Guns & Outdoors Forum

As the festive season approaches I thought we might speculate on this little offering which; just maybe, was the Christmas present for some very lucky young Victorian boy. It is a single barrel 28 bore 'boy's gun'. Such guns, whilst not rare, are quite scarce. On most occasions a gun for a younger member just had a length cut off the stock and reattached at a later date. More often than not the cut off piece got somehow lost. This gun is different in that it was undoubtedly made for a youngster. Made by Henry Clarke of Leicester. It weighs all of 3lb. 1 1/2oz. with a length of pull of 13 inches and sports a 28 3/8th. inch damascus barrel. The Proof Marks indicate a date between 1875 and 1887 but the address Clarke traded from is shown as Midland Gun Works which he did not occupy until 1897 so it may have been a gun held in stock and retailed at a later date. The gun is only proof tested for black powder cartridges as one would expect for a gun of this vintage. It is no problem to make suitable cartridges and for this I use the Magtec brass cases which look right for this gun. It would be interesting to find out more of the history of this gun and who owned it but such records have long been lost. I actually acquired it when I went to look at a double 12 bore hammer gun and ended up with the intended gun, this 28 bore and a single 12 bore muzzle loader. It is a quality little gun that is well made and must have once been someone's pride and joy.

Beautiful old gun <3 <3

Wow very Nice

A real cutie. I wish I had one.

There is a certain style to English single barrel guns and there are a few more lurking in the gun cabinet. I'll see what I can dig out next time.

The boy that shot that was on a short leash, hard to tell from the pictures, but that condition looks pretty minty from here, my boys would have it looking rode hard and put up wet, looks good for 125-150 years old

That is a beautiful shotgun and great wood.

Wow! Didn’t times. Kids didn’t get a throw away gun as their first.

Beautiful!! That would still be a dream under a Christmas tree.

Chiro1989 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 10, 2023 8:12 pm The boy that shot that was on a short leash, hard to tell from the pictures, but that condition looks pretty minty from here, my boys would have it looking rode hard and put up wet, looks good for 125-150 years old

When you have your very own gameskeeper to clean them for you. . .

I worked with a Korean War vet who probably never missed a dove opener since he got out of the service, and he was almost religious about the performance of the 28 gauge. He picked up a Red Label O/U from Ruger's short-ish run, which was REALLY sweet because they apparently did a dedicated 28 gauge receiver, instead of building on an existing 20 like a lot of companies do. Gun was LIGHT!

That's a beauty

Looks great for her age. What dram load did it shoot? I'm thinking maybe 2 dram. Just a guess.

I am not a poop gunner, but that is a thing of Beauty and would be a wonderful addition to anyone's collection
Great find

2 Dram and 3/4 ounce is a fair load but I went down very slightly to 1 3/4 Dram and 5/8th. ounce of shot. Just one of those guns that I came across and felt I had to add to the collection. I do use a 28 bore Spanish AyA side by side shotgun and don't really feel handicapped by it.

That is a beautiful gun! I really love your posts
Merry Christmas!