Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Bucket List: A London Boxlock

A London addressed best grade boxlock with full rose and scroll engraving has been on the list for about twenty years. This 1901 William Evans is staying:









Original finish, 2 1/2" chambers, 28" barrels choked SK and IC.

A flat of Kent 3/4 oz. #8s are ordered. Woodcock beware!

Very nice....20gauge?

Again very nice.

No, not a 20. It's a 12 bore with 2 1/2" chambers.

Kent Cartridge Elite Low Recoil 12GA x 2 1/2 with Diamond Shot patterns very well in these firearms.

It should, being low recoil and only 3/4 ounce.. In fact, it has a good chance of throwing patterns tighter than skeet and IC....

Really a nice gun. I have regretted for many years passing on a wonderful Army/Navy 16 bore at William & Sons in London. Enjoy it.

British 12 gauge boxlock ejector (BLE) guns are particularly affordable right now, particularly those with 2-1/2 inch chambers. In terms of quality of workmanship for price, they might be the best buy on the market today.

Yours is beautiful and Evans is a well known brand, but many of the provincial makers built equally fine guns that can be had for a fraction of the price of those with better known makers' names on them. Some of them may have been built by the same outworkers who built the better known "name" guns. They are clearly a case of "buy the gun, not the name".

I owned a Thomas Turner BLE for a number of years. It was a spectacular gun. Still have a Westley Richards BLE, an S.A. Leonard SLE and a Charles Moore hammer gun. Leonard was apparently part of the Leonard gun making family that made most of Jeffries' guns. Westley Richards needs no introduction. Moore is, so far, unidentifiable. The only maker of that name I can find quit building guns in the 1850s according to Boothroyd and this gun clearly dates to the 1880s or 1890s. Maybe a small provincial shop that had someone build a handful of guns with his name on them. Even so, of the three, the Moore is the nicest.

It's gorgeous after over 100 years. Imagine what it must have looked like brand new.

Yes and there is an interesting story about how the metal work remained in that high a condition. The serial number # 56XX, dates the firearm around 1901. On another site a jewelry engraver estimated 24 hours work time to complete the engraving job which he stated he would bid about 10K to complete.

The shotgun has a beautifully figured dark walnut that was dropped on the toe of the butt early in its life. I suspect that the shotgun was a gift or heirloom that was kept for an extended period of time in that broken and unused state.

The wrist has since been expertly repaired by a craftsman of the highest order. There are five wood and metal dowels and pins hidden throughout wrist and at the butt that can seen if you really look for them.

I purchased the firearm based on the condition of the barrels and the receiver at well below market value. It's really hard to find working shotguns with straight and clean screws of this age. Also, I truly appreciate the workmanship that went into restoring this piece to a fully functioning, working firearm.

A flat of Kent Elite 2 1/2" 3/4oz, # 8s are on order and pattern very well out of these 28" barrels choked SK and IC. Woodcock beware!

I noted that the conversation went kinda dead when the Evans was understood not to be a pristine, 120 year old virgin piece, but rather was once a very broken item. There are two wood dowels and three pins visible along the right side of this gun stock.



Please give me a moment to give you my perspective. I once had the privilege of watching a highly regarded craftsman, Arthur Troth repair a 1899 Savage rifle one Canadian morning that had also been broken at the wrist. When Arthur snapped the remaining slivers of wood that held the stock together my heart stopped. I bit my lip when he broke the bent metal of the butt plate clean as a whistle. Conversely, when he pinned the pieces back together again with hidden dowels and metal rods to reinforce the area, I marvelled. I was watching a master at his craft with numerous areas of expertise. After he touched up the points of checkering and blended in the new finish with the century old varnish to cover his practiced hand, I began to get a glimpse of the alchemy I had witnessed.

Similarly, seeing a Japanese master practice the art of "kintsugi", the repairing the treasured rice bowl as it were, leaves me in awe. I am a man climbing in years, of limited means but with deep appreciation of great workmanship from another age.

Thus I'm thrilled to own an example of a working firearm from a bygone age that is not only an example of the British high art of gun-making but hides the expertise of the master gun restorer. The pristine ones can remain unfired in collections and museums. This one is going bird hunting!

Very nice

Damn that is nice. Much too nice for the cutovers and green briar hells we bird hunt in down here. Post up the pic of the first hat trick with that old girl.

As well you should be. Like so many older things we acquire it's much more about the stories they bring with them than being just a simple inorganic tool. I've been reading the latest update of Terry Wieland's Spanish Best. It's led to an irrational urge given the shotguns I already own.

I've been shooting Euro sxs's for a very long time, this spring I picked up my first British sxs a W.M. Forsythe James st London. It is a side lever hammer 10ga build as a upland game gun, 7 lb 14 oz 28" barrels, it handles really nice.

Along side my 12ga Hungarian bird gun.

I still have my Charles Osbourne boxlock 12ga 2 1/2"...30" barrels, IC and Full.

Really nice gun!

Beautiful.

Where I live, you just don't see many like that. Mostly 870's, M12 and the occasional M31. In small circles you'll find a Kolar or K80 but no one really seems interested in the SxS. Wish more were. They're neat.

Lovely piece of art. I'd toast it with a dram of Evan Williams. ;-{>8

Sounds like the Evan Williams and William Evans both understood the power of strong marketing long before the rest.

I have an EJ Bland 12 gauge. It’s a wonderful gun. Very light and IIRC, it’s cylinder and full choked, 29” barrels. A London gun with no engraving.

When people see me carrying it, many assume it’s a 20 gauge.