By David Grant and Vic Venters
Hardcover 216 pages
Price $69.95 + $5.09 Shipping
Available from:
Globepequot.com
1-800-223-2336
This is a big 11½- by 9½ -inch book showcasing Best Quality guns and rifles from the British Isles with large color photos and good descriptions of the guns shown.
There are ornate works of art like the Purdey .577 three-inch Nitro Express that emblazons the cover with its high relief engraving of African elephants and scroll work as well as more traditionally engraved guns such as the Westley Richards hand detachable boxlock in .577 three-inch Nitro Express. The Purdey “Platinum Woodcock Gun,” with its exquisite gold and platinum inlays is a classic example of how the most opulent gun embellishments can still look understated when done by great masters.
Not all the guns are engraver’s masterpieces. The 1886 20-bore four-barreled Purdey built for a French Colonel shows how the gun trade can build whatever is required by a customer and have it turn out right as does the Lancaster 4-barreled gun which unlocks with a lever like the one on Winchester lever action rifles.
A beautiful John Manton 17-bore flintlock single barrel fowler shows that the old master’s views of what makes an elegant gun are timeless while a Joseph Manton 14-bore double tube-lock shows one of the great innovations of the period.
Best quality extends to the accoutrements of a Best gun and a photo of the turnscrews, cleaning rods, oil cans, etc. made by Mike Marsh is there as well. Mike supplies these to many of the Best Quality gunmakers to accompany their guns.
Not all 19th Century guns are gone. There is a page devoted to the G.E. Lewis 4-bore nitro proofed Damascus barrel gun made in 1999 to commemorate the new millennium. Unlike the U.S. The British wildfowler can still legally shoot waterfowl with these big bores and this shooting has not hindered proper waterfowl game management at all.
The Dickson round action is in multiple photos as are the guns built by former John Dickson & Son workman David McKay Brown on the Dickson round action design.
Among the workmen at the bench who built the Best Quality guns the question of who was the greatest living gunmaker was a toss-up between Peter Nelson and John Wilkes if you paid him extra. Peter’s masterpieces are shown but sadly the late John Wilkes’ guns are not. It was rightly said that John Wilkes was the only man who could make a boxlock look better than a sidelock. He could give them that much extra grace and elegance. Of course he also made sidelocks as well.
There are a few bolt action guns as well for the gun trade has always made these.
Finally, there is a list of the British Gunmakers and their addresses for those who wish to purchase one of these beautiful examples of the gunmaker’s art. The price may seem high but these are all hand made.
I used to watch John Wilkes demonstrate how he could make an entire Best Quality gun completely from scratch without any power tools whatsoever. These guns last seemingly forever firing many millions of rounds with no measurable wear. There is a saying in the gun trade that you buy a Best Quality gun for your grandchildren because they will still be using it long after you are gone. Spread out over multiple lifetimes the price becomes the cheapest of all guns in the long run.—Jim Dickson
