Howdy All. Looking for some information on I. Hollis & Sons. I think I read someplace J. A. Hunter used a .500 NE from this company? Any background would be appreciated. Thanks.

JA Hunter had a Boswell 500 NE Double.

Ah right thanks!

He may well have used others, but he is known to have used the Boswell and
that is the gun in 500NE that he helped make the 500NE famous.

I Hollis I believe was the brother of A Hollis - this needs to be checked
and I don't have my reference books handy.

IMHO, I see higher grade A Hollis's than I Hollis - have seen some shocking I Hollis guns
but also the occasional good to excellent one.

500N,
You are correct. I Hollis, and most people would agree I'm pretty ratty looking, especially early in the morning.

Especially Mrs Hollis!!!!!!!!!!1

Damn, that made me spit my coffee all over the keyboard!

Boothroyd has the following on I Hollis:

"Issac Hollis & Sons, Birmingham 1860-1900. Gun, rifle and pistol maker. In business at 5-11 Weaman Row, Lench Street in 1910. Became Hollis, Bentley & Playfair. Retail offices at 83 Cheapside from 1873-1883 and Great Winchester Street from 1884-1900.

Issac Hollis was granted British Patent No. 1083 of 1 May 1861 for trigger guard construction, also Registered Design No. 4922 of 18 May 1868 for a trigger guard design. They were large scale manufacturers of sporting arms for the South African market, and of cheap trade guns. Issac Hollis made guns for Crockart of Blairgowie.

Issac Hollis & Sons, Lench Street 1908
...
Hollis, Issac & Sons, 9 New Bread Street London 1908
...
I Hollis & Sons, 16 & 17 Loveday Street 1930
..."

I own an I Hollis 20 gauge hammer gun from the 1880s. Its a nice, mid-level piece, with heavy damascus barrels, lots of case colors and pretty good wood in very good overall condition. Someday, if the red gods and the mekers of low-pressure non-tox shells cooperate, it's going to kill some geese and maybe a turkey. In the meantime, with RST low pressure 1-1/8 ounce loads, it's a head turner on a skeet field.

Sorry, should have proof read that last post a bit better. It's a 10 gauge, not a 20.

Although not what you're looking for I have an A Hollis rifle and it's pretty nice.

Wal Winfer has some information about I Hollis in Vol 3 of British Single Shot rifles that says,
"I Hollis and Sons were primarily interested in the wholsale manufacturing of firearms;in their early days military rifles and at a later date the cheaper end of the sporting market."

Thanks gents.

Well I saw an ad for an I. Hollis double rifle for sale and it looked okay and the price looked good for a .500. It was listed as a .500 Express and then I got to thinking it might be a black powder express and not nitro proofed. Which is what turned out to be the case; it is proofed for 55 Cordite & 440 bullet. Oh well.

quote:

Originally posted by PSmith:
I got to thinking it might be a black powder express and not nitro proofed. Which is what turned out to be the case; it is proofed for 55 Cordite & 440 bullet. Oh well.

Cordite proof = nitro proof. It's just not a modern nitro powder. More along the lines of IMR 3031

55 grains of cordite was the normal load for nitro for black. The full nitro would have been marked in the 70-80 range for cordite, with a 570 grain bullet.