This unusual British double barrel 12 bore shotgun made by or retailed by Thomas Fletcher in the late 1860's. Despite appearing to be a fairly common double hammer gun at first glance, a closer look reveals the hammers not actually hammers at all, they're cocking levers. The actual strikers are internal and hidden behind the oversized lock plates. The gun has been built incorporating part of Thomas Bissell's Patent No. 1461 of 1865. 

This gun featured in an article published in "The Territory Arms Collector" in March 2009. It can be read here The Thomas Bissell Patent of 1865 and is also reproduced here The Broad Arrow | The Thomas Bissell Patent of 1865.

The cocking levers are true cocking levers. The gun is cocked and de-cocked by using the levers like a regular hammer gun. While the full Thomas Bissel Patent describes a complex system of cocking the internal hammers when rotating the underlever, this feature has not been incorporated into this gun. 

The lever pivoting off the rear barrel lug is connected to the extractors. As the barrel is lowered, the lever is pressed in on the standing breech causing the extractors to rise.

The large lock plates and the cocking levers are engraved in a tight English scroll. The name T. FLETCHER appears on the lock plates.

The browned damascus barrel appears to be a period replacement. They are faintly marked on the barrel rib with “CHAs. OSBOURNE & Co. LONDON”.  

The gun is fitted with a Henry Jones rotating underlever and a wedge type fore-end

The straight stock appears original with a few minor dings and scratches. Checkering remains good and the stock escutcheon is unmarked.

The barrel flats are marked with Birmingham proof marks whilst the action is marked with original London proofs and later Birmingham marks. The action flat is marked PATENT No. 1461 along with the patent use number 1058.  This conforms partially with the Thomas Bissell Patent No.1461 of 1865.

Further Reading

• The British Shotgun, Volume One, 1850 - 1870, Crudgington & Baker, 2nd Ed, Ashford, Buchan & Enright Publishing, 1990.
• Patents for Invention, Small Arms, 1855 - 1866, Armory Publications, 1993.
• British Gunmakers, Volume One - London, Nigel Brown, Quiller Publishing, 2004.
• British Gunmakers, Volume Two - Birmingham, Scotland & the Regions, Nigel Brown, Quiller Publishing, 2005.

• Boothroyd's Revised Directory of British Gunmakers, Geoffrey  Boothroyd, Sand Lake Press, 1997.

• The British Sporting Gun and Rifle, Donald Dallas, Stackpole Books, 2008.