Simplicity is a perennial goal for engineers and gunmakers (who are engineers of sorts). In gun actions, simplicity translates into fewer parts, greater strength, longevity and reliability. Problem is, simplicity also means economy that inevitably attracts makers who build guns down to a price. Therefore simple has become synonymous with cheap. But not always. The […]
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It all started many years ago when a friend loaned me a Holland and Holland B grade for a season. It was a strange double, fitted with a non factory single trigger, right handed stock but a left handed opening lever. Opening it the first few times was a funny business. Years of muscle memory
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The terms Art Nouveau and Art Deco might seem more at home in antique shops and art galleries, yet the two trends also influenced shotguns and the effect is still evident today. Art Nouveau has its origins in France, it began after the Franco Prussian war of the 1870s and lasted till the end of
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Many years ago I fitted a pair of Spanish barrels onto an action. The job took months of painstakingly slow work with files and emery paper and it taught me respect for barrel fitters. The major difficulty in fitting new barrels to an existing action is the simultaneous fitting of several surfaces. The hook,
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Can modern 3D design and scanning processes be used to make new barrels for old classic shotguns? While researching prototyping processes for a design (see here for the design: http://oplognosia.com/?p=7590) I got my first glimpse at the possibilities of 3D design, modelling and prototyping. When the 3D printed monoblock clicked into the receiver and
3D SCANNING FOR NEW BARRELS? Read More »
the Ribeye training mirror The traditional method to stabilise your shotgun mount is to mount an empty gun while looking at your eye in a mirror. The problem is that the mirror is usually fixed to one spot on the wall and does not allow mounting at ground targets or practicing for incomers and other
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All mechanical systems are a compromise, says the engineering mantra, but some are less so than others as shown by the gun in the photos. It is a single barrel sidelock non ejector bearing the Joseph Lang logo. Whether it was in fact built by Lang or it was a trade gun is not
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The smudge just ahead of the three dark dots on the right is the shot cloud travelling to the target. If we could see it every time there would be no need for lengthy treatises on ballistics. Let’s face it, if we could see the shot in the air there would be no confusion about
It is as ugly as sin, at least to traditionally conditioned eyes. It is also light as a feather, has aluminum alloy action and barrels and rarely shows any looseness. It is the French Baby Bretton over under. Over the years I have handled many Brettons, both the plain slide open models as well as
No, it is not a mistake made when I meant to write blow back, nor is it some kind of clever word play. There is such a thing as a BLOW FORWARD action and its operation casts some interesting questions on shotgun action wear. So what is this Blow Forward action? It is the phenomenon
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