The number '4' inlaid in gold on the top lever and forend. Someone had a set of 4 Boss guns made?! They must have shot very fast or had some lucky friends.

The bores are clean and shiny, the ejectors are strong. A Best London gun ready for yet another lifetime in the field.

Some history of Lord Savile:

John Lumley-Savile, 2nd Baron Savile Savile-Lumley was the son of the Rev. Frederick Savile-Lumley, Rector of Bilsthorpe, and nephew of John Savile (1818–1896). The latter was raised to the peerage in 1888 as Baron Savile, of Rufford in the County of Nottingham, with remainder to his nephew John Savile-Lumley (later Lumley-Savile). Lord Savile died in November 1896, aged 78 and was succeeded in the Barony, according to the special remainder, by his nephew John Savile Lumley-Savile, 2nd Baron Savile, who in 1898 assumed by royal license the name of Savile after Lumley.[1] After education at Eton, Savile-Lumley joined Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service. He was nominated Attaché at Brussels in 1874, became 2nd Secretary in Athens in 1879, exchanged into the Foreign Office in 1881, and retired in 1889. In the early 1900s he owned about 33,900 acres, comprising the family estates in Nottinghamshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. He enjoyed shooting, fishing, and golf,[4] and often entertained Edward VII at his principal seat, Rufford Abbey.[5] He was a Justice of the Peace for Nottinghamshire and in 1904 was made KCVO.[4] He married in 1894 but his first wife died in 1912 without issue. He married for the second time in 1916; the marriage produced George Halifax Lumley-Savile, heir to the title.[6] Henry Lumley-Savile (1923–2001) was the younger son from the marriage.[7] He died on 3 April 1931 at Rufford Abbey.

What strikes me about this immediately is the beauty, almost overwhelming. I am certainly attracted to the smokey and mysterious dark and elegant wood. When I pull my eyes away from the wood the perfect proportions present themselves to only be pulled into the fine and stunning engraving.

*The dimensions are great for many Americans being near what we all grew up with , 1.5" at comb, and 2.5" at heel. The dimensions almost all American double guns were built too so this gun will automatically feel familiar to many of us and are likely to shoot very well.

We have priced this Purdey extremely attractively and if you see one of our competitors has one for 10K more know there is a 90% chance ours is as good a gun or better than theirs.

*The photo's for some reason (the bright harsh lights I think) make the sidelocks look polished and super bright. In person they are not that way at all. We will attempt so new pictures soon.

Records show the barrels were reduced to 26" in the Purdey shop and choked for close game shooting. Light and well balanced this one you will never let go of once you get your hands on it.

*If the stock extension is not to your style, we can easily remove it replace it with a best English style leather covered pad. This takes three to four weeks is all and allows one to adjust the gun to their favorite length of pull in the process.

The choking is Ben's preferred constrictions, by coincidence (or maybe not as Ben has had a huge influence on my hunting )the same as mine for upland!

My esteemed close friend and helper Jason Bartel at the Great Northern shoot a few weeks ago picked this gun off the table there and shot the main event, putting over a case and a half shells through it. He proclaimed it did not even have one hickup and gave him a very high score. He would like to have the gun but alas he has four children which are not even near college age yet so is not a place to purchase it. If you would like to buy this for Jason, I am sure he would forever be in your debt or perhaps if you purchase you could let him use it once in a while.

All kidding aside, this is a very nice vintage Purdey with great providence and proof of present and excellent reference for future reliability in the field. There is a story from a past issue of Covey Rise which features this fine double. I am in the process of getting a copy.

*In the interest in disclosing all information on this gun, when we got it there was a hairline crack going with the grain on the left side mid-stock. It stopped after about 3". We successfully invisibly repaired it and it obviously is holding up as with Jasons 300 plus shells through it, it is holding strong.

In its original makers case this fine shotgun would make a superb upland gun. I personally would open the right barrel to skeet and it would be ready to go! We can get this done for only $85.00 and quickly.

This gun dates from 1931 when, being between the wars, it is felt some of the best London guns were ever built. A super value on a London best sidelock that would make a fabulous game gun.

*The gun is set up for Skeet with its very straight stock and skeet chokes. The LOP could be made up to 14 1/2" if a pad were added.

*We have priced this gun based only on the gun's features, so we are not charging a dime for the verbal history that goes with it. If you believe you could help me document the story, I would really appreciate it as I am a huge Sinatra fan and would keep the gun and use it for myself! I keep an autographed fan photo of Sinatra in my office which is by me now as I am writing about this gun.

*This gun was made in 1887 so we can ship direct!

This LOP may be to long for some but we can easily arrange for a pad or checkered butt to your LOP.

The gun is tight in excellent condition and needs nothing.

*Note the choking which will put many birds in your game bag. This is almost the exact choking I use in my favorite game gun and gets excellent results and to be honest, I am a mediocre shot at best.

*if stock extensions are not your thing, we can arrange this to be removed and replaced with a leather covered or conventional pad quite easily.

This gun dates from 1901.

This gun being near 100 years old and still retain over 50% original case color is remarkable. It handles well and is tight on face with excellent bores.

*Note the excellent choking for upland birds which I will guarantee will put more birds in your bag!

This gun is tight on face and field ready. A great value in an English sidelock with good stock dimensions and super wall thickness.

*You know this old girl has seen plenty of service and she does show some scars in handling marks in the wood and blue thinning in places. She would be a great candidate for a light restoration or used and appreciated as is. This gun I noted when first operated did not have auto ejectors. I really like this as having auto ejectors is really one more thing to go wrong and truly in the upland field unnecessary. I will get some flack over this, I am sure! I will agree to disagree.

*You may note the minimum wall thickness is on the thin side but this is found where there is little pressure near the muzzle as demonstrated by its fairly recent reproof in London in 2005. The bores have not been modified since that reproof.

This gun dates from 1907.

Anywho, back to this fine gun! The Woodward ledger tells us This BEST gun was completed October 1st 1902 for Daniel Watney.

I am emotionally connected to this 16 and it will be very hard to let it go. As I write this, I can see with perfect clarity a flushing wild rooster in Eastern Oregon. Wild flushing behind me and hearing it, I quickly turned and nailed that monster bird at about 11:00 at about 30 yards. The late winter afternoon sunlight lit that bird, it almost glowed in all its vibrant colors. The shot was pure fluid as if the gun and I were one.

This gun deserves to make memories like this for its new owner. Perfectly balanced, this gun, if you let it, will handle like a magic wand and will let you make shots you never thought possible. From Purdey's records:

Woodward No. 5670 Completed: 1st October 1902 For: Daniel Watney Description: A hammerless ejector game gun Weight: 5lb. 15oz. Calibre: 16-bore Barrels: 29in. Whitworth Steel Choke: Both ¼ Choke Stock: 14 1/4in.

*Our photographer Travis and I shot this on clays one morning recently and we both enjoyed it very much. I is certainly field ready.

Wall thickness:

26" barrels (left .030, right .028)

27" barrels (left .030, right .022)

Chokes: 26" barrels (left .009 IC, right .002 skeet)

27" barrels (left .016 Mod, right .008 IC)

*An incredible value in an extremely versatile small bore with 3" proofs. This means you have a huge selection of shells to choose from in a 20g. Personally, I have no use for 3" shells but just saying....