The art of the 19th century double rifle and the history of Joseph and James Lang of London
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- Опубліковано 14 бер 2024
- The culture of the double rifle come from the muzzle loading age, when repeating concepts were seldom available. Being able to fire a second or third shot required multiplying the number of barrels and actions. Today the side by side double rifle is still a capable arm. Many professional hunters still place their safety in the hands of these elegant pieces of art.
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That double rifle IS unironically "a more elegent weapon from a more civilized age" and such a beautiful rifle.
Nice speech at the end, thank you for saying that. Too many people are scoping or putting red dots on fine antique arms like the double rifle. Very good video as always ❤
I'm not, by any means, a gun nut. But the casual sophistication and historical context of these videos is hugely enjoyable, and a nice change to the normal content you get.
I agree fully. 👍
I am a gun nut and you are 100% correct in your assessment. Good day sir.
In my opinion, double rifles are one of the most beautiful weapons ever crafted, from a technical level to the artisanship put into the design. Thank you for talking about rifles. Hope we see more..
Yes. I concur 👍
I used to work for Westley Richards and saw new double rifles being made and the time to regulate the barrels was fascinating.
I use an original percussion Westley Richards shotgun for hunting. What a beautiful arm!
Did you ever get to purchase one of the firearms you made?
@@JarodFarrant no they were far too expensive but I did buy a nice English 16 bore hammer gun that was second hand.
The Explora blog is a fine Bible page to follow, one i like very much .
I had a beautiful drilling that i foolishly sold many years ago..I still miss it
Me too. I had a nice Sauer & Sohn hammer drilling. I regret selling it.
@@capandball I wish I could buy one of these.
Double rifles might be the most elegant type of weapon ever produced. At least in my opinion. There's just something about 2 rifle barrels side by side that tickles my fancy. And the thought of having 2 quick shots at your disposal.
I pefer the Barrels upon eachother more then Side by Side, but otherwhise i aggree!
The problem is that from a European/North American perspective, they don't really do anything that a double-barrel shotgun loaded with slugs can't (other than possible legality issues).
@@jic1All my double rifles shoot within two inches at 100m (110 yards) .
That means that you shoot a moving deer, wild boar or moose at 100 m.
A standing deer at 150 m no problem or even a moose at 200 m.
No slug gun can do that.
It is a myth that a double rifle only can be used up to 50 m.
My doubles are in caliber 7x57R and 9,3x74R.
My drilling has two rifle barrels in 8x57IRS and one shotgun barrel in caliber 20.
All of them are built for using as a normal rifle.
As a keen shooter of vintage British double rifles similar to yours, I appreciate your excellent explanation of barrel regulation - it's very satisfying when one finally discovers that 'magic' combination of bullet and powder!
And thank you for the advice about caring for these wonderful old guns; we are their custodians for but a short time indeed.
Very interesting, I do hope you get to hunt with the double rifle, and video it of course, I hunt driven wild boar here in France with my BP 500 express, every hunt with such a weapon creates special memories for me
I have the 100% identical twin to your rifle. Marked G. Little and Sons 63 Haymarket Street London. I have found that they were an outfitter for sportsmen and sold fishing rods and reels also. Hence the rifle was likely made by some other company and given the G. Little markings. It is caliber .500 Black Powder Express and has the exact same sights and lock work. Even the engraving is the same. The underlever, stock and cheekpiece and fore end latch and wood are identical. I am thrilled to discover the likely maker of my rifle. Your videos are very informative. The .500 fires a 3 inch cartridge with 140 grains of black powder and a 380 grain paper patched lead bullet.
"Elegant" is the only description needed. Truly elegant. Keep on!
Joseph Lang. 102 New Bond Street. Holland & Holland were at number 98, & moved to a purpose built factory on The Harrow Road close to their Kensal Rise testing & shooting ground. Both sides of my family come a short walk west of there. I grew up a short drive from their Hertfordshire shooting grounds, & used both the West London at Yeading & my own club at Rickmansworth. 😐
Atkin, Grant & Lang still around and have a shooting ground north of London.
I have had a passion for double rifles , cape guns and drillings since i was a young kid.
Indeed, this rifle is a beautiful work of art.
That multi task seating tool is great.
I love old guns and your videos because of that .
Captain Ball content is the instant like. 👍🏼
An original piece! How gorgeous and well kept.
Well done! Great success! I also enjoyed the reloading in situ. From South Africa.
Great video always thought the double rifles were interesting and beautiful weapons. Your videos are always full of knowledge and a joy to watch glad I came across your channel a year ago.
