American & British 410 Shotguns. Ronald Gabriel

The latter has more metal in the frame at the angle of the breech and under the water table and is the action of choice for large caliber double rifles. Using one of three top bolts (doll’s head, Greener’s crossbolt, or Purdey’s third fastener rotary bolt) gives added support to the bar action.

      Boothroyd, one of the greatest of all shotgun historians, describes the term, “bar-in-the-wood,” in which the “metal of the bar is recessed and the wood of the butt stock is carried forward over the metal.” He cites the MacNaughton “Edinburgh” action as a decorative example [2]. Beauty does not necessarily expense strength.

      One of the important assets of the sidelock is the intercepting safety. This helps to maintain its popularity despite cost and complexity and remains part and parcel of a “Best”-quality back-or bar-action sidelock. This safety blocks the fall of the tumbler (internal hammer) in case the sear is accidentally jarred loose from its notch in the tumbler. Thus, this safety blocks both the effect of the trigger pull and accidental sear dislodgement.

      The classical boxlock action has no intercepting safety for the sear. The boxlock safety simply blocks the trigger pull. It is noteworthy that the original Anson & Deeley boxlock patent in 1875 showed the safety blocking the tumbler and not the trigger pull. Greener made some boxlocks with the intercepting safety device [3]. Interestingly, the few American sidelocks, either bar-or back-action, made by Baker and L.C. Smith, did not have the intercepting feature, no doubt due to complexity, and hence, cost.

      The back action is considered stronger than the bar action because the action bar is not cut away for inletting of the “V” mainspring as it is for the bar action, and the back-action locks are narrower. With less wood removed, this sidelock in hammerless configuration was and remains a preferred choice for many professional African hunters and for most quality gunmakers such as Holland & Holland and Rigby for the early 20th century Express double rifle. These back-action guns are nearly a solid unit with the barrels as there is little or no clearance between the action and barrel invaginations. Today’s large caliber Express double rifles by the great British makers are more for collectors for the guns’ decorative value, and are made with the bar-action sidelock.

      Additional assets attributed to the sidelock are its superior balance and the most mechanically efficient angle between tumbler and sear resulting in superbly crisp trigger pulls [4]. These advantages may be more apparent than real, as any shooter of the round- or trigger-plate action in the Dickson or Perazzi or any user of a quality boxlock such as the Parker, the NID Ithaca, or the Westley Richards droplock will attest.

      A further advantage in the sidelock action is its accessibility for cleaning and lubricating. Holland & Holland did develop for its bar-action sidelocks a hand-detachable variation in the first decade of the 20th century that immensely improved accessibility and subsequently became popular in “Best”-quality guns of many English gunmakers. Its ease of servicing is matched only by the Westley Richards droplock, patented in 1897, in which each lock is mounted on a floor plate, and this unit is then inserted into the bottom of the action box.

Figure 1: Lock diagram from a sidelock action.

      1. Lock Plate

      2. Tumbler or Hammer

      3. Bridle

      4. Sear

      5. Intercepting Safety Sear

      6. Mainspring

      7. Swivel

      8. Sear Spring

      9. Intercepting Safety Sear Spring

Figure 2: The original form of the famous Anson and Deeley hammerless action, where the tumblers are cocked on the fall of the barrels. This is a particularly strong action that is notable for its economy of parts. It was first produced by Westley Richards, Birmingham, in 1876 and almost all modern boxlock guns are based on this model.

      Among the hammerless bar-action locks, there were definable differences. The Purdey action, patented by Frederick Beesley in 1880, is an integrated system in which cocking the hammers, firing, and opening the breech (“self opener”) are powered by a single “V” spring. Conversely, the Holland & Holland action, initiated in 1883 by John Robertson, the gunmaking inventor who saved Boss from oblivion, was not an integrated power platform but was easier to build. This action is now seen in sidelocks throughout the world, especially high quality Spanish, Italian, and some British sidelock side-by-side doubles. Woodward’s Rogers action, based upon a John Rogers patent of 1881 in which the fall of the barrels “cocks a sidelock hammerless gun,” and Boss’ own creation represent significant variations [5].

      Although the great British gun houses made many of their own locks, there were and continue to be individual lock makers of great repute. The past includes Brazier, Chitten, Saunders, Stanton, and Harper. The present includes A.A. Brown and York & Wallin, all of whom have supplied best quality locks to virtually every maker of best quality bar-action sidelocks in England.

      A final consideration is an aesthetic one. The sidelock, because of its configuration, whether a bar or back action, remains the paragon of grace, elegance, and beauty among the double shotguns of the world.

       2. Boxlocks

      As the sidelock may be considered an evolutionary development beginning with the match- and wheellock in the 15th century, the boxlock was clearly revolutionary (see Figure 2 per Geoffrey Boothroyd).

      This hammerless action, patented by Anson & Deeley in 1875 for Westley Richards (A&D action), was simplicity itself in which all parts were attached directly to the frame. It became and remains, given a certain standard in materials and workmanship, the most popular and cost-effective action for double guns in the world. All the quality American 410 doubles used this action or a variation, save the L.C. Smith back-action sidelock. And the vast majority of quality English and European 410 doubles use the boxlock action including great makers such as Holland & Holland, Webley & Scott, Churchill, Watson, Jeffery, Lancaster, Westley Richards, Cogswell & Harrison, Merkel, etc. Greener’s “box-like” action (Facile Princeps) was actually quite different and was patentable but was similar in effect, simplicity, and cost (see Greener chapter).

      In fact, Webley & Scott and Midland supplied the boxlock action for many of these gunmakers in the first 70 years of the 20th century. Total numbers dwarf the comparatively few bar-action sidelock guns built in the 410 bore in the 20th century. Conversely, many back-action hammer 410s were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially by Watson and Cogswell & Harrison.

      The hammerless boxlock has five main components consisting of the cocking lever; the sear; the tumbler, including the firing pin; the mainspring; and the ejector, which was added in 1886 by Deeley with modification in 1893 by Southgate. The action was cocked by the fall of the barrels, the first successful design to do so. This compares with the usual 22 parts in the finest bar-action sidelock. Its essence is simplicity and ease of manufacturing and maintenance. Its strength must compare favorably with the back-action sidelock. W.J. Jeffery Company chose the boxlock for its 600-bore Express double elephant rifle [6]. The A & D action, when combined with the Scott spindle and top-lever and the Purdey underbolt, became the world standard [7]. In fact, this action was “popular” in America, according to Tate, until the McKinley tariff of 1890 made the “importation prohibitive.”

      The lock