| 400NitroExpress |
| (.400 member) |
| 28/08/07 03:50 AM |
Re: W C Scott vs Isaac Hollis
|
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I have only seen a similar number of W & C Scott.
You've seen a great many more than that, you just didn't know it. Like I said, the majority were built for and retailed by other gunmakers.
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One with the "crystal" indicators, I think, and one that was an "Imperial". I didn't particularly like either as I thought that they were "over done" in terms of engraving etc., etc. I also never considered W & C Scott a "fashionable" name either...the Holland connection in the 1970s notwithstanding.
Your knowledge of the history of British gunmaking is rather incomplete. Holland & Holland's association with Scott in the 1970s was merely the sunset of a relationship that had lasted for 100 years. Scott was building guns for Holland well before Holland started building most of their own best guns in the 1890s. One of the models that incorporated the crytal cocking indicators was the so-called "7 Patent Scott". Holland's sold many of these under their own name as the "Climax Safety Hammerless Model".
Scott's reputation was one of the best in the trade, especially so for pigeon guns. The Imperial was their best gun, and one of the best made anywhere. The Premiere was the next best. The Premiere sold for slightly more than a Holland Royal, the Imperial was 40% more. Unfashionable? That's absurd.
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There is almost a reverse snobbery in some ways. That if one is to have a Birmingham gun it is better by far to be honest about it...and have a Webley, or a Midland Gun...than have the same gun but "put up" as an Evans or whoever else.
Well, that's certainly quite irrational as it cuts out the majority of the better output of the Birmingham trade. The point is that a little study highlights the ignorance of "name only" buying and eliminates the need for it. Holland & Holland, Rigby, Gibbs, Lancaster, Alex Henry, Evans, Churchill, Wilkinson, Lang...all sold double rifles under their names that were bought in complete from Webley, and Webley sold few themselves. The quality was there, no matter the name.
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I even now think that I actually wouldn't enjoy shooting a Boss!
Now that's reverse snobbery for sure. But hey, I wouldn't either. I don't like sidelocks.