John
Leighton from Worcestershire, UK
John
(Gunsmoke) Leighton is a well know character amongst the
shooting scene of Worcestershire.
He is an avid collector of Tollies and
anything else, preferably big, which goes bang.
Having just retired,
John
as acquired a Perrins single barreled 14 bore muzzle loading percussion shot
gun, as a restoration project.
The gun only has ‘Perrins’ engraved
on the side so it puts it before 1841 suggesting it was made in the first 10
years of the Perrins business in
Worcester
. Unfortunately there is no address and the proof marks are unreadable to date
it more accurately.
The gun has a couple of unusual
features. If you look at the trigger guard you will see it is straight at the
front. Someone may be able to throw light on this but I guess it was to make it
more comfortable to carry or fit a case.
The stock is unusual as it is made of
birds eye maple. Naturally a paler wood than walnut it has the characteristic
little circles all over it. In its un-restored condition it looks quite
spectacular so we can only imagine what glorious pattern it will show when
finished. Hopefully I will get
chance to re photograph the gun when the work has been completed.
There is a pheasant and scroll engraving
on the side plates and the octagonal barrel, with gold banding, merges to
octagonal with rounded edges and finally it becomes round. As with all Perrins
it is well balanced and a delight to handle.
Here are a few of
John
’s other toys.
A
mighty 6 bore. Single percussion made by E. Chater of
London
has is over 6 ½ feet tall and was used as a bank gun.
A
double barreled 8 bore by Lewis Tomes is a serious piece of artillery. This
percussion gun has twin pegs through the forend to hold the great gun together.
The gun has superb
Damascus
barrel with twin gold banding.
The
single barreled 10 bore is an interesting gun. A big gun, even for a 10 bore,
this percussion muzzle loader was originally a flintlock. You can clearly see
where the percussion nipple plug has been tapped into the flash hole of the
flint lock. It is elaborately
embellished with a brass plate with superb engravings of ducks and curlews. The
gun has a big strong action supported by a substantial piece of wood, which
John
tells me is oak. The barrel is a substantial lump of metal – or should I say
3 lumps of metal. It has been beautifully browned which show an interesting
cloudy pattern, which is not the conventional twist of
Damascus
, however if you look carefully you can see it has 3 quite distinct pattern
shades and the joint between each is quite clear.
A
superb cased pair of 12 bores by Maloch, Michie & Cruckart of
Stirling
. As you can see this is not a matched pair but as a composite pair they sit
very well together. The
Damascus
barrels are in superb condition and the patterning is wonderful. While both
guns have the same ‘snatch action’ patented by Purdy, the actions are
different and
John
was lucky to find a case which could have been made for the guns.
A
rather nice percussion pistol by Manton of London is another favourite of his
collection.
