London Proof House

Some may have seen this, but in last Thursday's episode of Pawn Stars, Rick visited the London Proof House with Alex Cranmer, and watched them proof a Purdey O/U shotgun barrel. It looked like they had some sort of test receiver, it wasn't the entire shotgun. Anyway, they proofed the barrels with black powder shotshells. I thought that was strange. They later visited some London antique arms dealer and Rick bought a pair of Scottish flintlock pistols for 85K Pounds.

Whoever Rick is, he’s got some deep pockets!

Rick is Rick Harrison, the star of Pawn Stars. And I am sure he has bottomless pockets by now. Alex Cranmer owns International Military Antiques, and often appears as an "expert" in weapons on Pawn Stars.

I shoot an 1858 Enfield Navy or Two Band Enfield. It is the only firearm I have that is English proofed. Supposedly the proof charge for that rifle was three times the normal charge which I believe was 3.5 drams. I use 65 or 70 grns of 1-1/2 Old Eyensford Goex black powder. I have accidently double charged this rifle as I have with many other muzzle loaders, it happens from time to time in the sport, along with shooting the ramrod and more commonly loading a ball without any powder or dryballing. If you shoot them enough you will commit any of the above errors. We even have an award you can win to wear referred to as the "Fickle Finger" if you dry ball during a shoot. It will get your attention...Black powder is an explosive, smokeless is a propellent. Probably why they still use black powder to proof barrels at the Tower. Another test I am aware of was with the Ruger Black Powder Old Army. Rumor has it that they loaded a cylinder full of Unique or Bullseye, rammed a ball home and set it off, no problem. If you did that with something like 4F priming powder I'm sure there would have been an explosion. One of the knuckleheads I know used to brag about using a light load of 4F in his muzzle loader, he said "It works real good and even recocks the piece for you." Yeah, I'll bet it does. If you dry ball a rifle, all it takes to drive the ball out is a trickle of 4F priming powder if you can get it behind the ball, less than 2grn., she'll go POP and the ball will fly out.

I saw that episode. They must be pretty busy if they proof every barrel made. BTW, if I heard it correctly they were proofing a Purdy over under barrel.

DWalt said:

....watched them proof a Purdey O/U shotgun barrel. It looked like they had some sort of test receiver, it wasn't the entire shotgun. Anyway, they proofed the barrels with black powder shotshells. I thought that was strange. .....

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I didn't see it, but from the description, what was shown was the Provisional Proof of the bbls.
Provisional Proofing is voluntary but is usually done by most of the better gunmakers.
Usually on their shotgun bbl assemblys when they are finished to the point of final boring, chambering, outside profiling., ect.
Still in the white and have yet to be final fitted to their recv'rs.
But not always..
Provisional Proof of can be done and sometimes is done on rough bored blanks. Bbl blanks ready to be worked on, but needed to be tested first before time and effort is invested.
New made or NOS Damascus tubes are usually Provisionally Proofed in this 'raw' form...
A simple plug breech with flash hole are fitted/provided (must meet Proof House specs). The Provisional Proof is done with BP and touched off with short fuse.

However when the final finished (cartridge) shotgun (or rifle) with a damascus bbl gets to the final proofing stage, they get proofed with the same smokeless proof rounds as any other modern made shotgun or rifle. No special handling. Even for the re-proof of a century old beauty queen.


Black Powder is the standard powder for Provisional Proofing though the ProofMaster has the authority to chose from any powder or propellant (for small arms) that the Health & Safety Executive signs off on under the Brit Explosives Law/Act.

A 'slave receiver' is used for the proof test for bbls that are mostly finished but no final gun frame has yet been fitted to that set of bbls.
The Provisional Proof has it;s own Proof Mark which is stamped at that time if it passes.

When the gun is finished, it has to be returned for final proofing or 'Definitive Proof'
This will be a smokeless powder proof.
Another set of 'Definitive Proof ' marks are applied at this time along with 'View Proof' marks all as a final proofing.

Another Definitive Proofing is required as 'Re-Definitive Proof' if a firearm has undergone certain gunsmithing work to the bbls, ,locking system, recv'r, any welding, ect.

The Proof House makes all their own Proof Loads and must be stored at a certain temp by law. I forget what it is and it;s in Celsius anyway.
I ain't that smart.

London and Birmingham work under the exact same proof law, they use slightly different Proof markings to be able to ID the different facilities.

When collecting rifles or muskets after battles in the Civil War many were found with double, triple and more charges in the barrels.

Anything to do with Rick Harrison & "Pawn Stars " has to be taken with a very large grain of salt ! It's 99% reality TV ( aka "fake News" ) I have personal friendships with some of his Firearm experts that come to his TV show to appraise & identify firearms. they have told me the real story. The sellers are usually either actors or gun dealers posing as "off the street ignorant gun owners." The "experts" have already researched the gun, which may be from the expert's collection or their gun store inventory. The English proofing episode is real, the Scottish pistols may be real, the 85K Pounds is suspect. Ed.

opoefc said:

Anything to do with Rick Harrison & "Pawn Stars " has to be taken with a very large grain of salt ! It's 99% reality TV ( aka "fake News" ) I have personal friendships with some of his Firearm experts that come to his TV show to appraise & identify firearms. they have told me the real story. The sellers are usually either actors or gun dealers posing as "off the street ignorant gun owners." The "experts" have already researched the gun, which may be from the expert's collection or their gun store inventory. The English proofing episode is real, the Scottish pistols may be real, the 85K Pounds is suspect. Ed.

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I went out there one time when we were in Vegas. The shop is really small. The angles they use make it look much larger than it is. When we were there they had just finished filming and there was a toy car collection spread out on the counter. I think most people watch it to learn about the items. It is like American Pickers and Antiques Roadshow. We are all learners at heart.

Yes, it is basically a lowbrow copy of Antiques Road Show, and at least to me, it is a little more entertaining, except I don't enjoy the comic relief patter among Rick, Big Hoss, and Chumlee very much. No question that the majority of what you see on TV is carefully staged well in advance. I have been by the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas numerous times (the city bus route goes right by it) but I have never been inside. At one time, the History Channel had another very similarly themed show, but set in a Louisiana pawn shop. I didn't much like it, and it didn't last too long.

There was also a Pawn Stars-themed game show on THC several years back, but it was fairly hokey and didn't last long.