doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com William Evans double rifle restored

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I posted about a William Evans that came for restoration for a US client. It had been long dry stored and was a bit gummed up but underneath the crud was a lot of original finish. The rifle is now done and has come up nicely. We opted for bare Silver's pad rather than leather covered as the grip it provides is the preferred option for this client (and many African hunters).

Being picky, I would have darkened the wood a little more with red oil, as it lightened with oil finish more than expected. I prefer a deeper red background to the wood.

The original case colours have come up well, these are not re-coloured, note the forend iron, grip cap and trigger plate all have colours in good shape.

The .470 is a great African dangerous game calibre and the Webley screw-grip is a classic early-to-mid 20th century action. Overall, I think it came up well.

Beautiful job, Dig, Hopefully your customer will post here about his African hunts. Roughed out by Webley & Scott? Finished by William Evans?

Evans did't build anything. This would have been a Webley all through or possibly built on a Webley action by Perkes or another chap with a workshop doing similar work. My bet would be that Webley & Scott's factory did it all. Shows how good they were.

Small Bore,

in summary, can you give us some more detail on what consisted your restoration? I.e., sovent or liquid cleaner applied to frame, kind of (oil) treatment on the stock, barrels did they got any special care inside/out?

Hope I am not asking about your trade secrets,

Regards,

EJSXS

The action was stripped and all parts cleaned, de-greased and boiled-off.

Barrels were tig-welded to remove some small external pits,, which were unsightly.

Barrels then polished off and re-blacked.

Bores were mint, just had to use solvent to clean out old dirt and hardened grease.

Woodwork was stripped, papered and then oil finished with a Purdey 'slacum' oil and the chequer run through. Always get chequer professionally done - it is a total false economy to skimp on this and the easiest way to ruin a gun.

The pad is by Silver's.

I like surgical alcohol as a dirt and grease remover. There are other very good alternatives. At AGL, we used to use paint thinner, but the smell is awful.

Dig -

beautiful gun.

I have an Evans .470 dating from 1919 that was originally shipped to Mombasa in 1928 for the father of CJP Ionides, one of Africa's great early hunters, game warden, conservationist, and herpetologist. "Iodine" founded Selous Game Reserve, where he lived into the 1960's fighting poachers and collecting venomous snakes. He spent his holidays hunting obscure species all over Africa , most of it with a .470.

Ionides was a splendidly eccentric man who was one of my childhood heroes due to his love of snakes. Along with Ramar of the Jungle (early 50's TV show), he inspired me to a wildlife biology career in East Africa, and when I found this rifle for sale I just could not resist.

The rib is pitted, apparently due to flooding of the Arusha gun room, but was refinished by JJ Perodeau. I think about having the rib fully repaired, but a flooded gun room is so quintessentially African that it almost adds to the appeal.

That tale takes my mind back to when I was a youngster and read a book on snakes by Ionides.

Cracking job Diggory. It looks just as good as it would have done when it left William Evans/Webley's. Lagopus.....

I just had a timely reminder that I have another gun in the workshop, which is well overdue. The next thing I will have ready is a Beesley SLE.

It is the bane of my life that we have so much work that comes in but it takes so long to get it done. Too few classy gunmakers, the work takes a while to do and there is such a backlog.

Well overdue is right or "slightly excessive" as one of my South African buddy would say in a characteristically understated way...
Please send me an estimate before spending GBPGBPGBP...
Best regards,
WC-

Dig, what was actually done in the Evans shop if they "Didn't build anything."? Did they even have a shop? I would like to know more about my 1911 Evans screw grip sidelocks, but the records are missing in my serial number range. Thanks for the information. Bill Murphy