Very nice! I have an exactly similar double by Thomas Bland, that is in 500-450, your comments on the sights are spot on, far too many try to sex them up with scopes, although quite why you would need a scope at 50 yds is beyond me, doubles do not like compresses BP charges, if you need more velocity 5 Grns of 4227 over the primer helps as modern BP is not as powerful as 19th century powder, re chambering for the 45-70 rarely results in success, but the last shots look very good, the original caliber and charge is usually engraved on the sight block, or on the barrel flats, but I am sure you could look up the original build notes to find out, I hope you enjoy many hours developing a load for this gem! Chris B.
Thats à gorgeous one, thanks for sharing this excellent piece to us
I am 72 years old, and not much of a hunter, but I love just to shoot. It would never have crossed my mind to put any kind of optic or artificial sight on one of these works of art! And until I heard your plea a few minutes ago, I had no idea it was being done. How dreadful.
I appreciate the history lesson! I like this 19th century double rifle. Excellent reloading process excellent groups. I would like to have this old gun in my collection! I do agree never try to change a old vintage gun it decrees the value and looks.My old vintage guns I never do that to them.David Back from Menifee co KY USA.
It really is a special feeling to shoot a real double rifle and especially when reloading.
Thanks for another entertaining video.
Fascinating, as always. And I applaud your wise closing comments.
Excellent explanation of barrel design & manufacture. Nice handloading tool. My first was a Lyman or Lee back in the 1980s.
beautiful rifle......and a great caliber change IMO. My favorite load is 63FFg compressed, tablet backing top wad and a 405 grn hard cast. Vel about 1280. Great vid.
Beautiful rilfe iv always wanted one.
Beautiful artisanship of the highest quality.
The gun makers in London used to make a quadruple barreled guns in over under, for one calibre or type of cartridge and side by side for another. My granddad had one he brought back from South Africa, where he served during The Boer War. I believe they were called "Cape Guns", normally in shotgun and rifle and very good for shooting for the pot. It was a delightful gun to shoot, if a bit small for me, he was 5'9", I'm 6'4".
Watched and loved on HoWaW in the bright Hunglish language! I ended up looking at why side by sides existed before over and unders... it's a great story, and would love to hear it from you Balasz when you have time to explain.
I read elsewhere that a South African Game Guide couldnt afford a bone-fide 'Double' of any sort so he 'repurposed' an old Beretta 12 bore & used Brenneke slugs. Took out everything that came at him from Impalla to Cape Buffalo, Big Cats & Rhino included. 😳
Love I had a nieghbor brought back a drilling from ww2 he hunted deer with it it was a great weapon
Elegant age - elegant rifle)
Thank you
Very good video.
Another great video! ,,,, A question do you still have the Pedersoli Lightning in 44 40 ?
Produkcja na miejscu....super.
I love how you politely say, "Don't put stupid shit on one of these. Use the iron sights like a real man."
Get the Woodleigh reloading manual,it has a chapter for double rifle cartridges also .
You are my hero! Can you please review more concealable pieces? I would love Uberti or Pietta to do a reproduction of the Patterson model#1 .27 caliber "baby". Your videos are amazing!
On the bucket list!
For longer range shooting could you just adjust the longer range sights for a single barrel?
A firearm ,that is a simple double rifle still looks different than the others. Unlike every new firearm made today.
Beautiful rifle, odd that it was re chambered but I am fond of the .45/70. I use possibly the same cast and lubricated bullet from a modern Lyman load using 1:16 alloy in my 1874 Sharps. An excellent book covering loading for these old rifles is “Shooting the British Double Rifle by Graeme Wright.
Would you need to lower the bullet weight to bring the impact up to your point of aim. That would affect your lateral spread, so another velocity change to bring the shots closer together. Then the whole thing again, then again, then again?
Perfecto❤
Here in the States, percussion caps are so scarce, people are making their own. Are there any retailers of percussion caps that would sell/ship to the states?
There is something about a side by side shotgun no other gun has.
It isnt an understatement when it is said 'double rifles' are expensive(!) Even a 2nd hand Davide Pedersoli double is £4,500+ ! 😳
Dang! Balazs, how many firearms do you own?
Your collection must have over 100 firearms by now, I presume.
I'm jealous...
Some time ago on some forum I saw picture of rifle with very similar design and shape made by Alex Henry (if I remember) - by wood, patina, some engraving and design itself the most beautiful rifle I have ever seen. That includes modern very expensive custom rifles (doubles included).
