The action body is rounded as are the lockplates to create a graceful design. Although a square action can be built, many customers prefer the semi-rounded body with which the firm is associated. However, if the mechanism is Holland in origin, the design and lines of the gun are entirely AA Brown. This employs a self-opening system based upon the Holland & Holland design and it also has hand-detachable locks. Today, AA Brown builds a best-quality side-by-side shotgun, the Supreme de Luxe. An exciting recent development is the reintroduction of over-and-under rifles in calibres. The side-by-side and over-and-under guns are available in 12- to. Due to the individual, hand-built nature of each gun, a specific price cannot be quoted. Side-by-side guns take two to two-and-a-half years to build, while over-and-unders take three to three-and-a-half years to manufacture. The lines of the gun or rifle are paramount to Boss, hence its lack of adoption of CNC machinery, which tends to turn out very similar guns. No two guns are alike and every part of the gun is bespoke, from the type of rib required, action shape and so on. The actions arrive as big billets of steel and they are all hand filed and shaped, hence each individual gun has a subtle shape of its own. Boss & Co’s gunmakers are, quite simply, the “builders of best guns only”.Ī hand-built Boss & Co 20-bore, round-bodied, single-trigger side-by-side.īoss is unique amongst British gunmakers today in that it still builds guns by hand, exactly the same way as they were built in the 1920s and 1930s. Building exquisite guns and rifles is what Boss does the company does not sell clothing, shooting accessories and the like. Boss & Co is still a privately owned firm and at its factory in Kew, south-west London, it builds what are probably the most exclusive guns in the world. Building best guns only, coupled with a relatively small production, gives Boss & Co an exclusivity over all other gun manufacturers and is the reason why it is held in such high esteem today.
Boss is unique amongst British gunmakers in that the company builds best guns only, hence the subtitle, “builders of best guns only”, is entirely apt. It has a single trigger and barrel lengths of 28in to 32in are on offer.Ītkin Grant & Lang, Windmill Road, Markyate St Albans, Hertfordshire A元 8LP.īoss & Co was established as far back as 1812, when Thomas Boss completed his apprenticeship with Joseph Manton. The gun is available in 12-, 16- and 20-bore. It has the trademark feature of Grant fluted fences that makes such guns instantly recognisable. Now based in Hertfordshire, Atkin Grant & Lang offer a round-action, triggerplate, over-and-under gun with pinless sideplates. In 1925, Stephen Grant and Joseph Lang went into partnership and in 1960 they were joined by Henry Atkin to form the present company. ATKIN GRANT & LANGĪtkin Grant & Lang is the amalgamation of three famous old established London gunmakers. My new book, British gunmakers of the 21st century, is designed to show the superb quality and designs on offer from the British gun trade today. Most people new to shooting assume that they have to buy an Italian or Belgian shotgun, yet this is certainly not the case. It was Nick Holt of Holts Auctioneers who first suggested that these makers deserved to be recognised more widely as part of a British gun trade that is very much alive and flourishing. Yet there remains a small core of British gunmakers building guns of the highest quality using the latest technology, the end result being some of the finest guns and rifles on the market today. By the 21st century, due to a combination of circumstances, this situation had changed drastically to the extent that the number of British makers actually building guns could be counted on the fingers of both hands. In the 19th century there were thousands of gunmakers the length and breadth of Great Britain. Solve your Christmas present conundrum for your sporting friends and family by making the most of The Field’s special Christmas offer, where you can save up to 35% on a print subscription. Editor Jonathan Young gives his verdict, read over and under or side by side? Over-and-under or side-by-side is the age old debate, and it’s no longer a choice between tradition and modernity. Donald Dallas details the companies continuing Britian’s long tradition. Today there remains only a small core of British gunmakers, but they are building the highest quality guns with the latest technology, offering some of the market’s finest.
In the 19th century, gunmakers could be found the length and breadth of Great Britain.