Chaps,
It has been a while in the making - eight years since I purchased the action, but I recently took delivery of my Charles Lancaster 375 H&H.

The details are are follows:

Maker: Charles Lancaster, London, England.
Calible: 375 H&H with 5 in the magazine.
Action: LH double square bridge Reimer Johannsen Magnum Mauser.
Mounts: Custom Best London style hand detachable.
"Colonial" style engraving by Dave Tallett.
Open sights: 100, 200, 300 yds with flip over warthog Moon Sight
Wood - English walnut with metal grip trap, chequering is to an old Lancaster pattern.
Silver's English recoil reducer.

Shown alongside my 1936 James Purdey 12 bore sidelock ejector.

Just need to find some buffalo...

Well worth the wait, nice rifle!


ENJOY!!!

Stunning rifle and 12 bore! Great combo. That is a well executed masterpiece that I'm sure every day of waiting was worth upon delivery.

Stunning rifle (even though it is is lefty). Now use some of that leftover oil on the door!!!!
Peter.

Beautiful gun, Richard. Outstanding example of a rifle built for someone who is correct handed.

Wonderful pair of guns.

Stunning firearms. Thank you for posting.

Did they come standard with bad teeth, or does Jas. W. Purdey & Son still regard that as an extra?

Love the rifle, Richard.

Can we see the other side? Does the stock have a cheekpiece?

What's the barrel length? Weight?

The polish and blue on the barrel are perfect.

Bravo!

A true English classic medium bore in the perfect do-anything, go-anywhere caliber. Well done!

Thanks for the kind comments. I'm thrilled with the rifle.

I'm in the heat of Dubai right now and the rifle is on the rack in the UK, so I'm not sure on exact weight. I like a bit of weight in a 375 as it makes it that much more pleasent to shoot... And this rifle will be shot and hunted as hard as I can. It is not a wall hanger.

Barrel length is 23 inches, there is a classic cheekpeice with shadow line, but I dont have any decent picture of it here, sorry. Here is the other side....

Nice rifle but love the Purdey, though!

Why not use the double square bridge for a proper scope mount ?

quote:

Originally posted by bobby van der Putten:
Why not use the double square bridge for a proper scope mount ?

This traditional design of scope mount is found only on best English rifles by the likes of H&H etc. They are known as H&H style mounts.

Advantages:
They are extremely robust.
They allow a nice low scope mounting.
They are hand detachable in a few seconds.
They keep their zero.
They do not weaken the receiver ring by drilling (moot point these days).

Putting any other kind of mount on this rifle would be like putting a set of Yellow Hat chromes on a Bentley!

in other words " pure snobbery "

but I agree they succeeded in keeping it low

All a matter of taste and I'd call that mount on that rifle, very good taste.

Richard, you have a very nice pair of firearms there and as I'm also a southpaw and an Englishman and have to say it's especially nice to see a nice left handed English rifle!

Can I ask how long the barrels are on the Purdy?

love the scope mounts myself. very nicely done

It also looks like we have similar tastes in shotguns.

Mine is a 1926 John dickson and Son. (Despite the label in the motor case)

If a guy could only own two guns for hunting everything, I'd be perfectly content with these two! Fantastic!

Pete

I should have added that I've only recently bought the Dickson and am taking it up to Uganda in a week or so to give it a try on some wingshooting whilst I'm hunting the Karamoja with a client.

keep the Dickson away from Philip or you might have to take a stick to him to get it back you know how much he likes shooting guinea foul

Well, I know how much he likes shooting AT guineafowl!!

Outstanding! Beautiful, both of them!

it's a nice rifle and all, but it sure would look better like this!




but really, fantastic rifle! a true beauty, even as a lefty!

Beautiful pair of guns Richard.

I seem to remember you sold a LH Procter rifle a few years ago?

Get ye a 7x57 to match that 375 and you can hunt the world.

The Purdey is gorgeous, a decent English sidelock will be my next major, maybe last ever, aquisition....

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
I should have added that I've only recently bought the Dickson and am taking it up to Uganda in a week or so to give it a try on some wingshooting whilst I'm hunting the Karamoja with a client.

Steve - nice shooter! 28 inch barrels on mine.

quote:

Originally posted by Claret_Dabbler:
Beautiful pair of guns Richard.

I seem to remember you sold a LH Procter rifle a few years ago?

Get ye a 7x57 to match that 375 and you can hunt the world.

The Purdey is gorgeous, a decent English sidelock will be my next major, maybe last ever, aquisition....

Thanks Brian

I have a 7x64 and I'm honestly struggling to justify another rifle with these on the rack.

Deerdogs,

They looked longer than 28" but I guess it's the angle of the pic. My dickson is 29" so they're similarish.

Can I also ask if that motor case is a standard Purdey one and does it take 1 or 2 shotguns? Certainly looks helluva nice.

Also is the Purdey 2 1/2 chambers? My Dickson is and I have the devils own job finding cartridges for it at a decent price. I can buy 70mm rolled but they're damn near twice the price of the 2 1/2s.

