Ahsan, a beautiful example of a W&S boxlock. I'll bet you miss the old girl. Your father's choice of the W&S gun was a natural selection. Webley and Scott were the most prodigious makers of hand built shotguns ever to come out of Birmingham. For the first 10 years after the amalgamation of P. Webley & Son and W. & C. Scott in 1897 the firm built 2,500 double guns per year, a feat unmatched by any other Brummie maker. W&S built many guns "for the trade" and their products appeared under prestigious London makers names such as William Evans. Pape in Newcastle used W&S boxlocks. The Army & Navy concern ordered W&S guns under their own name. So did Nowotny of Prague, and William Read of Boston. I have read of a Holland & Holland boxlock rumoured to have been built by W&S.
All the doubles I have seen from W&S are well built, fast handling guns. History demonstrates their reliability, which is a good thing as the W&S boxlocks are built without the ability to change the hinge pin. My personal favourites are the 400 and 500 series actions with the screw grip third fastener. Percy Stanbury used a Model 500 to win almost 50 major tournaments over a 27 year period (now there's a consistent shooter!). After a series of ownership changes, shotgun production at W&S was ended in 1979. A splinter group of employees restarted production as W&C Scott. They were bought by Holland & Holland, and after H&H was bought by Chanel, production of the Scott guns ceased. All good things must come to an end eventually. W&S had a good long run.
Sharptail
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