Steve, pics don’t do it justice. Original wood. Extraordinary engraving. And it shoulders pretty nicely.
Let's see some pic's of your SxS's & O/U's
- Thread starter Win/64
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Steve, pics don’t do it justice. Original wood. Extraordinary engraving. And it shoulders pretty nicely.
This is a Lyon & Lyon 20 gauge SLE. I was never was able to determine who actually built this gun but it looks and handles very nicely. The engraving style is called fruiting vine which I find appealing. It was reproofed for modern 2 3/4" shells which made it convenient to find ammo. It weighs a tad under 6 lbs, has 28" steel barrels choked IC and mod and has the right stock dimensions for me. A wonderful upland bird gun
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A very pretty gun Bill, I've never even seen a picture of onother similar one. British 20's are scarce, as a best quality sidelock this would be bordering on rare, maybe unique with this name on it. You've parted with more fine guns than most have ever even seen. J
Thanks, Jim. I bought and sold a number of fine guns over the years. Always trying to find a better gun; then my wife convinced me that it was time to downsize. But I have photos of most of them which I cherish but I still miss the guns.
That is definitely a fine looking upland gun. Perfect is so many ways.
Brutus
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Is a three barrelled gun allowed here? A black powder drilling in 10x10x45-70.
Photo experiment. Charles Daly sidelever hammer drilling.
1880ish?
Any chance at seeing a closer shot of the action? The proofs and barrel markings? This is a pretty cool gun and I'm a little interested in figuring out who made it. Likely not Lindner.
Brutus
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PM sent.
Edit: 1893 manufacture date Suhl and Sohn according to what I can find online.
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Brutus
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The Brits and thier affliction nice double guns!
Infects the Commonwealth as well)))
If I didn't buy the drilling I had in mind a good quality English game gun.
the spank
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This should really appeal to some of the collectors in here. I came across a thread showing this gun on another forum. There was almost no info on it other than the limited info the OP posted..... What a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and unique design!
Belgian Super Britte 16g Side-Opener
Belgian Super Britte 16g Side-Opener
the spank
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Awesome! Looking forward to it!
Brutus
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Canvasback. I am unable to discern the meaning of the stand alone number nine on the water table?
Also 8/1 in a circle?
The W is for a choke barrel and Prussian coat of arms eagle beside is crown over U appears as final proof mark.
Any input friend??
It has been a while since I posted anything in this thread, and I recently acquired another pinfire, so why not?
The gun is signed Robert Ringer, and, like for most guns of the period, there is always interesting history associated with it.
Born in 1821, Robert Ringer began making guns under his own name in 1852 in Watton, near Thetford, in the rural county of Norfolk in Britain. He appears to have taken over the premises of William Burton, a gunmaker who started the business in 1839. Prior to 1852 Ringer was a journeyman gunmaker in the market town of Swaffham, working for either William Parson or Abigail Sutton. Where he completed his apprenticeship is not recorded, but it may well have been with Burton, Parson, or James Sutton. Ringer must have been successful in Watton, as he was able to open premises in Norwich in 1868, on Great Orford Street beside Norwich Castle, closing the Watton premises shortly afterwards. Around this time he employed one man and one boy, a fairly typical arrangement for a provincial gunmaker.
Norwich is the county town of Norfolk, established as a city in the 10th century, and from the 11th century onwards the second largest city in Britain after London. A thriving commercial centre into Victorian times, Norwich was built on the wool and textile trade, and as a gateway to mainland Europe (before the rail line established in 1845, it was said to have been quicker to travel to Amsterdam than to London). The county was also very good shooting country, for partridge, and later for pheasant – many storied shooting estates were located in the county, where by the middle of the 19th century, over a hundred Norfolk families owned estates greater than 2,000 acres in size.
Norwich was therefore a good location for a talented gunmaker, and in 1868 the pinfire game gun still ruled. In that year there were four other Norwich gunmakers in operation, with the best-known being George Jeffries (in business from 1841 to 1899, Jeffries obtained in 1860 patent no. 1900 for a turnover tool which finally improved the performance of the pinfire cartridge to equal the muzzle-loader; this invention was overshadowed by James Purdey’s patent no. 302 of 1861, a much better turnover tool). The other three Norwich gunmakers, Robert Norton Dale, Robert John Howard, and John Ottway, were short-lived, open only in that year – competition was too great, I suppose. Like Jeffries, the Ringer business survived until around 1890, and would have turned out percussion guns, pinfires, and centrefires, in due course.
