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Advice about antique E & G Higham shotgun


bobloblaw
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2 hours ago, PeterHenry said:

Very nice - what loads are you using for geese in that? Is it a 3" chamber?

 

2 hours ago, PeterHenry said:

Very nice - what loads are you using for geese in that? Is it a 3" chamber?

they are 8g carts ,remington industrial kiln cartridges resized .

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On 23/08/2024 at 18:16, Smokersmith said:

Another E.G. Higham ..

76D69BD8-6822-4402-8BB7-A33C60495E51.jpeg

Lovely old thing.  I wish I could keep mine, but I'll go with mounting the locks and hammers.

On 23/08/2024 at 17:29, PeterHenry said:

You are correct re the rib.

The law is that the pressure bearing parts require a licence - so the locks on a hammer gun or side lock / rib on its own don't require licencing.

I have one of the locks from my great grandfather's gun on my desk - as has been said, they are quite nice things in their own right.

The attached is quite a helpful document - para 12.73 is where the relevant bit starts.

Firearms_guide_November_2022.pdf 1.2 MB · 2 downloads

Thank you, that's very helpful.

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Posted (edited)

So I've dismantled the gun - really nicely made - amazing given that it's probably nearly 200 years old...

image.png.6f428b543f747b9af0877f50b3bdf2a6.png

 

Also removed the rib from the barrels.  In good light, zoomed in, the maker's name is just about visible.   Perhaps I can use the engraved rib as edging on a display box though.

23.png

 

So if I've understood correctly, it'll be the barrels and breech that need to be surrendered but in theory I can keep the other parts to try and make a nice display?

21.png

22.png

I was wondering about cutting the engraved 'tail' off the breech part to use as an infill on the butt?

Edited by bobloblaw
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You can also unscrew the two strikers and keep those also. They may have a saleable value as back maybe fifty years ago when the requirement for a Shotgun Certificate came in some folk thought that "deactivating" a hammer gun involved simply unscrewing and removing said strikers! Plus of course buying your strikers will be cheaper for the buyer than having a new pair made up from scratch.

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On 25/08/2024 at 21:06, enfieldspares said:

You can also unscrew the two strikers and keep those also. They may have a saleable value as back maybe fifty years ago when the requirement for a Shotgun Certificate came in some folk thought that "deactivating" a hammer gun involved simply unscrewing and removing said strikers! Plus of course buying your strikers will be cheaper for the buyer than having a new pair made up from scratch.

Oh okay, thanks - I assumed they'd be classed as being pressure containing parts but if not I'll remove them.

 

On 25/08/2024 at 20:40, London Best said:

The gun has rebounding locks and was therefore made after they were invented around 1868.

Got it, thanks.  Nearer 150 years old then.

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2 hours ago, bobloblaw said:

Oh okay, thanks - I assumed they'd be classed as being pressure containing parts..

Gun law is a bit odd and seems now even to differentiate between working guns and non working guns. But effectively a "pressure bearing surface" on your side by side are the barrels and the action. The locks, strikers, trigger group, top lever AND forend are not pressure bearing. The "proof" of this is that they bear no proof marks. The small stamps you might have seen on the flats of the barrels and the flats of the action.

On a rifle or pistol or revolver you will usually have three pressure bearing components. Obviously the barrels on all. On a rifle it will be also be receiver and bolt or any falling or rising block. On a pistol also slide and receiver frame on a revolver cylinder and frame.

Here's where it gets complicated. The law on deactivated weapons has changed. So now on a side by side shotgun some of the internals (the mating between trigger and parts that caused the hammers to fall) have to be destroyed by being ground away.

So in theory you as you are surrendering the thing could keep those internal bits. But if you had the thing deactivated and kept it and then actively sourced fully complete able to work internals you might be considered as making work prepatory to trying to reactivate it.

But for you the locks, top rib, firing pins and things like the top lever are IMHO quite OK as there is no intent to use them for mischief and that, pretty much, is also how the law will see the matter. Again as long as in doing so didn't take the barrels below twenty four inches you could cut off the end quarter inch at the muzzle to display in the frame with its bead sight intact.

Personally I'd stick with the locks and top rib as a "border". 

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