doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Mortimore & Son 10ga fluid steel

I recently found this gun at a local gun store and I was unfamiliar with the makers name and know little of shotguns made in the UK. I think it's a very unique gun being it has 28" fluid steel barrels with .045 constriction in the left and .048 constriction in the right. Originally proofed for 3 1/4" shells and reproofed for 3 1/2" shells. A straight grip stock with modern dimensions. Light for a ten at just over 8 1/2 pounds. I can't imagine there are too many like it. I came into contact with a previous owner in the UK quite by chance. He gave me some history of the gun which I find rather fascinating. Anyone else have a fluid steel Mortimore & Son? All thoughts on the gun are welcome, there doesn't seem to be much information out there about them..

This gun was made for a Mr F.W. Smith and sold on the 1st August 1929. It had 28" steel barrels with 3-1/4" chambers choked Full & Full. It weighed 8lbs 9oz and it was stipulated in the original order that there was to be no checkering on stock or forend. The original stock dimensions were: Length to centre 14 5/8". Drop at comb 1-1/8" Drop at heel 2-1/8". In the intervening years the chambers were lengthened and the gun proofed for 3-1/2"(89mm) cartridges. The stock and forend were also checkered at some time.

How do I know all this? I used to own this gun and the info above came from Dickson's when they were still in the Frederick Street shop. Sam Wilcox looked it up for me and I've just read all that info off Gary MacPherson's business card that I wrote everything down on.
I had the Silvers pattern rubber recoil pad fitted by former Churchill Gunmakers stocker Jeff Tyrrell who lived a couple of doors from my Mum in Sutton Coldfield.

I often speculated on why the gun had been ordered with that specification. Across the Firth of Forth there are large numbers of greylag and pink foot geese in Fife and there also numbers to be found east of Edinburgh. Both these areas have rich arable farming and the geese flight into the fields to feed. It's my belief that the gun was ordered with 28" barrels to make it handier to use when hiding in a ditch or hedge alongside the fields. Omitting the checkering would, no doubt, have made the gun easier to clean because the rich soil can soon clog up checkering. The choice of a 3-1/4" 10ga would give quite an improvement on 12 magnum performance. Whilst not as powerful as an 8ga, with it's 28" barrels it would have been a lot handier and with its 1-3/4oz shot load it wouldn't have been far behind the bigger gun in performance.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CfUs9icEUD1vajRt8

A good honest practical wildfowling gun. Nice find. Lagopus.....

What a great gun and story. I don’t have any Mortimer guns but it is very nice. That was an interesting decision to choose 28”, but confirmed not to be cut by the maker’s successor and the tight chokes. How does it shoot and what loads/powders do you shoot with it?

indeed, a dandy waterfowler....i have wished for a lightweight short 10 at various points in the past - looks like you found it....

best regards,

tom

It's still new to me. I took it to the trap range and shot some 1 1/8 in 2 7/8" hulls for a functionality test which it passed. It's 14.5" lop is too long for me so I am going to send it out to a gunsmith to have a different pad put on it and get the lop to 14". Given it's 8.5 lbs I am thinking I will handload some 3.5" shells with 1 3/8 oz of bismuth using Longshot. If those are not too bad in recoil I will up it to 1 1/2 ounce and see how it goes.

It would be interesting, and quite possibly eye-opening, to pattern it with the 1 1/8 loads and with the others you plan to use. If indeed the gun was built for 1 3/4 oz. loads you might be surprised to find it does not regulate with much lighter ones, especially like the 1 1/8 you mentioned. Cross firing is often the result from using lighter, and higher velocity, loads than what the gun was built to regulate with. This from personal experience.

My 10 is a hammer double with 0 choke and I am still working out loads. I have been shooting various RST loadings and so far have not found one to pattern better than a tight 12 at 40 yds. I just bought a flat of their #4 1 1/4 oz 2 5/8” shells to try next time out. I also bought a box of Salt Creek to compare. RST just posted some new loads in 10, first I have seen for sale there in 2 years.

Have you measured bore dimensions?

I pattern all my loads and guns. My current 10 ga loadings are all in the ball park of 1150 to 1200 fps. The 1 1/8 loads I used were on hand and I used them for a simple function check of a gun that is new to me as the gun store I bought it from gives 30 days to return for a refund if there is a mechanical issue with a gun. I am currently in a deep freeze and I will do some pattern tests with it in the Spring. I will come back and share the results.

Nice looking gun. I like the simple engraving. Reminds me multiple Lancasters (rifles and shotguns) I have seen.