Gallyon Gun and Rifle Makers have released a new trigger-plate over-and-under shotgun that is the culmination of almost 250 years of gunmaking heritage.
In 1784 William Gallyon established his business in Cambridge making fine English guns, a practice that has continued unbroken to this day almost 250 years later. This remarkable feat makes Gallyon the oldest English gunmaker in continuous trade.
Over its 250 year history of making everything from flintlocks to modern hammerless boxlock and sidekick ejectors Gallyon has always employed the best skills, materials and technology available to build fine, reliable guns. Today, the Company has combined the time-honoured craftsmanship of traditional gunmaking with the exacting precision engineering standards that serve the Formula One, aerospace and nuclear-energy-generation industries to create a range of new trigger-plate game guns designed to meet the demands of modern shooting.
Wholly British-made, using the finest materials, the new Gallyon guns incorporate unique design features (several of which are patent pending) to give maximum reliability and performance in the field whilst retaining the balance, liveliness and under-stated elegance long associated with best English guns. The new trigger-plate game guns are split into two models, The Cambridge and The Holkham.
The Gallyon Cambridge
The Gallyon Cambridge is a scroll-back, trigger-plate game gun. Built to combine performance, reliability and under-stated elegance, it’s named after the ancient university city where Gallyon was founded in 1784.
The Gallyon Holkham
The Gallyon Holkham is a premium, side-plated game gun that encapsulates the finest traditions of bespoke British gunmaking. Built on a trigger-plate action, this gun is named after the Holkham Estate, the family seat of the Earls of Leicester famed for its centuries-old shooting heritage.
Gun Details
Gallyon guns are specifically built to accommodate the use of High-Performance steel cartridges and all models come with Gallyon’s unique interchangeable choke system, optimised for steel and lead shot.
The trigger-plate action is renowned for its strength and excellent point of balance. Gallyon has developed and refined this action’s geometry to give a positive hold-open, an easy-load wide gape and powerful, reliable synchronised ejection. The low-profile action is further strengthened by the Gallyon ‘D’ bolt, which is unique to the maker.
The trigger-pulls have been designed for optimum weight and unsurpassed crispness. The lock-time is exceptionally fast due to the design, the strikers’ low angle and minimal friction thanks to the performance coatings applied to the lock components. The result is immediately apparent in the field, with minimal delay between pulling the trigger and cartridge detonation.
The guns feature the patented Gallyon Inter-Rib System which is a genuine innovation in barrel design and manufacture; this system ensures precision convergence of the barrels, giving consistent and accurate shot placement. Gallyon make their own barrel tubes from chromium molybdendum steel billets using state-of-the-art technology and hand-finishing to give a flawless surface finish, concentricity, roundness and true straightness.
The Turkish walnut stock blanks are personally selected by Gallyon’s master gunmaker, and are fitted to every customer to ensure optimum performance in the field. The Gallyon half-pistol game stock features classic English lines enhanced by hand chequering. All stocks are oil finished in the traditional London fashion.
Gallyon barrels, actions, locks and metal furniture are made to the uncompromising standards of the Formula One, nuclear energy and aerospace industries. All parts are made to a precision measured in microns (a micron equals one thousandth of a millimetre). Every part has been subjected to extensive Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), a process developed to analyse potential failure modes of military systems. All parts are then hand finished.
This superlative range of English shotguns starts at £18,950 ex VAT which includes hand-fitting to each customer. These new guns will be launched at Holkham Hall this summer, by kind permission of the Earl of Leicester.
