Holland & Holland .303 Hammer Double Rifle

Let me share a duplicate of a thread I posted earlier this fall on another forum.



In May of this year I happened upon this most delightful double rifle and was fortunate to bring it into the fold.

It is a Holland & Holland, completed January 15, 1901 a week before Queen Victoria's death. Although the H&H flagship at that time was the Royal Hammerless Ejector, this rifle was ordered as a toplever, back-action hammer rifle. Let me remind you that there still was suspicion and doubt about the hammerless guns and rifles at the turn of the 20th century. The "old timers" believed hammerless guns to be unsafe. Nobody would walk around carrying a gun or rifle with the hammers back, but that's exactly what is going on with the new hammerless weapons.

So here we see a rifle built as what was then an obsolete design, and chambered for arguably the most modern British cartridge of the day.

This rifle is absolutely superb. It has seen little use and remains in excellent original condition. Its bores are virtually new. It resides in its original case.

Regulated for the original 215 grain .303 load, it still is wonderfully accurate with my present-day load of 38.5 grains of IMR4895, a Woodleigh 215 grain bullet, and a Federal 210 primer.

So here it is.






























































































Let me point out one discrepancy: In their “Weapon History” above, they state the weight of the gun as 9 lbs. 14 oz. This is a mis-read of the ledger entry. You can see from my scan of the ledger entry that the weight was stated as 9 lbs. 1-1/4 oz. That is the true weight. Just a hair over 9 lbs. When I saw the weight stated in the Weapon History I was startled. I knew the rifle is not that heavy. Putting it on scales and a careful read of the ledger entry revealed the mistake.




Curl

Lord help me. I just had to take a nitro pill.
That is beautiful beyond words.

That is magnificent

Thank you for sharing. How did you happen to come into possession of it?

Wow!! How many ways can I say "want"???

That is a stunning rifle. Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful! At what distance do the barrels match for windage?

A fine firearm made in the golden age of gunsmithing.....

Oh, my, that is a magnificent work of functional art. I have a Lee-Speed bolt rifle in .303 that would be roughly contemporary with yours. Coincidentally, I use the same load as yourself with the same bullet. My old rifle likes it a lot! Yours must be a real treat to shoot.

A superb example of old world craftsmanship from a premier world class arms maker. Magnificent rifle. Amazing condition of the case, accessories and documentation. Great photography also.
Thanks for sharing this treasure.

Not only a beautiful rifle, but an outstanding photo essay. Thanks for that Capt. Curl. Is there anything you can tell us about the provenance of the rifle regarding past owners or how it made it to the US ? There surely must be some interesting history surrounding it.

Nice. Wonderful piece.

I'm curious, which rifling does it have? I have a W.R. back action under lever in 450 3 1/4 N.E. It is also a late production gun and is Nitro Proofed but has the Medford style black powder rifling for jacketed bullets. As you mentioned, the new fangled hammerless actions have no business on a serious hunting rifle! These may be a bit slower on the reload, but you already have a second shot at hand!

Ivan

That is absolutely beautiful, using Australian made woodleighs.
Geoff's projectiles are the best you can get.

Seriously I see many fantastic doubles at the range, H&H, Rigby, jeffries......yours is a beauty.

Thanks for the many kind comments. Let me try to answer some of the questions.

Charlie Foxtrott said:

Thank you for sharing. How did you happen to come into possession of it?

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I found the rifle advertised on the internet on May 14, 2015, contacted the seller, and arranged to buy it. The seller lives in Reading, PA; so rather than have it shipped, I drove to PA to see the rifle and complete the deal.

arjay said:

Beautiful! At what distance do the barrels match for windage?

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This is a common misunderstanding of double rifles. The barrels are not designed to converge at a particular distance. Ideally, they should shoot parallel, and that is how the maker will set them up at regulation.

