doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Army & Navy Shotguns prior to 1899

Rookhawk, my guns were from the 1930's, after the two companies had merged. I was referring to the "shorthand" used in the ledgers for the companies that made the guns, not that guns prior to 1899 would have been recorded as W&S. Sorry for the confusion.

You are putting yourself at great risk purchasing a gun out of the UK based on pictures.

jOe,
Thanks, I agree, but the gun is in the US. My reference to info from the UK was the info available from the Univ. of Glasgow. I wanted to be sure that the gun was made in the UK, not Belgium. The owner is out of contact until sometime next week. Gil

I own a 16 ga. w/30" barrels, weighing a bit over 5 lbs, manufactured in 1894, according to a copy of the ledger page I got from the University. The page identified it as a "Gamekeeper," which I assume to be the "bottom of the line." It also identified the date of sale, the identity of the purchaser and the price paid. No information about the manufacturer, however.

While I own a number of much higher quality game guns, this is the one I usually use. A couple of years ago I could not get the gun to close. Close inspection showed that a tiny piece of cigarette tobacco had gotten into the action, which was still so tight the tobacco was preventing it from locking up.

Claybird, I no longer have the ledger records on the A&N's I owned. However, in a column on the far right (if I recall correctly), they listed the maker, although the name was not spelled out. Maybe they added that information on later guns.

Mr. Brown,

After reading your post, I got out the ledger sheet copy I had gotten from Glasgow University, and found under a column entitled "Finished" the letters "Osb." Based on an earlier posting in this thread, perhaps that stands for Osborne, a term which is unknown to me. I also note, under a column entitled "Barrel or Maker's No." the number "34876"

Charles Osborne was a know maker for A&N.
It's my understanding that the "W&S" entry is Webley & Son not Webley & Scott.
P. Webley & Son was a known maker for A&N, so many of their guns carrying the Webley screw-grip patent which was well before Webley & Scott.

Fletchedpair, might have been Webley & Son prior to the merger, but I'm pretty sure the information on my guns--which post-dated the merger by 30+ years--showed "W&S" on the ledger sheet, which would have been Webley & Scott by that time. (My guns were boxlocks with a Greener crossbolt, not screw-grips.)