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Greener GP


powler
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Hi Guys, time permitting tomorrow or by the end of the weekend, I hope to go and look at W W Greener GP 12g the one with the martini action. Always liked these and thought I should treat myself plus the wife has given me permision. Anyways any advice on what to keep and eye out for as I believe a few members of this site are owners of them.

Also what size cartridges are you using in them?

Thanks

Mick

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GP's have been made for a lot of years with little change .They have been made to suit specific needs ie Police ,military and commercial , it is possible to see them with marked  of EP or PG these are comparatively rare and were originally police weapons converted for civilian use   Look at the age , the overall condition , barrel and proof status . Dont worry about wall thickness they had plenty . As far as I know they were all 2&3/4" as this was as long a case that would work owing to the length of the breech block . Check that the barrel unscrews [drop the block before  you do so ] and that it screws back correctly and not going past the stop .Check also that the barrel dose not "wobble" a sign that its been taken apart to many times . Another thing is to see that the cartridge case , use a case not a snap cap , dose not slide past the extractor and that it extracts correctly . It will not eject in the true sense but will throw a case out if you really push the lever down hard and fast but not recommended in normal use .They are pretty bomb proof but like all things depends on the abuse it has had in it life time . Prices will vary £ 150'ish for a good one £50/ £75 for a rough one .Apart from checking all the screws and locking pins are in place [if fitted ] thats about all I can tell .

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There is also a slight preference for the guns made by Greener (before the factory was demolished for spaghetti junction construction). Webley bought all the bits and continued to make the GP. The Greener barrels have the hexagon shape at the chamber end (although some of the Webley guns have the Hexagon as they used up the Greener barrels). At some point, (the MKII?) they moved to circlips to hold the action screws in place. 

 

Webley (but not Greener I think), produced some very pretty colour hardened versions using great wood.

Edited by theshootist
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Purplish colour was the result of the metal used for the castings not holding the modern hot salt black . Greener used to rust black them in the barrel blacking shop. Ernie Pickthorn who was Greene'rs barrel browner , he always insisted that was his correct title , who moved to webley's with take over , did black some but cost and time stopped that . The later colour hardened actions were an attempt to circumvent this and attempt to make them more sale attractive  .The new influx of cheap Spanish O/U's in the 70's  made the GP no longer cost effective or commercially saleable .The whole set up was eventually bought by Ken Richards of Turner Richards along with the can launcher and dummy thrower . Ken had ambition to restart production but never did .

As a matter of interest Webley did produce some GP's for the US market with 30" barrels a vented top rib and Monte Carlo stocks as single barrel trap guns .I dont think any were sold in the UK . The GP action was also used by Greener on a number of cartridge fired tools such as cattle killers , nail guns and guns used to fire clay wads inside hot kilns as a running repair for the ceramic industry as well as line throwers and the harpoon guns .

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I bought one just before Christmas sure you will be able to find the post. Mine is in mint condition and it’s pre Webley I love it! Has 70mm chambers and I have used it for clays and pigeons so far had no problems at all and it handles lovely. Very tightly choked though but 32 gram carts worked very well for a ramble round th fields and nice and light to carry. I looked for ages for a nice one and wanted a pre Webley finally found this one an well pleased. There’s something very tactile about the martini action and you can cycle it pretty quickly for a follow up shot. Good luck mate with the purchase let’s seen some pics when you get one!!

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Yes Fracture7 is right they are at Tm’s, looking around they seem a bit pricey but condition looks good from photo’s anyways will go and have a look and see if there are any that take my fancy and see if we can do a deal, did think about putting in an old Miroku ORE but not sure on this as it is my first shotgun so is a bit sentimental.

Thanks everyone for your help, will keep you posted.

Mick

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This post is bringing back some more memories . Point of interest the GP was possibly the first British gun fitted with sucsesful interchangeable choke . I have only seem 2 and from memory it looked a little like an American Cutts  in appearance  > I did have a job of helping sorting out a lot of Ex Greener stuff in storage at Webley's and dumping a load of bits in the scrap amongst this was some of the chokes an the barrel fittings .

 

Shootist mentions the harpoon gun . I got my first cut scar as an apprentice making those harpoons .

 

Edited by Gunman
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Originally made for  13 bore necked cartridge with a double "striker" .the case had a recess in the head so that it could not be used with a standard case  . Greener and others  bought back in large numbers of these as surplus and converted them for civilian use ,often cutting down the forends to be more conventional . 

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