American & British 410 Shotguns. Ronald Gabriel
bar to accommodate the lock. The tumbler or hammer pin extends through the action body from side to side just below the 90-degree “angle” created by the action water table and the action face (standing breech). This angle point is the boxlock action’s greatest vulnerability. This is a decided weakness in comparison to the bar- and back-action sidelocks that will leave more metal in the frame. Parenthetically, this distinction relates only to the strength at the frame “angle.” For example, in comparison to the boxlock, the amount of wood removed for the sidelock action fit to wood renders the sidelock stock vulnerable where it meets the frame. The intercepting safety, a William Anson patent in 1882, was added to the better quality A & D boxlock guns to prevent the gun’s discharge absent a trigger pull!
The mainspring is “V” shaped in English guns and “coiled” in many American guns such as the Parker. The “V”-shaped springs are thought to be faster, stronger, and more durable than the “coil” spring.
Greener’s good words on the boxlock include “faster firing” than the sidelock and more opportunity for a cosmetic effect using “sham sidelocks” [8]. These are plates applied to the wood stock just behind the action body, now known as “sideplates” or inexplicably called the “third type of sidelock” by the dean of shotgun historians, G. Boothroyd [9]. They can be distinguished from sidelock actions by the absence of any lock pins seen through the plates and by the forward position of the trigger. Greener pictures a round-action Dickson with highly engraved sideplates manufactured before the turn of the century. In modern times, Browning, Francotte, and other American and European companies have popularized these sideplates for decorative purposes.
A variation of the Anson & Deeley boxlock is the Westley Richards droplock designed by Leslie Taylor and patented in 1897. Each lock is mounted on the floor plate of the action box. It can be inserted and removed from the action at will and without tools save one’s fingers.
Before leaving the sidelock and boxlock actions, three topics should be mentioned: bolts, hammers, and springs.
Bolts
A digression to discuss bolts for a moment is important because this development influenced the use and acceptance of the various actions. The bolting system is essential on breech openers to counter the three firing forces:
1. Axial (horizontal arrow to the right)
2. Radial (curved arrow pointing upwards and curved to the left)
3. Bending (arrow pointing vertically upwards)
Underbolts or barrel lugs (bites) are powerful thick extensions from the under flats of the barrels. They may be single, like LeFaucheux’s pinfire of 1834, the first breechloader to spark the conversion from muzzleloaders. Most subsequent quality American shotguns such as the Parker had a single bolt. Double bolts (two lugs), an invention by Purdey, are seen in most British and European shotguns and in the Winchester Model 21. In the quality double shotgun, these bolts or lugs are intrinsically forged with the barrels, called the chopper-lump construction. Other such lug assemblies included the dovetail in which the lug is brazed between the breech ends of the barrels. This was seen especially in the blackpowder hammer guns. A third assembly is the sleeved-on “monobloc” style as done today in Italy or Japan and rarely in British doubles.
The top bolt, which complements the underbolt, holds the barrel face to the standing breech and is of four basic types:
1. The doll’s head
2. Purdey’s “secret” extension, the so-called third fastener
3. The Greener crossbolt
4. The American-developed rotary bolt
The doll’s head reinforces the bar of the action and was developed by Westley Richards in 1864 and is widely used in American smoothbores such as the Parkers and many Lefevers. The Purdey “secret” or top extension (third fastener) supports the barrel underbolt and is used in many quality British and European double guns. The Greener crossbolt, patented in 1867, reinforces both the action bar and the underbolt and is seen in many continental guns, especially Germany’s Merkel, which uses a double crossbolt with over/under doubles, the so-called “double Kersten.” The rotary bolt also reinforces both the action bar and the barrel underbolt and is seen in L.C. Smith, A.H. Fox, and NID Ithaca guns. The New Ithaca Double is bolted solely by a top bolt, a tribute to the bolt’s effectiveness [10].
Hammers
A brief comment about hammers is necessary here. Prior to the 1870s, all hammers were exposed. These hammers were non-rebounding until John Stanton’s 1867 invention of the rebounding variety. Both types have three positions: cocked, half-cocked, and fired. The non-rebounding hammer’s firing pin remained indented in the cap of the cartridge, blocking the opening of the breech. The advantage of Stanton’s rebounding hammers, which quickly superseded the earlier type, was that the fired or down position is only momentary in the act of firing. Immediately following firing, the hammers rebound instantly to the half-cocked position. Then by fitting the firing pin with a coil spring, which caused the pin to withdraw from the cap after firing, the breech was easily opened. The half-cocked position is also a position of safety from an accidental discharge by an external blow or inadvertent trigger pull.1
The historical record does not reveal a sidelock hammer 410 with non-rebounding hammers. This is consistent with the first 410 being manufactured after the 1870s when this type of hammer apparently ceased to exist.
Springs
In 1888, Burrard described the source of kinetic energy for the functioning of a gun as the release of distorted matter allowing it to return to its more natural state. Matter, or in this case “V”- shaped coiled or flat springs, has been geometrically deformed by applied energy from the shooter, taking advantage of the principle of leverage, and locked in that state of deformation. When the shooter’s energy releases this bit of matter, it returns to its more natural state and the gun’s rationale is realized. It is essential that this matter, the springs, are worked into the proper molecular configuration by craftsmen so that its geometry, both natural and unnatural, does the necessary work of safety cocking, firing, ejecting, and opening the breech [12].
In the second half of the 19th century, the “V” spring was used in virtually all British guns, however inexpensive [13]. Conversely, the coiled spring was used in most American guns regardless of expense, including the Parker, Ithaca, Fox, Winchester, and Remington [14]. European gunmakers were more eclectic.
Today the “V” spring is used primarily in the best grade British guns, while the modern American gun uses coiled springs. One of history’s greatest artists in gun engraving, the late Lynton McKenzie, started out as a master spring maker [15].
3. Other Actions
A. Trigger Plate
The next action of importance in the evolution of the shotgun is a variation of the boxlock called the “trigger plate” or “round action” and in Germany called the “Blitz.” In fact, this action, in primitive form, probably originated in Germany. Because of strong commercial ties between northern Europe and Scotland, this action, in modified form, was nourished in the industrial belly of southern Scotland, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.
All lock parts are connected to the trigger plate that fits the bottom of the frame. John Dickson and James MacNaughton, the two premier Scottish gunmakers, pioneered or developed this action between 1879 and 1887. Three advantages were apparent. The frame was very strong because no machining of the action body was necessary. The ensemble