Customer Reviews

Sidelocks & Boxlocks: The Classic British Shotguns

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Anyone wishing to use this book to help research and decide which English guns to consider for purchase, will be disappointed. I expected a book detailing strengths and weakness of the various English makers and their products, past and present. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This book is a litany of English makers, but little attempt is made to discuss their respective strengths and weaknesses, nor to categorize them into quality divisions. Pictures are disappointing; no color plates are included. The problem this book had meeting my expectations (misconceived or not) may be due to the multitude of makers and limited existing records. Much is made of company history when available, and readers who contributed information to the author. One would expect a noteworthy English author with over 40 years of exposure to the various maker's products to provide more comparison and analysis, and in the process, help those wishing to expand their knowledge of British double guns. Worth adding to your bookshelf if you have everything else on your list, but not as a first book. I have not read any other books by this author and was greatly disappointed based upon his reputation. Worth the Amazon.com price of $24.95, but not worth #35.95.

While information on this subject is hard to find and nearly any book is a welcome addition to it this one just misses the point. Having several old english muzzleloaders I was disappointed to find no information on them. What information there was was slim to say the least. Though British shotguns were so popular in early America there was little to add to our knowledge of our collections. Even the famous Ketland and Whatly and Barnett makers were hardly mentioned. Too bad...