Guns & Outdoors Forum

I picked this up at the weekend at a local Antiques Fair. A enamelled metal advertisement sign. It measures 14" by 9 1/2" and came from a Gunmaker's shop in Manchester. Stensby's were in business until fairly recently and I can remember going to the shop in the early 80's. I have a double .410 hammer gun by this maker in my collection.

Nice addition to your mancave

Cool pick up. How about a pic of the gun he built.

Neat bit of old English history there. . .

I remember reading some novel as a kid, and the only thing I specifically remember was the hero mentioning having "to go pick up the jaguar guns from Purdey's". Being able to walk around London and pick up a tailored suit and a bespoke hunting rifle and shotgun all in one afternoon. . . You know the Rush song Red Barchetta? That was the "better, vanished time" they were talking about.

I still maintain that Westley Richards has the best porn site on the internet.

Vertical nice grab!

Freezer, I should have a picture somewhere in my archive; if not I'll take another one. There were some really good Gunmakers centred on Manchester. I think Stensby's was the last to trade. Others were Thomas Newton, Thomas Conway, William Griffiths, Gascoyne & Dyson who were all producing some excellent stuff. Manchester was a pretty wealthy area then with the cotton trade and the Manchester Ship Canal allowing easy access to the port of Liverpool. Also they were not far from some excellent grouse moors. All this supported a thriving gun trade.

Freezer asked me about the .410 double by Stensby. Now spotted the photo in my archive. The top gun is the .410 and the lower one is a Rosson of Derby double with one barrel .410 and the other in .300 Rook Rifle. More on that later. Note the Express type sights on the top of the rib.
The .410 started out as a 2" chamber gun and when I acquired it someone had lengthened the chambers to 2 1/2" but not submitted it for re-proof. I had it tested; which it passed, and had some other restoration work done. A lot of early .410's were 2" chambered and advertised as Collector's guns which really meant that they were for people looking to collect specimens of small birds for Taxidermy. B.S.A. bought up a lot of old obsolete .303 Lee rifles and converted them to 2 1/2" and had Eley make the cartridges. This was just before the First World War. Then, just before the next war the Midland Gun Company brought out a 3" chambered .410 which Eley again made ammo for.
Some very early Eley 2" .410 cartridges.
Some more early .410 cartridges. Centre lower line are some Almac brand cartridges. Eley made them from old left over .303 cases after the war.

Wow!!!

Very NICE

Than you. I'll give a bit more on the Rosson (the lower gun) soon. It is like a miniature Cape Rifle. Both guns are very similar in appearance and were probably sent to the same engraver in the trade for finishing. With the Stensby .410 double I did contact them when they were still in business and they thought it might have been made for them by Carr Brothers in Birmingham. Stensby's were about the last of the Manchester Gunmakers to pack in. I can recall going into the shop in the early 1980's. I wish now that I had asked a lot more questions back then.