doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Gun ID help- is this a Westley Richards??

Why bother with this gun? Do you need a wall hanger? It is a gun made before 1875 or so, that does not need to be shot anymore. Look at your left hand and try to tell me that the loss of it is worth shooting this old klunker one more time. It is either a Belgian made gun or most likely one of the many minor English makers from the later 1860's to 1870's time frame. Keyed fore ends were a thing of the past by 1880. Those hammers were a hold over form an earlier era or were made in the early 1870 period at the latest. To me that gun screams not to be shot. Maybe worth owning just to have a very early double example, but not as a shooter.

Doesn't look Belgium to me...nor does it look like a converted pin-fire. I'd bet the locks are non-rebounding.

If you bid I'd be sure the guy would give a refund...his idea of being tite and barely pitted might not agree with yours.

Ky is 1875 the cut off date....I got a Scott built in 1871 that screams to be shot about once a week.

Back to the gun...I don't think it's your common Jones under lever if that's good or bad I couldn't say.

CC19-



Here's an example of significant engraving with relatively extensive patina:

(edited by tinker as to stick to the point of the thread)

What I see on that richards is relatively simple border engraving with a little bit of flissy detail on the belly of the gun.

Furthermore for what it's worth, you're looking at a 'neat to have around' gun that's likely seen it's service life come and go.
Might be able to run it, might not.
If it were in your hands and showed itself to be fit for service with decent bores and enough wall thickness to do the job, you might be able to get away with loading light blackpowder loads for it and bust some clay off the back deck.

Couple hundred bucks is all I'd have given for it some time ago, definitely not today.

BTW, I'm pretty damn sure it's a converted pinfire shotgun.
Those hammers don't breech up to those strikers properly, and they don't look right on the gun.
It would have been worth more in the original pinfire configuration.

--Tinker

Timker the "relatively extensive patina" shown in your picture looks like a good example of rusted out engraving...is that a Belgiun gun ?

You think the hammers on the Gunbroker gun would reach the pins on a pin-fire ?

Heh heh heh...


It's a poor example of a functional pinfire gun for sure Joe!
That old jane spent too much time in India to ever be able to hit the pinfire antennae again.

Throws a crappy pattern of shot too, I don't even think a set of Briley's thin choke tubes would ever get that old hammergun to work it at the skeet range!


--Tinker

I don't believe it is a pinfire conversion, but it would be nice to see it open. It looks to be a longarm modeled after Lancaster's central-fire breechloader of 1852 with the noseless hammers and underlever(Daw snap action??, Jones of 1859, combo of Lancaster, Daw and Jones??). Or it could be some variant of a self extracting striker model. It would also be nice to see the hammers back. With the forend, it is definitely before the 1870s when Anson's pushrod of 1872 entered the scene as did Deeley & Edge in 1873.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Joe-

I don't think the hammers on the richards would.
I don't think they're original either.
But as it all goes, now and at the end of the day the gun's worth more than my opinion!




Here's another image of that old relic, back from it's 'good old days' in India.
As you can see, on the 50yd 'patterning board' it only gets two pellets on the sheet.

(edited by tinker so as to stick to the point of the thread)

--Tinker

Tinker why drag another gun into this ?

I took the pictures in photo-shop and zoomed in on them...not much engraving and the barrels look more like twist than Laminated best I could tell...

Maybe it is a Belgium take on Lancaster ?

HOmelessjoe.
Quality last if take care of, klunkers are either built or become so by hard use and little care. Point is that this gun is a very early gun, in what is not decent shape to warrant shooting. I am sure that if your search the wide world you will find a gun made post 1880 with a keyed fore-end but 99% were made before 1880. That makes this gun 125+ years old. Why shoot a gun that has been poorly taken care of for that long? Find a better example or pass unless you just want a piece of history. Heavy, tubed, doubles get real old, very fast, as they swing like a water logged fence post. You can have my share.