A Toy No More

For eons, creatures of prodigious size haunted the imaginations of pre-scientific man. From Cyclops of Ancient Greece, to Goliath of the Old Testament, to the fire, frost and mountain monsters of Norse mythology, giants were real and frightening things. This forever changed in 1638 with Galileo Galilei's explanation of nature's scaling laws. In Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences, the Italian scientist, among other things, dissected the giants of yore using mathematics to show why they did not exist.

Galileo used an illustration of two bones-one from a smaller animal and the other from a larger one, the hypothetical latter being three times taller. The taller animal's bones would need to be much more massive than the smaller animal's, Galileo showed, because a bone's strength is determined by the area of its cross-section. Area is two-dimensional-length x width-so if a bone were three times longer than the smaller and still of the same shape, the area of its cross-section would increase nine times (3x3). Weight, on the other hand, is three dimensional, so with the larger animal would increase a whopping 27 times (3x3x3)-effectively crushing said bones unless they miraculously were made of a much stronger material or were scaled up to grotesque proportions.

In an inverse way, Galileo's bones provide one clue as to why properly scaled "best" .410s always have been as rare as the femurs of giants. Scaling mechanisms dramatically up-or down-in size is rarely simple or straightforward, and historically it's been no easy task for gunmakers to downsize designs originally made as 12-bores to diminutive .410s.As size shrinks to .410 dimensions, tumblers become lighter, sears and bridles thinner, and springs more stressed, and the effects of friction become increasingly important. The geometry of cocking and ejection changes, and components become Lilliputian and more difficult to machine and work with. The more complex the gun, the more difficult the scaling process.

In recent years, however, CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) and CNC (computer numerical control) have accorded fine gunmakers engineering abilities as powerful as the giants of myth and legend. By fusing modern technology with old-fashioned craftsmanship, London's James Purdey & Sons today is producing doubles not only as beautiful as those from the Golden Age of British gunmaking but also often improved mechanically-and now in exquisite scaled .410 versions.

Last fall I visited the firm's factory in Hammersmith for the first time since 1998 to watch how the new .410s are being made and to interview the men responsible for making them. My latest visit was an eye-opener, and I left with new-found appreciation for not only the skills of Purdey's bench-trained craftsmen but also the talents of its high-tech machinists and the critical roles the latter now play in designing and building today's best guns.

Properly scaled Purdey best .410s evolved in the 21st Century, but their genesis at the firm harkens back a hundred years or more. In his marvelously researched book American & British .410 Shotguns (Krause Publications, 2003), author Ronald S. Gabriel recounts the evolution of the cartridge and double guns built for it on both sides of the Atlantic. During the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, writes Gabriel, the .410 in Britain typically was embraced by two extremes of society: on the one hand by either poachers with cheap Belgian folding-barrel single-shots or gamekeepers with "vermin destroyers," and conversely by gentlemen employing .410s for self-protection as cane guns or using them for specimen collection in taxidermy. The .410 also was thought of as a starter gun for "boys" or "ladies." What it wasn't considered was a proper game gun and seemingly never a best gun. Most shooting authorities of the time ignored the .410 completely. W.W. Greener, in his enormously influential The Gun, simply stated, "... the 28 bore is the smallest caliber of any practical use as a game gun."

Nonetheless, Purdey's did produce a handful of good-quality .410s in the period prior to the Great War. The earliest Purdey .410s seem to be either mid-grade "E-Quality" back-action hammerguns built before World War I on actions supplied from Birmingham or later conversions from rook rifles.

Gabriel notes that it was not until after World War I that the first publicly documented best-quality bar-action hammerless Purdey .410 was made. In 1927 the renowned Harry Lawrence built gun No. 23398 for a "Mr. Johnson" in the US. (Lawrence was at the time an actioner but would go on to become the firm's managing director in 1951.) This may well have been one of the first best-quality .410 sidelocks built by the London trade, and it marked a shift in British .410 production.

