Lloyd, you did good on this one. 28" barrels are scarcer on the 2" 12. I've bought from Battle before and it was a pleasure to deal with an honest gun dealer.
The wood has some figure and looks fine for a field gun. James Albury "JA", as you know was a top barrel maker in Birmingham. He also made actions. I had a 2.5" 12 ga. Henry Atkin with "JA" initials on the barrels and presently have a C. Hellis 2" 12 with the initials on the barrel. I had a temporarily insane "got to have" notion on your gun, but escaped from the clutches of the notion when temporary sanity overcame me. Gil
On 15 April 2011 (as recorded in my notebook) during a conversation with the late Jack Rowe about the gun trade in the 1940's at Birmingham, England --he said: "....when he was an apprentice at S. Wright & Sons in Birmingham (that would have late 1940's) that machined A & D actions (along with hammers, sears and other parts) were available to the trade from Midland Gun Co., James/Joseph Asbury, and a small company named Rogers which was next door to Phillips & Nephew on Loveday Street."
Thousands of Birmingham guns are still around that the barrels are marked "JA" indicating the barrel supplier. Note: I am not certain about the name of James Asbury, which is what Jack Rowe called Mr. Asbury. The reason why I am not certain is that AA Brown purchased the assets of the Asbury business and Robin Brown referred to Mr. Asbury as Joseph Asbury.
In regard to barrel tubes for barrel makers there in Birmingham, I have recorded in the same conversation that Jack Rowe also said: " ...Webley was one of the suppliers to the gun trade of barrel tubes and actions, and that Webley had its own barrel code that indicated barrel length, length of choke and other specifications.... Webley provided better tubes than the other suppliers in Birmingham, who mainly provided Belgian tubes"... Jack Rowe was 79 years old at the time of this conversation.
Today, Phillipsons the CNC machining and engineering company that build actions for the gun trade is descended from the former Phillips & Nephew. I believe I recall that Phillipsons is owned by the same person who owns Boss & Co.
Kind Regard;
Stephen Howell
