John Wilkes showed O/U bbl sets CNC machined from one single steel billet at the Vegas show.

I'll let the "experts" digest that without further comment.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
John Wilkes showed O/U bbl sets CNC machined from one single steel billet at the Vegas show.

I'll let the "experts" digest that without further comment.

An over-under double rifle is a BAD thing. Everybody knows that.

Russ-What calibers were they in? Did system
have barrels as one piece with lumps and pivot?
Any pictures and does he have a site?

Rip-They are real "bad" if in blasters,
like "bad ass"..Ed.

quote:

Originally posted by hubel458:
Russ-What calibers were they in? Did system
have barrels as one piece with lumps and pivot?
Any pictures and does he have a site?

Rip-They are real "bad" if in blasters,
like "bad ass"..Ed.

John Wilkes
79 Beak Street
London
W1F 9SU

They don't appear to have a website. The bbl assy was CNC machined from a single billet, lumps and all. John Wilkes have been making rifles (and shotguns) for a very long time, and are considered one of the top English makers.

There seems to be something bloody wrong here...
The Wilkes brothers closed down their shop at Beak Street for approximatly 6 years ago.

The brothers was then very old and I think that one of them died in the connection with the closedown.

Nowadays there are some weird bussniess at 79 Beak Street. But they have kept the Wilkes sign.

I think that The name/brand Wilkes was sold to somebody in the Western Colonies and that they have strated up something as weird as O/U double rifles

What will come next? Somebody claiming that the earth is a hemisphere and not flat???

Husky

Husky,

FYI from the Internet Gun Club Historical Database (they are the British Gun Trade's forums):

http://www.internetgunclub.com/general/HistoryDetails.php

Name John Wilkes
Other Names
Address 1 1 Lower James Street, Soho (Piccadilly Circus)
Address 2 31 Gerrard Street
Address 3 21 Broad Street, Golden Square
Address 4 79 Beak Street, Regent Street
Address 5
Address 6
Address 7
City/Town London
County
State/Region/Province
Country United Kingdom
Trade Gun, Pistol & Rifle Maker
Other Address Bull Street, Birmingham
Dates 1880-date
Notes
John Wilkes was the son of Joseph Wilkes(known both as John and Jack) of Birmingham. In about 1866, after his father had abandoned his family to go to America, John went to London to work for E C Hodges. It is believed the Birmingham family firm continued to trade, perhaps up to 1933.
In about 1868 John Wilkes became Shop Manager for J D Dougall & Sons, first at 59 St James's Street and then at 8 Bennett Street, St James's. This position he held until 1893 or 1896 when Dougall died, but he was probably a partner in the business.

In 1882/3/4 John Wilkes and his wife (name unknown) had two sons, John and Tom.

In 1894 at the same time as being employed by Dougall John Wilkes went into partnership with a Mr Harris, and they established their business as Wilkes & Harris on the first floor of 1 Lower James Street, Soho (Piccadilly Circus). The partnership did not last because Harris was an accountant and had little knowledge of guns. Harris may have put up part of the funding for the new firm, and may have looked after the firm while Wilkes continued working for Dougall.

In 1896 the executors of J D Dougall closed the London shop and John Wilkes was then free to concentrate on running his own firm. If the Birmingham family firm had ceased to exist by this time, and was not supplying him with guns, it may have been that this was when John Wilkes established his own factory in Birmingham. At one time he was recorded as having premises in Bull Street.

In 1911 in London the firm moved to 31 Gerrard Street.

During the First World War the firm was involved in munitions manufacture but, unlike most gunmakers, it appears to have adjusted to the post-war market for guns without too much trouble. Many firms accepted government contracts with alacrity, only to find it unprofitable and, at the end of the war, to find themselves over-staffed, over-equipped and virtually bankrupt.

In 1925 the firm moved to 21 Broad Street, Golden Square (now Broadwick Street, Golden Square) but only 2 years later they moved to 79 Beak Street, Regent Street.

The Birmingham factory ceased trading in the depths of the Great Depression in 1933.

Originally, about half the guns the firm made were made for the trade. Along with W J Jeffery, they were the largest makers of .600 rifles. They made parts such as single trigger mechanisms for makers such as Woodward.

During the Second World War the firm was mainly engaged in making rifle parts, but they also did work for Special Operations Executive (SOE).

When Woodward closed, the firm took over all the remining stock and equipment.

Up to 2004, the firm was run by John and Tom Wilkes, the 5th generation of the family to run the business.

In 2004 the Wilkes brothers retired, moving the firms operations to the premises of Craig Whitsey (Gunmakers) Ltd Arundel in West Sussex. The company's records are held at the firm's registered offices at 79 Beak Street, Regent Street, London W1R 3LF. Serial numbers reportedly overlap with Dougall numbers, and records of guns below No. 4010 have been lost.

See Joseph Wilkes of Court, 4 New Summer Street, Birmingham.

Other Info
The club is able to give some information on serial numbers and dates, email archives@internetgunclub.com with details of your gun.
Sold cartridges under the names "The Doughty" and "The Tom Tom".

Hi mehulkamdar,
Thats was really surprising!
I always use to pass by Beak Street while in London -just to see if the Wilkes brothers was in the shop. It has always been closed (since 2000), but in May 2004 there was some blokes opening up a new busniess there -i think it was art.

Anyway a U/O double....

husky

O/U are easier to regulate in most cases.
If you ever handled a Ruger Red Label O/U you would see they handle nice.Some Red labels
were made into rifles.Of course there isn't the
old time nostalgia likr SxS have. Ed.

Husky,

I am no expert in double rifles and have never owned one. But surprisingly, Boss and Co have started making double rifles upto 600 NE. www.bossguns.co.uk

Westley Richards also made some unusual ones including O/Us in the rebated rim 425 WR as referred to by Chris Austyn in his books. The WRs came with another feature that many don't like, single selective triggers.

Anyway, I guess there was a lot of experimentation and it is good to see more of it these days, perhaps, we are in a new golden age of gunmaking.

Good hunting!