Whereas earlier mid-grade British .410s had been built mostly for the domestic or colonial markets, best sidelocks built to that bore were almost always destined for America. In the years between the wars the .410 was becoming popular with skeet shooters in the US, and in the early '30s Winchester introduced the 3-inch .410 cartridge with its respectable 3/4-oz shot load. American wingshooters also had discovered that in expert hands-at appropriate ranges and with appropriate chokes and better loads-the modern .410 was more than adequate for thin-skinned upland favorites such as bobwhite quail, woodcock and rail. In the decades of affluence following World War II, American collectors also "discovered" the .410 and helped stoke a small but growing market for best British smallbores.

As examples of Harry Lawrence's gunmaking genius and traditional craft skills, vintage best-grade Beesley-action Purdey .410s are superb. Because of their rarity and Purdey's prestige, they are among the most collectible-and priciest-of the British smallbores on the secondhand market. That said, they are not perfect, either mechanically or aesthetically. The original best Purdey sidelock .410 largely evolved during an era of contraction in the British gun trade, and the guns exemplify some of the "make-do" attributes of the time.

According to ex-Purdey stocker David Trevallion-who helped build at least one best .410 in the late '50s and has restocked several since-ejection on some older guns can be problematic, especially with 3-inch hulls, which induce considerable friction with the chamber when thrown.

Moreover, older Beesley-action .410s clearly suffer from scaling issues vis-a-vis ideal proportions. Though the gun was reduced across its bar, the .410's locks are virtually as tall as a 28-bore's and its action deep, the latter necessitated by the need to accommodate the tumbler's throw as well as to maintain the correct geometry for the cocking and self-opening features of the Beesley/Purdey system. When paired with slender .410 tubes, these dimensions give it a somewhat gawky, unbalanced look. "We have always considered the end shapes and sizes of our older .410s to be 'inelegant,'" said Purdey Chairman Nigel Beaumont. "They were not as good to look at as they could have been."
Fast-forward to the late 1990s and Ian Clarke, Purdey's machine-shop manager. Clarke began his career in the aviation industry with Westland Helicopters before migrating in the early '90s to machining precision parts for the motor-racing industry. He entered the fine-gun world in '93 with John Shirley, at the time an important high-tech machinist to the best British trade. At Shirley's Clarke trained in CAD/CAM and CNC manufacturing, including wire/ spark- erosion technology. In 1996 he was hired by Holland & Holland, and two years later he was offered his current position as machine shop manager at Purdey's.

At the time Clarke joined the firm, Purdey's was in the throes of modernizing its factory and gun-production process under the supervision of then-works director Beaumont. (As recently retired Chairman Richard Purdey put it: "Dragging the 19th Century into the 21st.") Thanks to substantial capital investment from new parent company Vendome PLC (now the Richemont Group), Purdey's was able to completely revamp its machine shop. It now boasts three other fully trained machinists-Andy Wood, Barry Brown and James Moody-who along with Clarke program and operate three CNC spark-eroders, two CNC wire-eroders, three CNC millers, one CNC surface grinder and one CAD digitizer as well as three manual milling machines.

A modern in-house machine shop has helped Purdey's on several fronts. For one, integrating CAD/CAM and CNC technology has been crucial in keeping the firm competitive in a market that is truly global -both in terms of customers and competitors. Advanced manufacturing technology helps strip out some labor costs on tasks that can be done more efficiently by machines. Also, apart from raw materials-bought-in walnut blanks, action forgings and bars of steel, and barrel blanks-all components of a gun now can be made in-house to Purdey's designs and exacting standards, assuring consistent quality control. And as Italian pioneer Ivo Fabbri has shown, CNC capabilities-judiciously employed-can make a best gun mechanically even better. For example, the modern steels used in best CNC manufacture-specifically low-carbon vacuum-degassed steels-have better grain structure and are free from the flow holes and hydrogen bubbles that can cause structural weaknesses or cosmetic flaws. Surfaces that should be made perfectly square will indeed be so, what should be absolutely flat is, and what should be round is round. Components can be standardized, facilitating not only manufacture and functional reliability but also repairs in the future. By themselves, better components made of better materials can make for a more durable, more reliable gun.

