muzzles of any gun pointed in asafe direction. Admittedly, an accidental jar-off is a very rare thing. But it can happen.And to obviate such a possibility, some of theworld’s greatest gunmakers devised variousmechanisms to shortstop the tumbler’s falland prevent it from hitting the striker. Thesedevices are called interceptors, because that’sexactly what they do: Intercept the tumblerbefore it can strike anything.

And since the sidelock action was pre-dominant in the early development of inter-ceptors it was, and is, the most common typeof action to have them. In operation, mostare fairly simple as being a bar, pivoted inthe general center. At the front end is usuallya lug or lump that is shaped to catch and holdthe tumbler during its forward travel. At the

rear of the bar is an arm, virtually identical tothe sear arm. When the gun is fired in theusual manner, the trigger blade lifts both thesear and interceptor arms simultaneously.The sear is pulled from the bent at the sametime as the “catch lug” at the forward end ofthe interceptor bar is moved out of the tum-bler’s way so it can fall forward normally.

But, if the gun were to be dropped orsomehow jarred violently enough to pop thesear nose out of the bent without the triggerlifting the interceptor bar, the interceptor’scatch lug would still be in position, halt

How It Works.Westley Richards

Boxlock Interceptors.

Anson’s boxlock interceptors are L-shaped and hinge at the top of the frame.

26

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Coming... In The Next Issue:Blowout! A Jos. Lang .577 NE Lets Go Without Warning.

The disaster takes off a man’s thumb, destroys the forearm, and leaves a mystery.

The Heathcote Woodward, Part II.We discover J. M. Heathcote’s invention of raquet sport, and his castle’s heritage.

Damascus Barrel Prep, Part II.The final steps to the final finish. What to look for and how far to go.

The Southern Side-by-Side.This shoot has become a classic in itself. Good guns. Good people. Good weather.

Poor Man’s Purdey, Part III.There isn’t much holding a Purdey together, but taking it to bits requires much care.