A double rifle is a dynamic instrument. With a side-by-side configuration you have each barrel offset from a central axis. Thus, upon firing the right barrel, the rifle will recoil upward and slightly to the right. Upon firing the left barrel, it will recoil upward and slightly to the left. This all depends upon many factors, including specifics of the rifle itself (weight, barrel length, barrel spacing, etc.) and specifics of the ammunition (bullet weight, powder charge, velocity, etc.). By virtue of Newton's second law, the rifle begins its recoil the instant the bullet begins to move forward in the barrel. The critical dynamic is how long the bullet is within the barrel ("barrel time"); and thus, how far the rifle moves as the bullet makes its march down the barrel.

The rifle maker regulates the barrels by shooting the rifle, taking note of the spacing of each barrel group, and changing the barrel spacing at the muzzle by adjusting the barrel wedge imbedded between the barrels and ribs at the muzzle. When he has the individual barrel groups shooting parallel, he is done.

Obviously, this is done for a specific load. Double rifles do not respond well to changes in ammunition from the "regulation load." For the modern shooter it is necessary to determine what load the rifle was regulated for and to use the same load or duplicate it by reloading.

With most English rifles this is not too hard. Generally there were established loads for each chambering. Though in many instances the ammunition is no longer available, we do know the original bullet weight and muzzle velocity associated with a particular cartridge.

The modern shooter must carefully match the bullet weight and then load to the original velocity, using a chronograph in load development. If his individual barrel groups are spread apart he generally needs more velocity to reduce barrel time. If his barrel groups are crossed, he generally needs to slow it down a bit to increase barrel time. This assumes he knows what bullet weight to use.

If the bullet weight is wrong we also see divergence of individual barrel groups. In that situation, if the barrel groups are spread apart the rifle is telling you the bullet is too heavy (slower bullet, more recoil, greater barrel movement while bullet rides down the barrel). If the barrel groups cross, the rifle is asking for more lead.

Virtually all .303 sporting rifles of this period were regulated for the 215 grain round nose bullet, which was a standard load at the time. That load is no longer commercially available, but Woodleigh makes proper 215 grain bullets. It's not very difficult to tailor a load to match the original velocity of 2060 fps - the original published data for the Kynoch load. If all goes well, something near this standard will regulate in the rifle.

My guide for loading the .303 is the old Lyman 44th Reloading Handbook, which still had data for the 215 grain bullets:



You can see that the loads listed all fall within the velocity range of the original Kynoch load. That makes loading relatively easy. With other calibers it gets much more complicated.

Walter Rego said:

Not only a beautiful rifle, but an outstanding photo essay. Thanks for that Capt. Curl. Is there anything you can tell us about the provenance of the rifle regarding past owners or how it made it to the US ? There surely must be some interesting history surrounding it.

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Oh, if only the rifle could talk! I know nothing more of its provenance than what appears in the documentation from Holland & Holland featured in my first post.

From the looks of it, the story might be somewhat boring. The rifle doesn't appear to have been used very much.

Ivan the Butcher said:

I'm curious, which rifling does it have? I have a W.R. back action under lever in 450 3 1/4 N.E. It is also a late production gun and is Nitro Proofed but has the Medford style black powder rifling for jacketed bullets. As you mentioned, the new fangled hammerless actions have no business on a serious hunting rifle! These may be a bit slower on the reload, but you already have a second shot at hand!

Ivan

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It has standard Enfield rifling just like you see in most modern rifles of today. That is typical of Holland & Holland. Even with their black powder rifles we generally see Enfield rifling rather than Henry or Metford rifling.

Aussie Collector said:

That is absolutely beautiful, using Australian made woodleighs.
Geoff's projectiles are the best you can get.

Seriously I see many fantastic doubles at the range, H&H, Rigby, jeffries......yours is a beauty.

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The classic double rifle community owes a debt of gratitude to Geoff McDonald for his magnificent bullets made for these wonderful old rifles.



Curl

This level of craftsmanship is what people are referring to when they talk about the "gunmaker's art". A gun like this turns compliments into clichés. Just amazing (see what I mean?).

Beautiful ! Thanks for sharing..

