I just did a background check on a double rifle When I got the original certificate it said that the rifle was made 1922 intstead of when I thought it was made in 1911, and had 30" barrels instead of now 28" and had ejectors and now dont. hmmmmm nothing matches...

Could it be that the records you received were incorrect?

Seems like a lot of changes.

It was direct from C Lancaster, caliber and some other things was right. (Serial number 13622)

Well my oldest one is 135 and they're only up to 28", so I'm guessing about 150-160 years and they'll be 30"?

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by A.Dahlgren:
I just did a background check on a double rifle When I got the original certificate it said that the rifle was made 1922 intstead of when I thought it was made in 1911, and had 30" barrels instead of now 28" and had ejectors and now dont. hmmmmm nothing are a match.

" How often do a double rifle have 30" barrels?"

Not very often if made after around the late 1800s. 30" barrels are a hold over from the black powder days. Old ideas are hard dying especially where rifles are concerned. Even 28" barrels are rare in a double built after the 1930s, and most today are in the 24" range. It would help to know the chambering in this rifle, and are the barrels Damascus or fluid steel.

The rifle you have was most likely re-barreled at some point after it was originally made. The ejectors may have simply been disengaged turning them into extractors. If there are two halves in the ejectors, then the ejectors were certainly disengaged, However in the 1920s many older double rifle users preferred extractors, and may have the ejectors replaced with a solid extractor, or when re-barreled simply chose to have only extractors.

It would be interesting to see quality pictures of the proof marks on the bottom of the barrels, and any serial numbers on the action, and to know if the numbers are also on the barrels.

This is a post that would be well handled by Mark Cash, or 5seventy, as both are far better schooled on the history of older Britt double rifles than I am. My dealing is more in the operation, and the proper building of double rifles than who invented what, or when. IMO, the records are sometimes very confusing, and may or may not be accurate!

quote:

Originally posted by A.Dahlgren:

That document is dated TODAY April 8th 2011. how is that possible unless this was sent as an E-mail document??????????????

It was sent as email

30" barrels would be extremely rare in any double rifle let alone one from this vintage. I doubt that it's correct.

30" barrels for the times makes no sense whatsoever. 26" (if not a bit shorter), for then, was usually considered just fine. The 28" Rigby's of pre-1914 were somewhat cumbersome but still OK - first I heard of longer barrels than that from a NP rifle of post-1918 vintage.

Of course, never say never with the Brits...but 30" is helluva long for most anything!

The gunmakers would make what the customer wanted. Charles Gordon went bankrupt ordering all sorts of obsolete style guns and rifles from the best makers. As I recall reading, he didn't even fire them.

Quite a few of the early hammer rifles have 28" to 30" barrels but later ones would be unusual.

Sent a email back to Lancaster and they checked the book again.

28 inch barrels and extractors, someone made a mistake the first time