IGC - Forum

Hi Rick, Sorry it has taken a while to reply, I have been laid up with a bad foot and intermittently able to concentrate on the computer! I can find no reference to either of these two numbers as actual patents, so must assume they are patent use numbers, in other words, serial numbers based on how ...

Rick, it certainly looks like a WR toplever.

It seems there may be a patent number on the action flats. What is the number?

Tim

Barry, all the Bonehill ledgers were destroyed at the demise of the firm in 1962. The only way you may get some idea of the age of the gun is by researching the gun auction sites for past auction catalogues, whence by recording serial numbers and other clues, such as patent nos and proof marks, you ...

It's happened. The green and cuddly lobby have forced the hand of the main UK shooting bodies to cave in under pressure and declare that lead shot for game shooting is to be banned from 2025. Here in full is the statement jointly issued by BASC, the Countryside Alliance, British Game Alliance, Count...

The seniority number indicates the rank of the viewer at the proof house, where No 1 is your top man, then onwards down the ranks.

No 4 would have been 'one of the workers'!

Tim

Dave, it certainly is a 1937-38 S date mark; the seniority number looks like 4.

I agree, I very much doubt they were best London gun barrels!

Hope you enjoy the gun once you have restored it.

Tim

Right; nothing that I could find under LH. There are a lot of gun trade surnames beginning with H, yet very few christian names beginning with L! I then tried HL and finally TH, which produced one remote possibility: Henry James Taylor, barrel maker, Deans Bldgs., Weaman St, 1890-1901 & then And...

I read that as LH. It will be the initials of the barrel maker. It will not point you in any other direction than letting you know who struck up the barrels, but it's a nice bit of additional provenance to add to the gun. I've now got to spend 30 mins looking for likely barrel makers from that era i...

Garrett, your gun, an early Watson Bros gun, was produced in 1897

Without reference to the records, held by the current firm, it is impossible to say what grade the gun is. Try contacting them for more detailed information.

Tim

It is likely that the serial number is a trade number, rather than an Anson number. Several good London name guns have often 5 or 6 digit serial numbers, rather than their own sequential serial number. It indicates that the gun was bought in from the trade, pretty much ready to sell. The London gunm...