Just a tiny notes: I wonder if it is dangerous game rifle. Blackpowder smallbores (even in calibers about .500) were rather deer guns with the 2nd shot available. BP dangerous doubles started at around 8-bore up to monstrosities like 4-bore (saw even 2-bore but it was really in the league of barely usable canon). Unless you have very aggressive deer around ... or cordite charge it is tested for allows for power output necessary to reach dangerous game energies.
When speaking about what not to do - I guess you should say that it is related to rifle in your hands. Later built doubles, drillings (even those with more than 1 rifle barrel) and other combination guns fairly often have mountings for scope. Even some dangerous game ones.
Anyway - beautiful rifle, unbelievably fine, balanced and elegant lines.
Slightly sceptical yours was a 450 BP Express, as it is built a bit light for a dangerous game rifle, which mostly went 9/10 pounds plus in weight. Doubles were made for deer and antelope hunting, though falling block rifles were all that was needed, and I guess yours fits that bill; so perhaps a 400BP Express, which was an out and out non dangerous game cartridge? Once again a great video, well up to your normal high standards.
Thanks for the additional info. Makes sense!
“When me are hunting we are not looking for comfort”
“Me looking at my heavy, slightly ill fitting rifles and my overpacked rucksack” Yep I can agree with that
I love the Hungar-ish language 😅👍
Your attention to details is appreciated 👏
It's possible the original rifle had paper wrapped bullets and that would impact groups too🤔
That's a nice gun.
That hand press needs some venting holes. It's scary to think what happens if the primer accidentally goes off
In an old comic called "John Sable Freelance" I once read the "correct" manual of arms for a double rifle in Africa. The protagonist was culling a herd of buffalo, and the left (first) barrel was used while shooting cows, with the right barrel reserved for the snap shot needed to take out a charging bull. I have no idea if this is actually correct, but for most of my life I have remained under the impression that the second barrel was not for a quick second shot, but for a backup in case of emergency. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this technique.
I was also taught by my father to shoot a double-barrelled shotgun using the rear trigger first to prevent accidentally discharging the the right hand barrel by slipping and hitting the rear trigger accidentally while operating the forward trigger. This technique is also said to improve first-shot accuracy because you are shooting the left hand barrel first. Supposedly this lets you put your eye more in line over the top of the barrel because it is closer to you (for a right-handed shooter). Maybe not relevant to a double-rifle with better sights than a shotgun, but shooting the left-hand, rear-triggered barrel first would seem to me to be a wise SOP. No disparagement intended, just food for thought, love your vids.
Back in 19C did these London Best workshops manufacture the action and barrels themselves or buy the action forgings and barrels. Did different makers use the same base forging?
Yes. Dozens of little shops made components that a builder could use instead of devoting resources to the manufacture of common parts, or bigger makers could produce their own actions.
Barrels were supplied as blanks basically machined and bored not joined together yet, actions were forgings .
@capandball Hello, I watched your video about Jaeger rifle and Napoleonic light infantry tatics, mentioning the inaccuracy and rate of fire of self-priming type muskets. I hope you can make a series of videos dedicated to this type of muskets, even better if you can try to achieve the rumoured rate of fire by using the technique used at the period.
So far, the self-priming muskets that I'm aware of are the following models---
Prussian: „Altpreußische Muskete“ / Modell 1780/87, Preußisches Schützengewehr 1787, Nothardt Gewehr / M 1801, „Neupreußische Muskete“ / M 1809
Austrian: Infanteriegewehr M1784 Musket
Denmark-Norway: M1794 & 1808 Infantry musket
Swedish: 1815/38 musket
Question.
If this Lang double has been sleeved to .45"-70 because the original bore was damaged by corrosion could it not be returned to an 'as new' original calibre by having it rebored to .470" Nitro Express? That, after all, was a calibre 'invented' & used Lang & Sons in later Game rifles.
On the negative side of this suggestion is that I suspect, although re-sizing would be quite expensive, it would be the correct method of barrel re-alignment that would be the 'bank breaker'. 😒
You can get a Heym or Blaser, or many other modern double rifles and hunt well out to 200m or more.
They are also built a bit differently now, most can be regulated by the user, with adjustable wedges. Totally different then the old style of regulation. He is right, old doubles you keep how they are, new ones you can scope or put a red dot on, don't mess up the unique history of a old gun.