Clarke's first task at Purdey's was to digitize the firm's 12- and 20-bore Woodward O/Us on CAD software to facilitate standardized component production by CNC methods. "I was handed 30-year-old rough sketches that quite frankly were more trouble than they were worth," Clarke said. "So I set about analyzing some finished guns, then got directly involved with the craftsmen and listened to their ideas about how to produce a superior action."

This also allowed him to tweak some aspects of the Woodward design, which was patented in 1913. "With the 12- and 20-bores, it had always been considered that the actions were too bulky and square-looking," Clarke said. "So we moved the ejector-rod holes up the wall of the action and worked out minimum diameters to allow more roundness and shaping on the underside of the action."

Soon after, Beaumont broached the idea of new .410s using the Woodward and Beesley designs for the O/U and side-by-side, respectively, but scaling them down to create sleeker, more attractive guns. Clarke's work on the bigger-bore Woodwards-which emphasized extensive consultation and close cooperation with Purdey's bench-trained craftsmen-provided the framework for making the new baby-frame .410s.

"I scaled down all the parts of our 20-bore O/U by 21 percent on our CAD software," Clarke said. "This gave us the basic .410 action size we wanted. I then had to reengineer all the parts in order to maintain required function and strength -for example, determining the correct size and grip of the action bolt [which secures the barrels to the action when the gun is closed] was critical."

Early on, Clarke also had to consider the effect of scaling down the action on the size and shape of the stock. "After all, a customer's hands and body are not going to be proportionally scaled down too," Clarke said. "The stock had to be large enough to retain strength and serve its purposes whilst retaining a scaled appearance appropriate to the action." For expert assistance, Clarke turned to Dick Bayley, the senior craftsman in Purdey's stocking shop.

At this point all parts were cut out as templates on the CNC wire-eroder, then arranged to form a two-dimensional gun. Templates provide machinists and craftsmen with physical examples that can be used to help improve and modify the actual components.

Clarke then turned his reengineering efforts to the lockwork-in this case the back-action locks of the Woodward design. He said, "If I'd sit a craftsman down in front of a CAD drawing on my computer and say, 'Here's my .410 tumbler. Is it going to break?' He'd look at it and say, 'I haven't got a clue.' But when I'd wire one out and he could handle it, he'd say, 'Oh, that will break here,' or, 'It's too thin there.'

"Scaling a gun is very much a collaborative process. You have to be on the craftsmen's side and listen to what they say. After all, they are the original sources of knowledge, and it's their experience that will tell you if something will work."

A prototype lock was made and then assembled and tested by finisher and lockmaker Keith Ackerman. After a few small refinements, Clarke and Ackerman produced a perfected version.

The ejectorwork was scaled down in a similar manner. Woodward-type ejectorwork uses V springs framed in the forend that are compressed as the gun opens before being tripped on the over-center principle to eject the fired cartridges. It's a powerful system-Beaumont calls it the "king of O/U ejectors"-but Clarke initially was unsure if it would work effectively in a version scaled so small. "Senior ejectorman Nick Robinson and I sat down one morning and went through it all," Clarke said. "Initially, he wasn't confident it would work, and I was a bit unsure, but in the end we made it work perfectly."

Actioner Ian Brunt assembled the first prototype gun and assisted with shaping the action, and Clarke consulted with senior finisher Bob Nichols during and after every assembly stage. "Bob needed to be kept informed, as he would ultimately bring the gun to life," Clarke said.

Work began on scaling the .410 Beesley side-by-side in 2002 and followed much the same process. In certain respects, however, the Beesley proved a more problematic gun to scale because of its fully integrated design, which uses the mainspring to not only power the tumblers but also to "spring open" the gun. "You can't just shrink a Beesley's spring down proportionately," Clarke said. "The geometry would be all wrong, and it gets too weak to do everything its needs to."

Moreover, a certain depth is required through the bar of the action to accommodate the lifters and rods that help open and cock the gun and to ensure proper geometry to work in conjunction with the mainspring and lock-lifter cams on the lockplate. Clarke also had to consider the ejector rods, which run down the bar of the action and through the underbolt as well as through the knuckle. Finally, the over-center ejectors, housed in the forend, needed to be robust enough to effectively throw the 3-inch .410 cartridges. In plain language the Beesley has a lot of mechanical goings-on in a confined space, and for this reason all Purdey/Beesley guns, regardless of bore, have the same knuckle radius: 10.5mm. Though this keeps the .410 a little deep through the action bar relative to its bore size, Clarke was able to reduce the overall scale of the action by about 12 percent from prior versions and the lockwork by as much as 20 percent.

