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From a gunmaking perspective, the breech-loader changed a few things. Parts makers adapted, and the new trade of actioning appeared. Conservative craftsmen retained as many of the old patterns and designs as possible, while adding clever barrel fastening methods and other features. Existing firms flourished, new firms came and went, with the better ones built businesses that would continue into the 21st century. A case in point is W & C Scott & Son.

By 1865 Birmingham was producing most of the country's pinfire game guns. The larger operations wanted in on the action, and W. & C. Scott & Son was one of these, starting in that year. They might have built some 2000 pinfire game guns in all before producing centre-fire guns only, perhaps more than any maker, but I have only ever encountered one.

William Charles Scott was born in 1806. William reportedly worked on the farm with his parents until he was 21 years old, and then obtained an apprenticeship as a gun finisher in Bury St Edmunds, possibly with Benjamin Parker or William Young. The reason his apprenticeship started late (instead of at the age of 14) may have been due to having been needed on the farm. His brother, Charles, may also have been apprenticed to Benjamin Parker. In 1834 when his apprenticeship finished, William married Mary Susan Middleditch and moved to Birmingham where he established himself as an outworker gun finisher at 11 Lench Street. In 1840 Charles joined William in the business, and the firm of William & Charles Scott was established as "Gun and Pistol Makers". In 1835 William and Mary had a son, William Middleditch Scott, and 1836 they had another son, James Charles Scott. In 1842 the firm moved to 33 Lench Street and took additional premises at 21 Loveday Street, and in 1849 the firm moved again to Court, 4 Shadwell Street. According to the 1851 census William Middleditch Scott (aged 15) was working in the firm as a gun finisher, James Charles Scott (aged 14) was employed as a gun engraver. In 1855 the firm moved into larger and more prestigious premises at 94-95 Bath Street.

In 1858 William Middleditch Scott was made a partner and the name changed to W & C Scott & Son. In the 1861 census, William Scott was recorded employing 18 men and two boys. By this time, James Charles, aged 24, was employed as a gun engraver and another son, Frederick M Scott, 22, was employed as a gun engraver and gun stocker. In 1861 William Scott was appointed a guardian of the Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House, a position he held until 1865. In 1864 the firm opened a showroom in London at 7 Dorset Place, Pall Mall, which is where today's gun was sold. From 1864 to 1895 the firm occupied premises in Bagot Street, in Birmingham. To give an idea of the size of the company in the 1860s, they were producing about 2000 sporting guns a year, dwarfing most other firms by a factor of 20 or more. London makers such as James Purdey and Harris Holland bought guns from W & C Scott & Son, for grades lower than their "London best."

In 1864 and 1865 Westley Richards joined Moore & Harris in a partnership established to save the manufacturing business of Moore & Harris from closure, but this was not successful. Moore & Harris had a fairly substantial business exporting to the USA and this attracted the interest of W & C Scott & Son, who bought the business at auction. The W & C Scott & Son business kept growing, as did their access to distant markets.

On 25 October 1865, William Middleditch Scott obtained his first patent (No.2752) for the famous Scott Spindle. This patent was used by Purdey in conjunction with their double bolt (Patent No. 1104 of 1863) and this combination soon became the standard opening mechanism for double barrelled guns. In 1866 William Middleditch Scott was appointed a guardian of the Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House, he retained this position until 1894. In 1869 William Scott retired and William Middleditch Scott took over the running of the business. In 1871 the Dorset Place showroom in Pall Mall, London, moved to 10 Great Castle Street, Regent Circus (now Oxford Circus) where it remained until 1899. In 1883 William Scott, founder of the business, died. In 1887 William Middleditch Scott retired (aged 51) and James Charles Scott took over the running of the business. By this time the company employed about 200 men. In 1897 W & C Scott & Son amalgamated with P Webley & Sons to form Webley & Scott Revolver & Arms Co Ltd.. William Middleditch Scott died in 1916, and James Charles Scott died in 1917.

Today's gun is a 12-bore double-bite screw grip rotary under-lever pinfire sporting gun by William and Charles Scott and Son of Birmingham, number 11617 made in 1866, the second year the firm had been making pinfires. The 27 7/8" damascus barrels have London proofs, and a barrel maker's mark SP (possibly Samuel Probin, a gun barrel maker at Court, 11 Loveday Street). The top rib is signed "W. & C. Scott & Son 7 Dorset Place Pall Mall London" and the back-action locks are signed "W. & C. Scott & Son". The gun has beautifully chiselled hammers (the same hammer design appears on other Scott pinfires, evidently a house style), an elongated top strap, thin percussion fences, a trigger guard bow with prominent raised clips for the under-lever, and attractive 30%-coverage foliate scroll engraving. W & C Scott & Son pinfire sporting guns were made in three qualities, A (fine), B (medium) and C (plain), and within these were differing grades. "A" guns combined the best workmanship and materials and often incorporated patented features, such as the Purdey thumb snap-action and the Dougall Lockfast action. Such guns generally had a gold name escutcheon and full coverage engraving. "B" guns had a sterling silver escutcheon and could also incorporate patent actions, 22-lines-per-inch chequering, and 50 to 75% engraving, often with game scenes. "C" guns had a silver or nickel-silver escutcheon, somewhat less-figured wood, coarser 20-lines-per-inch chequering, and less than 50% engraving coverage. Today's gun represents a higher grade of the plain "C" quality. If only plain-quality entry-level guns of today had this degree of fit and finish, let alone wood figure and engraving! The bores are pitted and the gun weighs 7 lb 2 oz.










For those of you with an extensive collection of the Double Gun Journal, I can direct you to Issue 2 of Volume 14, Spring 2003, for excellent photos and descriptions of two other Scott pinfires, including one with a Lockfast action.