According to popular wisdom simple things please simple minds. Well, my mind must be simple considering I have a lifelong fascination with simplicity in mecahnical things. There is something uplifting in seeing a simple contraption with a minimum of parts doing something efficiently with no fuss. Hence my enthusiasm on seeing the simple action ot […]
A GEM WAITING TO EMERGE? THE BSA SINGLE XII Read More »
Photographs courtesy of steniron.com Italian gunmaker Giacinto Zanotti in 1906 produced a a sidelock shotgun. On the surface it looks like a Holland system side by side, and some commentators rush to label Zanotti guns as Holland types. Nevertheless, the Zanotti guns are not Holland clones, they offer substantial improvement over the Holland system, improvements
GIACINTO ZANOTTI- IMPROVING THE SIDELOCK Read More »
In a past posting (Simple versus cheap) here: SIMPLE VERSUS CHEAP The text focused on the lack of high level finish in simple guns. Recently I bumped into a page on the Faeton underhammer muzzle loader. It is a simple action, arguably the simplest found in a firearm. The action comprises four parts: the hammer,
The phrase “internal contradictions” was very popular in academic debates in European universities in the 70s. I was reminded of this phrase of my student days when reviewing some aspects of shotgun shooting. I will present some of these baffling conflicting positions without offering solutions. Their mere existence is interesting in itself. SHOTGUN FITTING The
INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS Read More »
The first image is an unsigned painting of an English hunter around the end of the 18th century. The other is a photograph of the famous lord Ripon shooting, it dates from about 1900. But there is so much more to these two images! In the first the lone hunter carries and loads his gun
TWO IMAGES, TWO WORLDS APART Read More »
What does a BB gun with an adjustable stock have in common with grandma’s recipes for good fit? Lots! “When buying shoes, gloves, anything that requires a good fit, always ask to try a size smaller and a size bigger than the one that you think fits you. Then you will know you have the
GUNFITTING, GRANDMA’S RECIPE Read More »
This is a follow up on the rcent post re lamenting the double. It is inspired by a review done recently on the Benelli Beccaccia, a specialist model for Europena woodcock hunters. In the USA I think it is known as the Superlight. Weighing at 2.7 kilos or six pounds even it costs around a
PERMUTATIONS GALORE Read More »
Aficionados of side by sides often lament the current lack of interest in classic doubles. Some even tell how their double is often the only one at the range, how younger shooters treat it like a curiosity, and return to their autos and pumps. I am a life long user of break open shotguns, double
LAMENTING THE DOUBLE Read More »
They are very few, the gunmakers who can design and then construct the whole gun, from muzzle to heel plate. Best guns are traditionally made by teams of specialists, (barrel makers, actioners, stockers, finishers etc). Very few craftsmen master all the specialties of gunmaking. One member of this tiny community is the American gunmaker Dewey
DEWEY VICKNAIR’S LATEST CREATION Read More »
If an advert insults the viewer’s inner eye, it is a dud. This was stated by Vance Packard in his landmark book on advertising, The Hidden Persuaders, way back in the 1960s. The inner eye is the viewer’s specialist knowledge of anything portrayed in the advert. Insulting the viewer’s inner eye breaks the advert’s
I SPY WITH MY INNER EYE… Read More »