The first new scaled Beesley gun was finished in 2004; the first scaled .410 Woodward in 2005. Clarke is particularly pleased with the scale of the latter. "Every single part is completely scaled down," he said, holding a .410 O/U action in the palm of his hand. "This is a true scaled gun that has had blood, sweat and tears in its making."

Marvels of modern technology aside, it bears stressing that what distinguished a Purdey in the past is present still-that is, hand craftsmanship of the highest quality. CNC has indeed taken the grunt work out of making components, but it has not replaced the time-honored bench skills that make a Purdey a "Purdey." Twenty-six craftsmen and four apprentices still work with hand tools and smoke lamps to create what arguably remains the world's most prestigious guns. As yet there is no machine-made substitute for the attention to detail that goes into meeting the subtle requirements of a bespoke order, nor are there automated alternatives that can better the meticulous hand-regulating and exquisite hand-finishing that are hallmarks of Purdey guns.

Today the firm's .410s can be had bearing either the Purdey or Woodward names as side-by-sides or over/unders, and though the aesthetics will conform to each respective house style, the mechanics will be the same irregardless. In each configuration actions can be ordered with traditional square, round or ultra-round frames. Single or double triggers are available, and all guns are chambered and proofed for modern 3-inch cartridges.

Though more perfectly scaled, most new Purdeys are paradoxically made heavier than comparable sidelock .410s of the past. "We could have made them even smaller and lighter," Beaumont said, "but you've got to maintain enough weight to have a shootable gun. A 3-1/2- to four-pound trigger pull on a gun so light is the majority of its dead weight. Just the action of pulling the trigger will move the gun, which doesn't help your shooting."

Today Woodward-type over/unders with no additional weighting will be about 5 pounds 3 ounces; Beesley side-bys will be 4 pounds 12 ounces. "Most clients now want them heavier," Beaumont said. "We think you need a .410 at 51/2 pounds to 5 pounds 10 ounces. They feel great at that weight and shoot well too. We can make them six pounds plus, if asked."

Smallbore enthusiast and long-time Purdey customer Joe Toot was one of the first purchasers of a new scaled .410 O/U-or "Under & Over" in Woodward parlance. His Woodward, delivered in the summer of 2006, tips the scales at 5 pounds 11 ounces with 29-inch barrels, with the weight concentrated between the hands as Toot specified. This was achieved, per friend and British-gun expert Cyril Adams' advice, by weighting the portion of the top rib closest to the action with a high-density metal. Beaumont suggested adding a few ounces by placing high-density metal under the fins on the barrels, which also helped keep the weight between Toot's hands.

An accomplished shot, Toot and his Woodward were soon on their way to Argentina, where the gun was put through its paces on doves. "Perfect function the entire time," Toot said. "I've never had a miscue with firing or ejection." He since has shot the gun extensively for wild quail, woodcock and ruffed grouse-his best shot, he says, was a grouse taken in upstate New York last fall "that fell dead at 46 paces." Toot asked Ohio-based barrel specialist Ken Eyster to tune the barrels-ordered Full & Full-to deliver 90 percent of a 1/2-oz load of No. 7-1/2s evenly spread within the killing portion of the pattern at 30 yards. This places a premium on marksmanship, but Toot says it delivers big-bore lethality when he places the pattern where it should be. "I think these are among the most exciting guns to come from the great London makers in modern times," he said.
The British .410 once was regarded as a gun for boys, but today's Purdeys are toys no more.

Author's Note: New Purdey .410s start at £52,000 for a side-by-side; £62,200 for an over/under. Delivery times average 15 to 18 months for guns with standard fine-scroll engraving. For more information, contact James Purdey & Sons, 01144-20-7499-1801; www.purdey.com.

Vic Venters is Shooting Sportsman's Senior Editor.