James Woodward & Sons. A pair of 12g over and under guns.
In 1949 James Purdey & Sons purchased the gunmaker James Woodward & Sons. I am sure there were other reasons for the purchase, but the main reason was to get the Woodward over and under design in order they could adapt and use it for themselves. Unlike Boss & Co., Purdey had never been successful in developing an elegant, lightweight and strong over and under. They had built a strong over and under but it was heavy, and certainly not elegant. Vintage woodward over and unders do not seem to appear too often, I have no idea what sort of quantities they made them in but when you do get to see a vintage pair you can quickly understand why Purdey was in a hurry to buy the company. They are a superb looking gun and I believe it was, amongst other things, the stock shape that was responsible for making them look so nice. I say that as I always seem to remember the stock shape of a pair of 20g guns and a pair of 16g guns I saw many years ago in Las Vegas. This pair of guns sit here in storage, the stocks on the guns at the moment are replacement left hand stocks but we do have the original right hand stocks also. They are a super pair of guns and came from the same collection as the Boss I have featured on this blog before. I can honestly say that that person had a very good eye, and collected some superb guns, I wish he had many more!
Gil De Simone on October 5, 2015 at 2:08 pm
Very impressive pair of o/u James Woodward. I am in possession of a o/u James Woodward 12 G. single trigger ejector built in 1920 with a no. 1 inlaid in gold. serial no.6528. How do I go about finding no. 2. If you can help I will be most grateful. Kind regards Gil.
Simon Clode on October 5, 2015 at 6:23 pm
I think the first thing I would do is to call Purdey who own Woodward and see if they can shed any light on no 2 gun. Find out first if it did exist to start with, as a true pair, and then go from there. It is always a more ‘by luck discovery’ you will find, and often after a long search they don’t match well anyway! Joe Hall of Matched Pairs in England used to run a service to try and reunite guns but that was a long time ago and I am not sure if he still does that.
Good Luck!!
Gary Duffey on April 15, 2015 at 5:13 pm
The first Boss O/U I held made a big impression on me. A trunnion style configuration of o/u fits me always the best in every make I have looked at or owned. My worthless theory is that the trunnion arrangement comes closer to a S/S than the underhook style O/U. The transition back and forth is easier, at least in my mind. The low or shallow receiver height seems to work for me. I held a Woodward .28 gauge this year at the Dallas Safari Club and that is some shotgun. I am no expert but it seems the Woodward without the addition of the forend frame common to Boss O/U’s will reduce total weight. Of course they are both wonderful guns and have their own merits, these Woodward’s are quite special. Thanks for showing them, a rare treat!!
Simon Clode on April 14, 2015 at 10:19 pm
Thank you Vance, I posted these to quietly let you know I was thinking about this make also, a sort of tease!
Simon
Vance Daigle on April 14, 2015 at 7:29 pm
I want to tell you how I look forward to looking at your Explora page. It is not very often a guy like me gets to see such wonderful guns. Along with you sharing such a wealth of knowledge of hunting and worldly events. Your skill as a photographer is superb, and the guns you have to work with or of the very highest quality. That is not even speaking of your vast knowledge of guns from different era’s. So thank you Sir for taking such a large amount of time out your day to provide an Ole Asphalt guy a chance to see such beauty and for sharing so much of your knowledge!!!.Good Afternoon Simon,
Gratitude that isn’t expressed….doesn’t exist!!!!
In Christ
Vance,