I’ve also been told that Purdey no longer has the jigs or blueprints to build the large framed 12 ga pigeon guns. Orders for them dried up long ago apparently. As I thought about that I don’t even recall seeing a post WW11 large frame gun. Probably a few out there but I may have forgotten them. Post war “pigeon” guns I have owned or recall seeing come in at 7# 4 oz to 7# 8 oz. I sold my last light framed pigeon gun this week. My pre war big framed guns are all at or over 8# with 30 or 32” barrels.
As a pigeon gun fan, I've spent a little time on this.
Live bird pigeon shoots became illegal in the United Kingdom in 1921.The British Parliament passed the Captive Birds Shooting Prohibition Act 1921, which made it illegal to release and shoot captive birds from traps.
...so
most guns that we think of as "pigeon guns" from the UK made after 1921 are either fowlers, or destined for somewhere outside the UK, like the US.
