Sunday, September 25, 2011

Boothroyd

Here is the 1987 (see ref to Betsy's death) letter from "James Bond's Armourer" praising the Model 12 that I promised last night-- click to enlarge, twice if needed. Also notice that handguns were still legal in England then...

2 comments:

Hammer87 said...

What a joy to see Geoffrey Boothroyd and Malcolm Appleby mentioned on the same post. I subscribed to Shooting Times 20 years ago in the states at crazy postage rates just to read Boothroyd every week and learn more about the obscur British gun makers. I got a good chuckle reading his letter regarding ugly American shotguns. One he does not mention here but has criticized elsewhere is the revered Winchester Model 21. Of course Boothroyd shot a Dickson round action and that is such a perfect design that it could make anything look clunky in comparison.

More English gun posts please! In addition to your writing in Good Guns and Good Guns Again I learned from Boothroyd in Shooting Times columns and his compilation Sidelocks and Boxlocks to track down the lesser known English makers to get better quality than Parker, Fox and Winchester at lower prices. BOOTHROYD WAS ONE OF THE GREATS AND WE ALL MISS HIM,

Steve Bodio said...

I used to correspond with both. Geoffrey was usually brief though never gruff; Malcolm could go on at length. Would love to hear from him. Seems everybody wrote pen letters then-- have lost a lot in transit and chaos but have held on to some good ones.

When he says ugly Boothroyd MEANS the 21 (;-)-- he hated their looks-- wrote me about it--some remark about a gorilla in a tutu? They are fine strong (overly?) guns but the square lines will never be graceful.

"Obscure guns"- the "redacted" portion of the letter is part of a lengthy and probably boring discussion of a Lancaster SL I ultimately decided not to get.

I have only one English gun today though have owned plenty. No money and no plans but never say never!