William & Son Sidelock shotgun review

William & Son Sidelock shotgun.
The gun we are looking at this month is a 12-bore by William & Son that hits my scales at 6lb 10oz.

It has Celtic-style engraving (which seems to have become fashionable in recent years).

First impressions are encouraging. This is a beautifully finished, classic London side-by-side, sidelock game gun.

The decoration is unusual but there is nothing radical about the mechanical specification (and nothing wrong with that, as everything conforms to classic, time-proven pattern).

The gun is of carriage trade quality in all departments.

Some might think the silver polished action a little flashy, but you can have colour case hardening if you want, not to mention game scenes.

William & Son has made around a dozen guns with that sort of embellishment although deep scroll tends to be its trademark.

The stock impresses, too. It is the most popular pattern for driven game shooting, but you can have something different.

You could, for example, have a pistol grip and beaver-tail fore-end if you wanted.

The dimensions on the test gun, one of a pair, were standard: 1½in and 2in for drop, with a length of pull of 15in with a little bit of righthand cast.

Paul West says, “You can have whatever you want but the classic drop dimensions of 1½in and 2in seem to suit many.