I have an affinity for back action hammer guns preferably with a side or under lever. The ones I see around here are plenty beat up and low quality. I'm wondering how futile it might be to focus on spending my energy trying to put together a nice collection.

Prices are right for a buyer nowadays. Go for it!..Geo

Back-action hammer guns are the most beautiful... by all means, collect them. There are still fine guns to be found in Canada!

I collect pinfires, and the occasional early centre-fire.

I once had a 1860 back action hammer Boss gun with air conditioned barrels. It had begun as a pinfire and been converted to centerfire.
It looked a lot like the second to last one above.

Steve, that's a nice looking collection your have...Geo

wow! real beauties!

Thanks, Geo. I have over 50 fine pinfires. I guess that makes me legally insane.

Steve, those are all wonderful guns. Thanks for the show!

Workmanship such as you’ve shared with us will never be seen again. Thanks for the eye candy!

It’s been at least 5 years since I’ve seen a nice pin fire in W Canada and I can’t remember seeing a back action center fire of the quality of your guns. Since Bud Hayes passed away his auctions with Ward have steadily declined. Just not seeing the quality collections there used to be. The Calgary gun show touted to be the largest in Canada didn’t have anything this past March

Simple but nice . . .

A Holland & Holland 12 gauge back action hammer gun with 30 inch steel barrels, 2 1/2 inch chambers, Nitro Proofed for 1 1/8 ounce loads and choked about IC and Mod. Serial number 21796. Made in the late 1890's I believe.

A great shooter.

A James Woodward 12 bore fwd underlever,back action.I must take some better pics,these don't do the gun justice.I agree,the last few years the wells are getting dry...
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A solid rounded action bar, no recesses for cocking levers and other complications to weaken it, the action is just about indestructible. And super good looking too.

My Cogswell 2 1/2 inch 410 weighs 1.9 kg, about 4 1/2 lbs, a pleasure to shoot and manipulate.

Not quite so fancy but it is my favorite waterfowl shotgun

1941 Husqvarna Model 51, I have a three of them. Sadly the finest of them got cut to 20" by some cowboy shooter, I bought it for parts.

Wonderful pictures, folks. I have to count myself among those who prefer the look of a back-lock to a bar-lock on a hammer gun.

Here's a peculiar case, back-locks made by Noah Butler of Wednesbury, for the notable gunmakers Samuel and Charles Smith of London, with inverted inscriptions:


And, for no other reason than eye candy, a few more back-lock pinfires.

S.I.A.C.E. makes (or at least made in fairly recent times) a lovely back action hammer gun. I believe it sold as the "Concordia" here, although it's labeled as the 370B on the S.I.A.C.E web site (https://www.siacearmi.com/en/products-k2-2/hammer-guns/item/184-370b.html). I have one in 28 gauge with 29 inch barrels. They are very nice shotguns and it's one of my go-to clays guns.

Why would one want a safety on a hammergun?

I’ve been lucky enough to see some of Steve’s pinfire collection in the flesh. Just fantastic!

John Blissett, London, 12 gauge.


Pondeveax, St. Etienne, 16 gauge.

The earliest pinfire sporting guns (before 1860) sometimes had features carried over from muzzle-loading days, such as grip safeties. I guess gunmaking habits die hard, or new clients wanted the same features. In some cases, muzzle-loaders converted to pinfire retained grip safeties.

Hammer rifles for dangerous game often had sliding stalking safeties on the hammers, I suppose to be able to carry the rifle through heavy brush, much like intercepting sear safeties on hammerless guns.

Anyone feel free to Flame Me all you desire to. I will, however, make one bold Statement. NO hammer gun is completely safe unless it has some type of hammer block. On hammer doubles the final & most efficient form was the rebounding hammer.
NO gun, internal hammer, external hammer or striker type should ever be carried with the firing pin contacting the cap or primer. Half-cock "Safeties" are usually rather delicate & easily broken in the case of the hammer being struck a blow, which can occur in a fall or a dropped gun,

Steve, what IS a grip safety? I can't say I have ever seen a safety other than a sliding "stalking" safety that was, I think more for reloading than anything else.

And, of course, the half cock or rebounding hammer safeties, but no grip safety.

2-piper, I have yet to see a delicate or easily broken half cock safe. Most that I have inspected are fairly robust like those shown on the Butler locks above. They do wear however, and some of cheap guns have had half-cock issues, but breakage of the type that results from falls, etc., I hear about on the net but have never seen.

I don't see anything in the above photos that I can identify has a grip safety. Do you have some photos, or what am I missing?

Okay, I see it there. Never seen such a thing on my hammer doubles, albeit most were not back action guns.

Beautiful guns! THANKS! pheasant fisher

I think the grip safety, or guard safety/safety guard, was more common on muzzle-loaders. On pinfires I've only seen them on very early examples, or as a carry-over from a muzzle-loader conversion. Here is another example, from a conversion, but sadly not a back-lock gun...




How these work is illustrated in The Shot-Gun and Sporting Rifle by Stonehenge, 1858. The author points out that leaving a space between the safety and the gun allows for a twig to get in between. The final sentence in its entirety reads "To remedy this inconvenience it is only necessary to make the part which appears outside the stock of solid metal, and let it into a socket cut into the wood." Such a design is the one pictured here.

Steve, Thanks for posting that interesting information.

Rich

Those are pretty interesting safeties, but I've still never heard or seen one on a muzzleloader. In someways they seem rather redundant, but interesting nonetheless. Perhaps more common on shotguns than rifles?

They are fairly common on muzzle loaders. Purdey ,among others, used them. The advantage is the gun could be fully cocked but instantly ready for a rising bird.

Yes, I see the advantage with it on bird guns but still doesn't change that they are uncommon enough that I have never encountered one. Did American makers use them too?

If using a half cock is dangerous due to fragility, a gun at full cock, relying on a grip safety like the one shown above is many times more so.

I'll have to look around for these.

You’re very welcome, I’m happy to share. But apologies to the OP, I wasn’t trying to hijack his thread on collecting hammer guns with a discussion on safeties!

Perhaps it’s a good example of why more attention on collecting hammer guns is important, while they are still out there to be found. There is a lot to 19th Century gunmaking still left to ponder about.

I only have a couple back action doubles. I agree that the lines are very graceful and they are among the prettiest guns ever made.







A Linsley & Son of Leeds.

My W.H. Wilson, London, double flintlock 16 gauge made about 1815 with grip safety. Gun is in exceptionally high original condition. Has virtually every refinement ever put on a flintlock. Very modern stock dimensions. By this time the double shotgun had reached its final form and has not changed significantly since then.

I cannot imagine the human skill required to make two identical locks such as these, mirror images of each other, made with nothing more than files, chisels, and a lifetime of working towards perfection. No machinery whatsoever!