aldivalloch

Aah, 16 bore, the queen of shotguns. Carries like a (proper) twenty bore, shoots like a twelve. Six pound gun, one ounce charge - all you'll ever need for everything in the British Isles apart from geese. Regards!

Fascinating thread, this. It illustrates an unhappy truth about the shooting community, which is that whilst most shooters are enthusiasts who devote time to learning about and understanding their sport, a significant proportion are clueless and don't mind proving it by posting their, umm, misapprehensions. When I was a youngster, back in the sixties and early seventies, the Shooting Times was at its zenith, boasting a stellar range of contributors. In my humble opinion the most distinguished was the gun editor, Gough Thomas, actually Gough Thomas Garwood, a retired civil engineer. He also wrote several books on the sporting shotgun, and I recommend "Shotguns and Cartridges" as an essential read, particularly to those who lack knowledge about velocity, shot sizes, chokes and patterns, and about the relationship between bore, weight of charge and weight of gun. You never know, we might then get fewer daft posts from people who try to compare apples with oranges......and then declare that the banana is best of all. And, tomaddy525, I suspect you're still a comparative youngster. The boastfulness of youth gives you away. I see you claim to have been shooting pinkfeet at 55 yards with 32 grams of no.4 shot while out with your dad. I have my reservations about your capacity to judge range; it's notoriously difficult to do so on the foreshore. That notwithstanding, my son sometimes shoots alongside me, and if I saw him deliberately taking what he considered to be 55-yard shots at geese with the charge you claim to use, he'd be back at the car right away with a flea in his ear, and possibly a boot up his backside. I've no doubt that a lot of geese have been killed by over-ambitious shots with unsuitable equipment - but far more have been wounded and died a miserable lingering death. Respect your quarry, and operate within your limitations AND THOSE OF YOUR GUN AND CARTRIDGES. Now go figure! Best regards to all!

Thanks for your suggestions, both. I remember having a discussion about tubing some years ago with a gunmaker. He explained the process - cylinder-bore the existing barrel, then turn down a new rifled barrel to fit precisely inside, solder it in, and modify the ejector/extractor. I got the impression that he didn't consider it a particularly hard a job for a skilled person with the right tools; unfortunately he was far too busy to take on the job himself as he was up to his eyes with work. Just for the record, I've been able to research this gun, as Glasgow University has Army & Navy's sales ledgers in its archives. It was sold on 13th April 1898 for £10.7s.6d and a few days later the purchaser came back for an identical model, this time in .250 cal., at the same price! Must have had plenty money, as if you go by wage rates, the current equivalent of £10.7s.6d is somewhere between £4,500 and £5,000. Holland & Holland sold the same gun with better wood and slightly more engraving as their "Royal" model (beatifully illustrated in Colin Greenwood's excellent book, "The Classic British Rook & Rabbit Rifle".) I'll try getting in touch with Nigel Teague, but if anyone has any other suggestions I'd be glad to have them. Thanks again!

Can anyone advise on the following? I have a hammerless boxlock ejector built in the 1890's by Webley and retailed by Army & Navy. Originally .300 Rook, it was converted to .410 before coming into my ownership. Still has its octagonal barrel - apparently quite a lot were rounded down to reduce weight - and is a very high quality gun in excellent condition. It really deserves to be a rifle again. I believe that at one time there were gunsmiths around who could retube to a suitable calibre (in this case .22 Hornet would be ideal). Can anyone tell me if it's still possible to have this done, and, if so, who might do it for me? Yes, I know it's daft and potentially horribly expensive, but I like vintage guns and this one has sentimental value and brings back a lot of memories of old times with people who have departed this life.

Gentlemen - many thanks to you all for your kind welcomes. My best wishes to you! Jimcam - that's a really kind offer; very generous of you. Unfortunately, I'm quite a long way away from you - I'm up in the North Isles. Don't get south very often these days, but I used to occasionally stop off a bit down the road from you - my sister-in-law's husband's mother stayed in Douglas. Really bonny countryside there. Got cabin fever today - last day of my holidays, and stuck in the house far too much over the last couple of weeks because of the weather. So went off with trusty 12 bore to look for things to ambush, but the roads were grim and the piece of land I went to was a touch challenging! Fell into a very deep snowdrift, plugged both barrels, and found out in the cruellest way imaginable that I hadn't tied my flies properly........ Next time I'll do better. That's what I always tell myself.....

Hello from the far and frozen north of Scotland! New to this forum lark, but not new to shooting - have come up through the air-rifle/shotgun/rimfire route over more years than I like to think to think about. I've been guesting on here for a wee while now, so now I'm looking forward to getting into some good discussion and also to tapping some of you for advice!