Product Details
G. JEFFRIES
A SCARCE 12-BORE JEFFRIES 1862 (SECOND PATENT) SIDE-OPENING UNDERLEVER BAR-IN-WOOD HAMMERGUN, serial no. 304,
circa 1867, 29 3/4in. black powder only bold damascus barrels (loose on action, some denting and damage at left muzzle, wall thicknesses below recommended minimum), rib engraved 'G. JEFFRIES. GUN MAKER. NORWICH', 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. true cyl. in both, George Jeffries patent 'new centre fire side motion breech-loading' action, patent no. 3300 of 9th December 1862, use number 304, forward mounted rotary-underlever, carved serpentine fences, bolstered cam bolt housing, bar-in-wood, rebounding sidelocks (left hammer spring weak), the action, lockplates and furniture finely engraved with scrolling acanthus motifs with beaded and crosshatch bordering, the lockplates with naive game scenes of hound and fowl to the fore, the left with two guns to the rear, the right with a gun and loader to the rear, internally the cam-bolt housing, rotating forked arm and fore-end iron engraved with further bold acanthus scrollwork and decorative bordering, the fore-end with scroll engraved lanciform pivot pin backing plate, brushed bright overall, 14in. figured stock including horn buttplate and with monogrammed silver escutcheon at the hand, weight 6lb. 12oz.
Other Notes: The second patent 'side motion' gun was well regarded in its day as being a close competitor to the drop down snap-action guns being developed at the time and can certainly be regarded as the most commercially successful side-opening gun in the United Kingdom. The design won a gold medal for 'excellency of workmanship and construction' at the 1870 Workman's Exhibition and Jeffries produced them for a period of nearly ten years. His robust advertising campaign for his invention cited the gun as having 'Five times the resisting surface of any double grip drop guns, Two hard pieces of tempered steel working together in the vital parts never before attained. Quick as any snap gun. The only sporting breech loader invented in Great Britain. It can be made to use either pin or central fire combined.'
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Estimate £500-700
S2 - Sold as a Section 2 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act