The British Boxlock Gun & Rifle

The boxlock, or ‘body action’, was the first really successful hammerless sporting gun, from 1875. In the following decades, boxlocks, with their fewer parts and suitability for machine production became the gun for ‘everyman’. 

20th century conventions adopted by major firms in using sidelocks for best quality guns has wrongly made the boxlock a poor relation in the eyes of many collectors and shooters today.

This book will educate the reader in the huge variation in boxlock design and quality. It tells the fascinating story of the development and perfection of body action guns of all qualities. The owner of a 19th or 20th century boxlock will discover  a wealth of information about his gun and the prospective buyer will find this book essential reading. It covers:

•     the history and development of actions 
•     the various ejector mechanisms 
•     how to evaluate different quality grades 
•     trouble-shooting problems in various models 
•     the complex relationships between the manufacturers and retailers of the guns over the last 130 years.

Availability:

Illustrations:
400 Colour photographs

Pages:
224

Published:
Sep 27, 2012

ISBN:
9781571574312

About the Author:

Diggory Hadoke was born in Hereford in 1967. He has been
obsessed with British sporting guns since childhood.

He is a long-standing contributor to: Shooting Times, Sporting Shooter, Fieldsports Journal, Gun Trade News, Rifle Shooter, Sports Afield, The Double Gun Journal and several overseas titles. He makes regular television appearances as both a gun
expert and hunting advocate.

Diggory is the author of three books: Vintage Guns, originally published by Merlin Unwin Books in 2007, The British Boxlock Gun & Rifle (2012) and Hammer Guns in Theory &
Practice (2016).

After two decades in London, Diggory now lives with his family,
near Ludlow, in rural Shropshire, from where he manages Vintage Guns Ltd and edits the digital magazine The Vintage Gun Journal.