Although the outside appearance of the rifle is stunning the areas you cannot see until disassembled and the case are just as magnificent. The recesses cut into the stock are as beautiful as the checkering to my eye. To say the entire package, through and through, is fantastic would be an understatement. Thanks for sharing.

I wish my vocabulary contained adjectives worthy of that gun. I just don't know enough big words.

That's a gun that takes an hour minimum and a 3X visor to look at!

A few questions-
Were the safeties standard or optional? I thought I had seen H&H hammers without them.

Anything stored in the pistol grip?

Any initials on the plate?

Looking at the standing breech, it appears the right barrel may have been fired more?

I see the right trigger is checkered while the left appears smooth. How come that is?
Since the docs don't mention it, I assume the right is not a set trigger?
Pulls of 4 & 5??? Isn't that a bit heavy?

I see that the leather is original- is the canvas younger than the outfit?

The stippling on the sight hood just kills me!

Please tell us about the name on the lock plate.

I'm afraid to even ask how much something like that is!

When was this made?

I'd 303 Express just a 303 Brit or is it a different round?

handejector said:

That's a gun that takes an hour minimum and a 3X visor to look at!

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I generally use either a 5x or 7x Optivisor.

handejector said:

A few questions-
Were the safeties standard or optional? I thought I had seen H&H hammers without them.

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They were optional and you do encounter hammer rifles with or without the safeties.

handejector said:

Anything stored in the pistol grip?

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There is a set of extra firing pins stored there.

handejector said:

Any initials on the plate?

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I'm assuming you are referring to the brass plate on the lower left corner of the case lid, and the answer is "no". This is the first cased gun I have seen with a brass plate in that position, so it is somewhat of a curiosity.

Neither is there a monogram on the gold oval inlaid on the bottom of the butt.

The only name appearing in the entire morass is "Bagshaive" at the top of the H&H ledger entry where you normally see the name of the person who ordered the gun. I have Googled this name without much result. Obviously he was known to H&H at the time, given the perfunctory entry.

handejector said:

Looking at the standing breech, it appears the right barrel may have been fired more?

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A lot of one-shot kills. Typically the right barrel (front trigger) is the first shot. Usually you find evidence of heavier use of the right barrel, both on rifles and shotguns.

handejector said:

I see the right trigger is checkered while the left appears smooth. How come that is?

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That is a corollary to what I just mentioned. The front trigger is going to be used for your first shot - the precision shot. The rear trigger comes into play only if the first shot results in less than the desired effect. The second shot is going to be quick, under rushed circumstances. Less trigger control is called for on the second shot.

handejector said:

Since the docs don't mention it, I assume the right is not a set trigger?

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That’s correct. Neither trigger is a set trigger. Set triggers are commonly found on Continental guns, particularly German and Austrian. They are rarely, if ever, found on English guns.

handejector said:

Pulls of 4 & 5??? Isn't that a bit heavy?

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No, that is pretty typical. You will not find a “match” trigger pull on a double rifle, except for setting triggers, mentioned above. Normally you shoot with both locks cocked. You don’t want the recoil of the first shot to cause the other barrel to fire. That’s why the left barrel usually has slightly heavier pull than the right – it’s usually the second shot.

handejector said:

I see that the leather is original- is the canvas younger than the outfit?

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Yes. The man I bought this rifle from had Marvin Huey make the outer cover. A bit of overkill, don’t you think?

handejector said:

The stippling on the sight hood just kills me!

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I love it!

handejector said:

Please tell us about the name on the lock plate.

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The locks on English guns are specialty items. They are not made by the gunmaker, but are sourced from lockmakers. The center of lockmaking was and still is the city of Wolverhampton, just northwest of Birmingham. In precision an English gun lock rivals a Swiss watch. Tolerances are incredibly tight. The locks are made to last for centuries. Joseph Brazier, of “Ashes” in Wolverhampton, was and is one of the very best English lockmakers.

A lot of interesting information pertaining to the Wolverhampton lockmakers can be found at this link: The Wolverhampton Gunlock Makers



Yes, these are fascinating items of sport and art. I am hopelessly addicted to them. Thanks for your interest.

Curl