doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Watson Bros 360EX double

Earlier this month I received my first English boxlock double, a Watson Brothers 360EX 2.25" from 1906.

• 26" barrels, Extractors
• Webley screw grip action
• Standing 150yd and folding 250 rear sight leaves
• Mint bores
• Full engraving coverage
• No nitro proof marks, just 360EX. No cartridge or load info on the rifle

Prior to purchasing the gun and reaching out to Watson Brothers for their records, my best guess on DOM was post 1895 (based on the maker's barrel address) and pre-1907 (based on another rifle, 29 after mine, sold in 1907). Turns out this was sold in 1906.

Workmanship is quite wonderful. After casting the chamber and measuring the bore, I tried 0.366" jacketed soft point bullets made by RWS back in the day for the 9.3x72r. These with a modest load of H4198 are printing to POA at 35 yards, so I'm looking forward to loading up more rounds and trying at distances out to 150 yards. This will be going deer hunting next month when I join a friend for a hunt in Minnesota.

If you have loads for the 360EX 2.25" using smokeless nitro-for-black power loads, I'd love to see them. This rifle was presumably proofed with black powder (given the absence of nitro proofmarks that would have been required by then), so I'm not loading with full nitro loads.

We had a good day hunting today. Got a nice buck…range was short, maybe 35 yards. Was in a stand, firing downward. Buck dropped where he was. A fairly big one, but it seems they get larger as you go farther north (we are in Minnesota, about an hour north of Minneapolis). Pics when I get home.

Very happy with how the Watson performed with the RWS jacketed soft points. Still will pursue a patched LRN load.

So a few pics as promised. But first an observation.

While hunting, both from a stand and moving, I found the Watson's small size, balance and lack of protruding parts much easier to to carry over a few days of hunting than the scoped Dakota Model 10 I also briefly hunted with this trip. I'd brought the Dakota in case I needed more range than I was comfortable attempting with the 360EX's black powder loads (until I practice more.) I did pass on a 90 yard shot on a nice buck the day before I got my deer, and briefly hunted with 7mm-08 Dakota as a result, but then switched back to the Watson for the final day of hunting. Glad I did.

That’s a lovely rifle. Thanks for sharing the pictures and details. Let us know how the trip to Minnesota goes!

Hoot4570,
9.3x57R or 9.3x57R/360 are German designations for the English 360- 2 1/4". Just like the other old 9.3s, this cartridge shows variation in groove diameters and German guns may show "D" version or "E" version chambers, causing confusion IDing pre 1912 nominal caliber designations. BTW, there is no similarity in ballistics between the 9.3x57, popular in Sweden, and the 9.3x57R, under discussion here and only case length is the same, not head size
Mike.

CJF,
Waidmannsheil
Mike

Chris,
That’s a beautiful rifle and beautiful deer. I really enjoyed you sharing the story about load development and getting the deer. It prompted me to research Watsons. Please keep us updated on the work to develop a LRN load.

Larry