Heyms and Blasers are absolutely works of art, but they benefit from modern technology. With that in mind, is it still wrong to equip one with a red dot?
no do what you want with your gun!@@dangvorbei5304
@@dangvorbei5304 A double rifle is built for hunting nothing else.
In most cases they are built for ordinary European hunting in ordinary European calibers.
They are also in most cases prepared for quick mounts from the factory.
Claw mounts for optics have been common on double rifles since WWI.
@@larsdahlen319 of course, but we shouldn't confuse a stopping rifle with a run-of-the-mill hunting double. You see optics on drillings quite a bit, too, as gunmakers tried to pack as many features as possible into one package. Drillings are, as you know, the Swiss Army knife of hunting firearms.
You would enjoy the book "No beast so fierce" it is the story of the man eating tiger hunted by Jim Korbit. Amazing and slightly terrifying book. Very easy read too
Jim Corbett.
Lovely Rifle. Why do you rest the barrels on the rest rather holding the barrels in your forehand and then supporting that. Double rifles were designed and regulated to be held firmly and that’s how you see their makers regulate them.
Beautiful a Joseph Lang & sons double.
You know some people may say oh it's outdated but I say no .
Fact is all firearms use a case primer powder and bullet all 100 ++ year old technology .
That gun is as good as any new rife but build way better ...
Why was it taking so much more time to set off the second shot.
I wonder if today, double barrel rifles could be regulated using laser bore sights.
NO they cannot, the alignment of the bores bears little on the actual impact point of the projectile, that is why they have to be regulated properly, on the range.
If the original proof marks still exist on the receiver and barrel flats, there should be some additional markings like "38" or "39" (50 caliber) which would've been the original bore size; and perhaps "A & T" with numbers on each barrel. The latter is an abbreviation for Adams and Tait, barrel makers. The numbers were use numbers, perhaps to pay royalties to Henry for use of his rifling system. My J. Braddell & Sons 500 BPE looks nearly identical to this one, with Birmingham proof marks. LIke other resellers, they likely did not make the rifle, just bought them from the trade. Quite a few of these ended up in India, where the express rifles were better suited.
Great content, get a safari jacket and a hat with a tiger band. 😂
0:54 how much does it cost?
If a double rifle shoots the right barrel too far to the right and the left barrel too far to the left, reduce the bullet weight. If the rifle crossfires, increase the bullet weight.. Elmer Keith
Try hollow base
Piękna dwururka
Don't discount the fact many of these rifles left the gun maker with a scope and scope mounts!
It is correct that most British made double rifles are made for big game and moderate ranges but British doubles were never produced in any great numbers.
Germany, Austria, Belgium and other European countries have produced a lot more double rifles .
Most of these rifles are made in medium calibres and not specifically for dangerous game even though wild bore and brown bear can be tuff.
They are also normally regulated for 100 m .
All of my doubles are regulated for 100 m except for a modern double rifle drilling that are regulated for 80 m.
I think also that it is important that they were not bought as antiques but as rifles for hunting.
I sincerely believe that my Father and my Grandfather find it more important that their rifles are continued in use than being treated as antiques.
If a red dot is needed for that so be it.
It's 450 black powder express?
B. That you felt it necessary to tell us not to mount a thermal on a classic double rifle tells me that someone did it. Some people have more dollars than sense.
Oh yes, I've seen quite a few ruined like that.
If you go hunting with that rifle try not to miss the trigger again, those things will eat you
On German Hunting Guns web page ,it is much good info about .450 and double rifles used in Europe aswell as around the world .
Vorresti fare il fucile Carcano ❤
3:10 I sure hope that it wasn‘t a shotgun wedding!
Are there any Cape Buffalo in Hungary?
👍🏻
Regulating two barrels must have been incredibly frustrating for the gunsmith, but how much has modern manufacturing (CNC machining, etc.) helped that process? Surely it's a cottage industry, but must have benefitted.
CNC is for mass production it has no benefit to a hand made gunmakers factory building 10, 20 or 30 guns a year.
Τhis is a .450 3 1/4 BP Express
A. Have you ever seen a double rifle that just had two sets of sights, one for each barrel? (Yes, I'm aware of how stupid that would look.)
Not yet. In theory the the sights serv for both barrels.
Dear capandball.
Another superb video, thank you 🙏.
I am particularly interested where upon you mention altering the muzzle slightly to adjust regulation.
I have done this with shotguns of both types.
Do you have please any references to this procedure?
Thank you.
Nathan.
👍👍👌👌
Okay beautiful
Aieeee! A red dot on a classic double! No.