John Clements

UK

This 14 bore round action, Damascus, doubled barrelled hammer gun is owned by John Clements.  It was bought a few years ago and brought back to life by the acquisition of a box of 14 bore Eley Gastight cartridges.  It would appear that 14 bore cartridges stopped being manufactured in around 1920, which may explain the excellent condition of this gun, but also makes firing it difficult.  There have been several suggestions that various continental manufacturers are still making limited quantities of 14 bore cartridges but as yet I have not found them. 

I obtained a quantity of 14 bore brass cases but unbeknown to me 14 bore cartridges where made in two sizes of rim, either thick or thin.  Unluckily the gun is thin rim and the cartridges were thick but luckily this way round they could be machined down.  They do work but have a habit of being difficult to extract.  I have loaded the gastightes several times but the best way I have found to shoot the gun is to use conventional 16 bore cartridges and wrap a couple of layers of masking tape round the case to create a snug fit.  This works extremely well and she kills pheasant as well as the best of them when I point her in the right direction.  While she has been nitro proofed I tend to load the old gastights with black powder which work really effectively with 28gm of No 5’s.

The name on the rib is ‘Perrins & Son makers 59, Broad St. Worcester’ followed by the serial number 3116. From the address, which incidentally is now the Halifax building Society, and the proof marks we can fix the date of manufacture between 1878 and 1887.

The gun is top lever opening with a rather unusual locking device. A solid rectangular tongue of metal on the breach is held in place by a flush fitting bolt which is moved forwards and backwards by the top lever. The bolt slides over the top of the tongue producing a very strong lock.

The forend is held in place by a rather attractive button, which I have seen on one other Perrins, with the faint remains of a gold inlayed engraved ’push’.

The gun is engraved with hunting scenes of dogs and snipe and partridge with floral scroll work on the action and side plates.  The stock has metal head and toe caps and the checkering has suffered a little where it has been stood on a damp floor, before my time.

The gun has recently been converted to take 16 bore cartridges by the fitting of chamber sleeves to take the slightly small cartridge. This is a reversable process as the sleeves are only glued in place and no material has been taken away from the chambers.