The gun today is a 12-bore double-bite screw grip rotary-underlever, serial number 796, signed “Robert Ringer Gt Orford St Norwich” on the top rib. The 30” damascus barrels have London proofs, and the thin fences and lack of a radius between the action bar and the breech face are consistent with an earlier design, as might be found on provincial guns. The Great Orford Street address means its manufacture cannot be earlier than 1868, and a lack of records and surviving Ringer guns makes it difficult to date precisely – but I’m guessing 1868-1869, as by 1870 few pinfires were being built in Britain, and well-to-do Norwich customers would have followed the London trends. It is a well-made gun, with signed back-action locks, an elongated top strap, rounded dolphin-headed hammers, a ring-tipped underlever, good foliate scroll engraving, and a raised clip on the trigger guard bow. The well-figured stock suffered a catastrophic break at one point, and the period repair at the wrist kept it in the shooting field. It is a very trim and slim gun, light for a pinfire 12-bore at 6 lb 13 oz, and the bores are lightly pitted. The stock escutcheon has the letters “LHS” in script, unfortunately not enough to trace its ownership. I would be surprised if Robert Ringer sold more than twenty pinfire game guns from his Norwich address, so it is good fortune that this one survived, though somewhat patched up.
The gun is signed Robert Ringer, and, like for most guns of the period, there is always interesting history associated with it.
Born in 1821, Robert Ringer began making guns under his own name in 1852 in Watton, near Thetford, in the rural county of Norfolk in Britain. He appears to have taken over the premises of William Burton, a gunmaker who started the business in 1839. Prior to 1852 Ringer was a journeyman gunmaker in the market town of Swaffham, working for either William Parson or Abigail Sutton. Where he completed his apprenticeship is not recorded, but it may well have been with Burton, Parson, or James Sutton. Ringer must have been successful in Watton, as he was able to open premises in Norwich in 1868, on Great Orford Street beside Norwich Castle, closing the Watton premises shortly afterwards. Around this time he employed one man and one boy, a fairly typical arrangement for a provincial gunmaker.
Norwich is the county town of Norfolk, established as a city in the 10th century, and from the 11th century onwards the second largest city in Britain after London. A thriving commercial centre into Victorian times, Norwich was built on the wool and textile trade, and as a gateway to mainland Europe (before the rail line established in 1845, it was said to have been quicker to travel to Amsterdam than to London). The county was also very good shooting country, for partridge, and later for pheasant – many storied shooting estates were located in the county, where by the middle of the 19th century, over a hundred Norfolk families owned estates greater than 2,000 acres in size.
Norwich was therefore a good location for a talented gunmaker, and in 1868 the pinfire game gun still ruled. In that year there were four other Norwich gunmakers in operation, with the best-known being George Jeffries (in business from 1841 to 1899, Jeffries obtained in 1860 patent no. 1900 for a turnover tool which finally improved the performance of the pinfire cartridge to equal the muzzle-loader; this invention was overshadowed by James Purdey’s patent no. 302 of 1861, a much better turnover tool). The other three Norwich gunmakers, Robert Norton Dale, Robert John Howard, and John Ottway, were short-lived, open only in that year – competition was too great, I suppose. Like Jeffries, the Ringer business survived until around 1890, and would have turned out percussion guns, pinfires, and centrefires, in due course.
The gun today is a 12-bore double-bite screw grip rotary-underlever, serial number 796, signed “Robert Ringer Gt Orford St Norwich” on the top rib. The 30” damascus barrels have London proofs, and the thin fences and lack of a radius between the action bar and the breech face are consistent with an earlier design, as might be found on provincial guns. The Great Orford Street address means its manufacture cannot be earlier than 1868, and a lack of records and surviving Ringer guns makes it difficult to date precisely – but I’m guessing 1868-1869, as by 1870 few pinfires were being built in Britain, and well-to-do Norwich customers would have followed the London trends. It is a well-made gun, with signed back-action locks, an elongated top strap, rounded dolphin-headed hammers, a ring-tipped underlever, good foliate scroll engraving, and a raised clip on the trigger guard bow. The well-figured stock suffered a catastrophic break at one point, and the period repair at the wrist kept it in the shooting field. It is a very trim and slim gun, light for a pinfire 12-bore at 6 lb 13 oz, and the bores are lightly pitted. The stock escutcheon has the letters “LHS” in script, unfortunately not enough to trace its ownership. I would be surprised if Robert Ringer sold more than twenty pinfire game guns from his Norwich address, so it is good fortune that this one survived, though somewhat patched up.
leveractionjunkie
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What a beautiful piece of craftsmanship! Wow. Thanks for sharing. As someone who’s mother comes from Norwich I really enjoyed the write up on the history of the gun, the maker, and the area. Thanks again for sharing.
Sorry for the delay. Plumb forgot.
Theophilus Britte was a well known maker of better quality guns in Belgium prior to WWII. With an unique way of approaching problems. While watching others try to solve the problem of a bolting design for O/U, he took a different approach. He simply turned a SxS action on its side. The idea had some limited success but the war intervened. A significant number of barreled actions fir his side opening O/U were hidden as Belgium was overrun by Germany. And then kinda forgotten/ignored by his heirs after the war. At some point in the 1980’s, someone in the gun world (I forget who at the moment, got a sniff these barrelled actions existed. Soon thereafter the lots of them were purchased by Griffin & Howe, completed and then marketed, properly as brand new original SuperBrittes. Kind of a cool story.
