doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Opinions on best sxs boxlock design?

Fabarm, Bettinsoli, Chapuis, all use the double underlug system. By the way, it is not a true boxlock since the action bits are not "boxed" inside ther receiver, it is a trigger plate action as the tumblers, sears etc are on the trigger plate.

Thanks for pointing that out. I stand corrected

I measured on one gun which I have with double underbolts. From the center of the hinge pin to the front bolt notch (rear) is approximately 7/8" (.875") & to the rear notch 2". Thus the rear bolt has about a 230% leverage advantage over the front bolt. Also as the barrels open for every 0.001" the rear notch lifts the front one only lifts 0.0004".

To quote Julian S Hatcher there are many things which sound good "IF", you say them really fast. Would someone kindly type very slow & tell me just what advantage that front bolt gives in keeping the barrels closed.

The biggest advantage I can see to the front bolt on this gun, as well as others I have or have had in the past, is it serves to cam the bolt back for closing so the top lever does not need a Latch Over" but always returns to center. I like that feature, but it doesn't add to the strength of the gun.

The gun I measured is incidentally my J P Clabrough sidelock I have mentioned numerous times in the past & is still tight & on the face even though the bolts have absolutely no builtin wear compensation. It does have an unbolted Doll's Head in addition to the underbolts.

As they say, Life is too short to shoot a gun which you truly do not like. For "ME" this includes the A&D Boxlock. I will take my Lefevers or this Clabrough over any of the Cheaper A&D guns available.

I haven�t had the experience of a gun I truly didn�t like. There are two safes on the premises, filled (literally) with all different guns and actions. I would say some work better for me than others, but, someone else would very likely have a different opinion about the same guns.

More of a problem for me, seems to be I like them all.


Best,
Ted

The late Jack Rowe told me the front bolt never was intended to hold the barrels closed. The notch was simply somewhere the bolt to move into.

None of the American makers I am aware of kept quality high throughout their entire grades as Parker did. Parker did have a massive advantage having a lot of capital backing with the Charles Parker company. Lefever and Fox struggled just to make payrolls. I love both of those makers but Parker still stands out as the best overall IMO.

roger dat!

Compared to what we find on the sxs market today, both the BSS and the Ithaca SKB are great guns for the money. Target shooters in general may prefer the BSS because it's heavier; field shooters the SKB because it's lighter when you're carrying more and shooting less. Both have very good single triggers.

The Miroku boxlocks, in general, are mostly preferred--IMO--by the same people who prefer the SKB over the BSS: Lighter gun for the field. Most of them also have double triggers and extractors, so less to go wrong (as Ted pointed out). Many of them are also more in the British tradition than are the Brownings and the SKB's, with straight grips and splinter forends. And while the Miroku-marked guns aren't quite the sleepers in the market that they used to be, they're also usually cheaper than BSS or an Ithaca SKB.