Heydays of the English Shotgun

[shahid]

Following the history of British Arms industry has always been one of my major interests. The opportunity to pick up a well made English shotgun and shoot a few cartridges with it is a divine feeling. They simply made such fine guns.

Here's another interesting bit I found about the British Firm of J Brazier.

At the turn of the 20th century and till about 1940s before WW II, British Gunmaking had come really of their own.

London and Birmingham were the two major centres with a few firms based in other parts, Bristol and some other places.

There was a lot of inter trade between all makers. A number of products including barrels and actions were made in Birmingham.

A gun could be made in Birmingham but finally assembled in London and thus proofed there.

Here's a link from Joseph Brazier, where he claims he has made gun parts for top London Gun makers, including James Purdey, whereas the common perception was Purdey did not outsource any guns.

The list includes making guns for H & H, Charles Lanchaster, Boss & Co., Joseph Manton, Bosewell, Wilkes, almost everyone except Churchill.

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Joseph Brazier has supplied some of the following companies and organizations:

British Royal Navy
Confederate States of America


Thomas Boss
John Dixon
East India Company
Sam Hawken
Alex Henry
Holland & Holland
Hudson's Bay Company
Charles Lancaster
Manchester Ordnance
John Manton
Joseph Manton Charles Boswell
James Purdey
Westley Richards
Joseph Whitworth
John Wilkes

Here's the link.

http://www.josephbrazier.com/history.html

[Grumpy]

To clear up some inevitable misunderstandings:
Joseph Brazier Ashes of Wolverhampton did not supply guns to other `gunmakers` - they supplied locks. They were simply the best lockmakers in Britain and the list of gunmakers that they supplied is far, far greater than that shown - they probably supplied every quality gunmaker in the country at some time or other. The only London guns that I haven`t found Joseph Brazier Ashes locks in are Boss........but that doesn`t mean that Boss never used JB locks, just, perhaps, that those supplied weren`t marked.
I`m not saying that JB locks were used all the time by the `big name` makers but they certainly were some of the time. )
Wolverhampton was THE centre for gun lock making and all three of the best lock makers - Joseph Brazier, John Stanton and Edwin Chilton - were based there along with many others.
There is a far more accurate and interesting online article concerning the Wolverhmpton gun lockmakers which, for those interested, can be found at ;
http://www.wolverhampton-gunlocks.fslife.co.uk/

[shahid]

The website mentions that JB was a parts maker. Not complete guns. It implies that the gun makers seldom made a gun from start to finish on their own.

[Grumpy]

It implies nothing of the sort: The range of parts that Joseph Brazier made was extremely limited and primarily limited to locks.
As to how much of a gun individual gunmakers made it depended emtirely on the gunmaker concerned. Most `gunmakers`, especially from c.1870-80 onwards, brought entire guns in from the Birmingham trade makers. These might have been barrelled actions - in the white or finished - or complete with stocks. Some bought in rough castings and barrels. Some built entire guns `in-house`.
Locks, like barrels, were regarded as specialist items and most likely to be boight in. Nowadays the top London makers make all parts of their guns `in-house`......... except, perhaps, for coil springs.
Marked locks by Joseph Brazier Ashes, Stanton or Chilton are an indication of quality but are unlikely to be seen on guns built after 1939.