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Boxall & Edmiston Sideplate Model

Boxall & Edmiston Sideplate Model

In this second of my special features, I am going to look at a gun that I have a close personal interest in, which I happily declare, and which we have looked at in various forms before – the Boxall & Edmiston over and under. It is very smart looking in all it’s forms, being available at the moment as a 12 bore in both rounded action bar and square bar guise with side-plated (and soon as a very svelte round action 20 bore and a 16). All are, or will be, made in the Boxall & Edmiston factory at Upton Magna in Shropshire.

The concept

The design of the B&E OU originates from a concept of mine which was much developed and very much refined by Peter Boxall since I took the basic idea to him and James Edmiston a few years back. The gun which emerged as the product of our creative exchanges is not especially radical in design terms. It is a trunnion hinged, Boss-bolted with a fixed trigger lock mechanism powered by traditional V springs. The single trigger is inertia operated and selective. It is, I hope, an amalgam of all things good (a comment I once made about the Holland Royal side by side).

The Boxall & Edmiston OU has certainly been a topic of much discussion, and, happily, significant praise, within the gun trade since its launch in 2012. What sets it apart, well proven basic design concepts aside, are it’s method of manufacture, its decoration, and its elegant form. One might also add the price. Costing from £14,800 in plain round action form, and £16,800 with square bar sumptuously engraved side-plates (£15,800 with engraved round bar and no plates), the B&E is relatively inexpensive by modern standards for an entirely British made top quality over and under (many London guns will, unbelievably, set you back 100K or more these days).

Modern technology meets traditional craftsmanship

It certainly represents a vast effort by Peter Boxall personally who might be properly described as chief engineer and designer. Let’s consider the manufacturing briefly. The gun is predominantly made possible by high tech multi axis CNC and wire cutting machinery and Peter’s extraordinary engineering expertise. This sort of manufacture has become common place in Italy and Germany, and increasingly in the UK. CNC gun making was essentially imported into this country by firms like Holland & Holland and Purdey after the likes of Ivo and Tullio Fabbri and Daniel Perazzi led the way with it in the 1970s and 80s in what might be called the Italian Gunmaking Renaissance. The likes of John Shirley, Ian Clarke, Russell Wilkin, and Ian Medwell might be credited with first seeing the potential on these shores.

The decoration of the Boxall & Edmiston gun is carried out by computer controlled laser - another very modern process - though don’t think mistakenly that this is quick, it isn’t. It can take two weeks to apply – not much faster in fact than conventional hand engraving. Scroll is the norm on the B&E, but the computer controlled system allows you to put whatever you want on the gun as is evidenced by the Darwin and Ironbridge exhibition piece which is pictured here or indeed the round bar action gun which bears my name as the ‘Yardley Model’.

Don’t misunderstand, though, the gun as made at Upton Magna also includes much traditional smoke and file bench work. Indeed, part of the B&E company ethos, and something both Peter Boxall and James Edmiston have great passion about, is to keep traditional British gun-making skills alive. This is evidenced in the traditional methods used in the final regulation of the gun, not to mention, it’s barrel and stock-making. For example, the butts and forends – of best quality seasoned walnut – are cut initially on special equipment but headed, final shaped, and finished in time honoured fashion with hand rubbed oil and hand-cut checkering to the client’s measurements and specification.

The devil is in the detail

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Having tested hundred of guns over the years and written several million words upon them, I have strong ideas about what makes a good shotgun. My own professional interest in gunfitting and modifcation, working with many gunsmiths on this, specialist consultancy work, and countless journalistic trips to artisan ‘outworkers’, small ateliers and major factories had further refined my thinking. Shooting personally with guns made by Guerini, Browning, Perazzi, Fausti, Kemen and Beretta, not to mention some of London’s best, was another significant influence. I also had great respect for the Boss, Purdey/Woodward and Holland Royal over and under designs. All of this was in my head when I went to talk to Peter and James about making a new English over and under gun.

I thought any new OU should have stud pin hinging like a Purdey Woodward to keep down the action height, Boss style bolting as used in Perazzis and Kemens was hard to beat. I also thought a failing of many modern guns with detachable trigger-locks was that they became weak in the grip area (because too much wood had to be removed). I wanted to see V springs employed to improve lock time and optimise sear angles and with them trigger-pulls. I had always been struck by how good the pulls are in guns like the Perazzi MX8 Holland Royal OU. I wanted the barrels to be relatively light for length and pointability too, one of the great features of the Kemen KM4 32”. It would be nice to have a solid style rib resistant to denting, and I wanted to see traditional stock shapes that nevertheless were ergonomically efficient as well as aesthetically attractive. I suggested a semi-pistol grip and a rounded forend might work well. Finally, I thought for the first guns, a rounded action bar might look good and save weight, but side-plates might be added later and provide more room for decoration (and, for those who wanted it, a little more weight between the hands).

From the start, Peter Boxall and I had found we had many similar ideas. He must be credited as the man who created a practical, functioning, new gun which worked, looked, and shot well. His experience with the H&H project OU and making V springs for much of the UK gun trade by means of wire cutting technology were huge benefits too. No one was better placed to turn this gun into a reality and to make a success of it. The devil is in the detail, and there is a mind boggling amount of it in taking a design from the drawing-board into successful production.

As we exchanged ideas, I sent Peter an experimental trigger-plate barreled action. Later, I provided another of rather different design, although the first was used to create the initial working drawings after much labour by Peter at the computer. I commented upon these, made a few suggestions, and he continued the long development process. It would not be possible to list all his efforts here, so much was done. I will note that, very ingeniously, he added a plate inside the action body to cover the cocking rods and prevent the ingress of dirt and debris into the action. He also refined the trigger and ejection systems.

Somewhere in the middle of this, the first B&E ‘Yardley Model’ emerged and Peter and I both set about stocking it to what we thought would be an ideal spec. Pete worked on one in the UK and I took another to Manuel Ricardo in Portugal - a great artisan - with whom I had worked on a number of guns before. Ironically both of us ended up with very similar looking stocks! The gun was at last in shootable form and continued to be refined.

It was due to be launched at the 2012 CLA Game Fair but this was rained off. Through a colossal effort by all the B&E team - Peter, Linda, Drew, James et al. - the gun was launched simultaneously at E.J.Churchill and the Oxford Gun Company. Moving between the two locations myself, I managed to create a photo opportunity with Richard Benyon MP Under-Secretary of State at DEFRA , a former Army officer and keen shooting man, and sporting personality and pal, Claire Zambuni. The B&E OU was off to a flying start. The orders came in and a new British gun was in the public eye at last.

Final thoughts

The action as finalised has twin cocking rods which allow for the round body version more easily than a single bar design (which also has its merits). The original trigger plate was narrowed and re-positioned to give it an even more appealing appearance. The barrels of the B&E OU are monobloc but TIG welded so no joining lines are visible – thus combining the best of all worlds – strength, aesthetics and economy of manufacture.

What do the Boxall & Edmiston guns shoot like? Well, I am of course biased, but I am also frank. The first guns had some glitches which the team worked long and hard to remove. The guns now shoot and handle superbly. Both the round action and the side-plated guns are beautiful, but each has its own character.

Meantime, if you would like to shoot one and make up your own mind, get in touch with B&E on 01743 762352 or visit the website at www.boxallandedmiston.co.uk GM

My thanks to all the Boxhall & Edmiston crew.

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