A new lease of life for a ‘legendary’ 20-bore

Having risen very wild the first time and just out of reach the second, the covey of greys burst out of the hedge bottom almost at my feet. I mounted the little Army and Navy 20-bore smartly and missed with both barrels as the partridges slipped over the hedge.

I had dreamed of this moment since early summer, when I collected the beautifully restored gun from gunsmith Mark Crudgington, except that in the dream version there had been a right-and-left. Nevertheless, a little bit of history had been reenacted, for walking-up wild greys would have been common practice back when the gun was made.

I am researching the detail with the University of Glasgow, where the Army and Navy Co-operative Society records are archived, but the little gun was made in about 1895 and Mark