Thanks for the additional photos, Richard.

I have always liked those H&H style scope mounts.

I also like a .375 to come in a bit on the heavier side - ten pounds scoped is a good weight for one, IMHO.

The only thing I would even consider changing on your rifle (besides making sure that the bolt handle was on the right side!), would be to add an inch or two more barrel.

Here's hoping you make a date with that buffalo some time soon!

quote:

Originally posted by Deerdogs:

quote:

Originally posted by bobby van der Putten:
Why not use the double square bridge for a proper scope mount ?

This traditional design of scope mount is found only on best English rifles by the likes of H&H etc. They are known as H&H style mounts.

Advantages:
They are extremely robust.
They allow a nice low scope mounting.
They are hand detachable in a few seconds.
They keep their zero.
They do not weaken the receiver ring by drilling (moot point these days).

Putting any other kind of mount on this rifle would be like putting a set of Yellow Hat chromes on a Bentley!

Right in every sentence......but same can be said from the Suhl type claw mounts. And to my taste it would be preferable for a Double Square Bridge Mauser.
So only your last sentence could be modified:
It is like putting the Spirit of Ecstasy from RR on a Mercedes Benz

I believe they put a German engine in their Bentleys

Please don't confuse cars with rifles.

The Germans make the best cars.

The Brits have always made the best dangerous game bolt rifles.

Witness the Mauser Type As. British pattern German rifles.

Great, if one could not afford a decent Rigby, or Jeffery, to be sure . . .

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Deerdogs,

They looked longer than 28" but I guess it's the angle of the pic. My dickson is 29" so they're similarish.

Can I also ask if that motor case is a standard Purdey one and does it take 1 or 2 shotguns? Certainly looks helluva nice.

Also is the Purdey 2 1/2 chambers? My Dickson is and I have the devils own job finding cartridges for it at a decent price. I can buy 70mm rolled but they're damn near twice the price of the 2 1/2s.

Steve
It is a Purdey motor cases andit takes one gun together with all the turnscrews and oil pots etc. Luckily 2 1/2 inch cartridges are pretty common in the UK and you don't get hammered (too much) on price. Find me a cheaper than dirt dagga boy and I'll let you play with it!

The houses in the background are not looking as houses in Dubai - they are looking like houses in Centraleurope and specially like Sauerkrauthouses, is that right?

Richard, who is building these Lancasters? Ron Wharton? No matter who, it is a fantastic piece of work.

I think my ideal shotgun is a Woodward with 29" barrels and POW stock. I need to start staching away some money towards this end.

quote:

Originally posted by Deerdogs:

Steve
It is a Purdey motor cases andit takes one gun together with all the turnscrews and oil pots etc. Luckily 2 1/2 inch cartridges are pretty common in the UK and you don't get hammered (too much) on price. Find me a cheaper than dirt dagga boy and I'll let you play with it!

Richard,

If you'd like to email me at shakari3@mweb.co.za I'll send you something that might be right up your street.

quote:

Originally posted by Monastery-Forester:
The houses in the background are not looking as houses in Dubai - they are looking like houses in Centraleurope and specially like Sauerkrauthouses, is that right?

MF, the only thing European in those pictures is the scope. The house is in Somerset, in southwest England, home of high pheasants and cider.

Very nice Richard.

If I may, why Lancaster?

Not that the work isn't absolutely top-notch, rather what made you choose them over a Proctor, Wey or one of other houses?

quote:

Originally posted by Peter:
Stunning rifle (even though it is is lefty). Now use some of that leftover oil on the door!!!!
Peter.

The man's guns obviously have a higher priority, than his house.

Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by Ghubert:
Very nice Richard.

If I may, why Lancaster?

Not that the work isn't absolutely top-notch, rather what made you choose them over a Proctor, Wey or one of other houses?

Hi Ghubert, Why Lancaster? Well It started off as a Wharton, simply because I rate the man's work so highly, he has done a lot of smithing for me over the years and the quality of his work is right up there. Halfway through my project he acquired the Charles Lancaster name and I was given the option of having the rifle made as a Lancaster.

Not sure if you know much about CL but suffice to say they have a very long history of making best quality firearms, with several Royal appointments, numerous guns supplied to Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, Gordon Cummings and a host of African legends.I stand to be corrected but I think CL senior invented serveral artillery mechanisms and the famous oval bore used in the Colindian. In their heyday they stood shoulder to shoulder with H&H, Westley Richards and Rigby.

I was in H&H, Purdey and Wm Evans' London shops last week. The quality on their product is simply no better than what I have seen in the CL/Wharton workshop. I'm very happy to have a CL rifle with the heritage that the name implies.

quote:

Originally posted by Deerdogs:

quote:

Originally posted by Monastery-Forester:
The houses in the background are not looking as houses in Dubai - they are looking like houses in Centraleurope and specially like Sauerkrauthouses, is that right?

MF, the only thing European in those pictures is the scope. The house is in Somerset, in southwest England, home of high pheasants and cider.

And the action? I think, my friend Reimer is still living in Neumünster!