Okay, I am probably going to look pretty silly here but I am going to ask anyway. On a double rifle, how do you tell the difference between a boxlock with sideplates and a sidelock. Second question. Sidelocks invariably cost more. Are they somehow better and how?

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Bush:
Okay, I am probably going to look pretty silly here but I am going to ask anyway. On a double rifle, how do you tell the difference between a boxlock with sideplates and a sidelock.

By the price tag!!!

Dave, on a sidelock, you can generally see the pin heads (usually 7 or 9) in the sideplates. They hold the action parts within the receiver. A sideplated boxlock wouldn't have such pin heads, as the action parts are forward in the receiver. Some sidelocks have hand-detachable locks, and you'd see a small lever or other devise on the sideplate to remove the locks.

Here's my Merkel 150, which just has ornamental sideplates.



Sidelocks are usually considerably more expensive than a same make and grade boxlock gun. As for advantages...perhaps tradition, and I understand you can get nicer trigger pulls on a SL. But from a strength standpoint, look at trap, skeet, and sporting clays shotguns. NOBODY uses a sidelock, and those folks shoot can hundreds of thousands of rounds.

Their is never a stupid question - except the one that you don't ask !!!

I can't really add to the above.

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Don't count on the pins. My Heym 37B Deluxe double rifle drilling 9.3x74R/9.3x74R/20 ga as well as my Heym 37 Deluxe drilling 12 ga./12 ga./6.5x57R are pinless sidelocks (and hand detachable). Lucky for me that Bob Jones advertised the 37B as a "sideplate" in 2005 Same goes for the 88B/SS double rifle.

Their is always the exception to the rule but
98 or 99% Sidelocks have pins.

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Here is a picture of my sidelock 28ga. It has the pins.

Decorative steel plates mounted to the sides of a boxlock break-open gun, inletted into the receiver and into the wood just behind it, to make the gun resemble a sidelock in appearance and to provide a greater area for engraving. Sideplated guns, usually, can be recognized by the lack of action pins visible in the sideplates (although some sidelocks are built without pins and some sideplated guns are built with fake pins).


A sidelock gun built with no pins visible on the exterior of the locks---for a cleaner look; the engraving not being interrupted by pins.

All text in italics are from NECG definition list not mine! All in bold are mine.


So just because there are no pins visible doesn’t mean they are only plates.



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On second thought, not sure the Heyms are truly "pinless" as some say. They may just be "invisable pins". Perhaps new_guy can chime in on this. Mac is 100% correct (as usual ) that the absence of pins gives the artist a clean canvas with which to work.

As someone stated, you have to watch for sideplates with pins added. I've owned two Italian guns that had sideplates with pins. I think one was a Bernadelli. I believe it's only done on higher grade boxlocks. Unless you are familiar with the specific model of gun, the only way to tell is to remove the lock (or plate).

Personally, I like to see the pins.