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Side by Side Club


AYA117

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To be perfectly honest Gunman, I have never had the Armstrong action to pieces, so I will bow to your (infinitely) greater knowledge. I am sure you are totally correct.

@JJ

Shot a lotta stuff with that old Lig! True cyl and quarter choke. Even been to Africa with me. Reblacked three times (salt mud). Worn the checkering off where my fingers sit.

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16 hours ago, Gunman said:

If not mistaken ,the Armstrong 20b  action used to be know in the trade as a "Rodger"due to the type of lock work that used a coil spring.After the patentee .

Full marks, sir!

I removed the Armstrong’s locks this morning and you are , of course, correct. Coil springs. The lock plates are stamped WB inside.

Am I correct in thinking that this is not the famous Webley/Rodgers action? I always thought that was a 7 pin side lock. Perhaps you could enlighten me?

Edited by London Best
To add information on stamping.
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Forgot this one when posting the others!

Ward, Birmingham, circa 1870. This was given to me to free up space in a friends cabinet, on the basis I should not sell it, oh, and could I tighten the action please!

0B8AA8C2-3FFA-4E06-8254-A9AE6B7C6C5C.jpeg

CF56EC69-E3D0-4FDA-A332-CBD560211582.jpeg

Forgot this one when posting the others!

Ward, Birmingham, circa 1870. This was given to me to free up space in a friends cabinet, on the basis I should not sell it, oh, and could I tighten the action please!

5306A880-244F-4385-9AA7-B4EE047AB700.jpeg

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18 hours ago, London Best said:

Am I correct in thinking that this is not the famous Webley/Rodgers action?

I will have a browse through one of his books over the weekend and see if he has expanded on the his article on the web. However, if you follow the link below, Diggory Hadoak has a short article on the `Rogers / Webley` action. He describes it as a back-action sidelock ((mainspring behind the hammer (tumbler)) rather than a bar action; no mention of coil springs, although he points out that a number of modifications / improvements were carried out to the basic design over the years.

https://www.vintageguns.co.uk/articles/462-2/sidelocks/

 

Edited by JJsDad
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Thanks for the link. I had actually seen it before but couldn’t remember where. That about sums it up. Very simply made action, definitely not of first quality, but with a coil spring horizontally behind the tumbler. Must be one of the later “improvements”.

3 hours ago, JJsDad said:

I will have a browse through one of his books over the weekend and see if he has expanded on the his article on the web. However, if you follow the link below, Diggory Hadoak has a short article on the `Rogers / Webley` action. He describes it as a back-action sidelock ((mainspring behind the hammer (tumbler)) rather than a bar action; no mention of coil springs, although he points out that a number of modifications / improvements were carried out to the basic design over the years.

https://www.vintageguns.co.uk/articles/462-2/sidelocks/

 

 

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5 hours ago, London Best said:

but with a coil spring horizontally behind the tumble

I saw this type of lock (coil spring with a simple 2 pin bridle)  a number of years ago when replacing a broken firing pin on a `Vickers` sidelock belonging to a friend of a friend. The locks were very simple and did not feature the normal interceptor sear normally associated with sidelocks. While externally the gun appeared as being of reasonable quality, the simplicity of the locks and the less than impressive standard of internal finish indicated it had been built-down to a price in an attempt to offer a sidelock, at boxlock prices.

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40 minutes ago, London Best said:

if you look at the close-up pic of the fences that is very nicely done indeed.

The Vickers was similar; the engraving was well executed, reasonable wood, nice fences and everything in proportion; to the uninitiated it gave all the outward appearences of a typical mid-range British sidelock. It was only the two pins showing on each lock that led me to believe that that the internals were something out of the normal. Never seen another example of that style lock work since.

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A local farmer friend has a 20b by Williams and Powell. That is a back action non ejector like my Armstrong but has zero engraving. When I can get another look at it I will check the action. Bet it’s the same gun. Being a farmer, it was sold to him as a William Powell sidelock ejector. He did not even realise it was non ejector until he showed it to me!

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Today I got a new sxs. It's a George Bate 12G double trigger choked 1/4 and 1/4. I am very pleased with it as it fits jolly well. As my cabinet was getting a little crowded my Spanish sxs found a home with someone who had just had to sell their gun for financial reasons. A good day all around. 

Edited by ehb102
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