Paradox gun
Encyclopedia
A Paradox gun is a firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...

 made by Holland & Holland
Holland & Holland
Holland & Holland is a British gun-maker based in London, England. They offer hand-made sporting rifles and shotguns. H&H holds two Royal Warrants.-History:Holland & Holland was founded by Harris Holland in the year 1835....

 with the last two to three inches of the muzzle
Muzzle (firearm)
The muzzle of a firearm is the end of the barrel from which the projectile will exit.Precise machining of the muzzle is crucial to accuracy, because it is the last point of contact between the barrel and the projectile...

 rifled
Rifling
Rifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...

 and the rest smooth
Smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:...

, intended to be used as both a rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

 and shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...

.
Paradox guns were originally meant to serve the needs of hunters in India and Africa who might encounter both small and large game
Game (food)
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...

 but needed to carry only a single gun. A Paradox gun allowed the use of standard shotgun shell
Shotgun shell
A shotgun shell is a self-contained cartridge loaded with lead shot or shotgun slug designed to be fired from a shotgun....

s for small game and Paradox bullets (shot with a spin from the rifling) for large game. Modern users of Paradox guns have the same advantage, especially in areas where the bird and deer hunting seasons overlap. Paradox cartridges have been loaded with either hollow-point or solid bullets of varied composition. The current Holland & Holland cartridge is loaded with the most useful of these, the 740 grain lead solid.

Holland & Holland

The word "Paradox" has been used by Holland & Holland of London since 1886 to describe large bore guns with the last few inches of the barrel
Gun barrel
A gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity....

 rifled with a special "ratchet" style of rifling. Holland & Holland purchased the rights to the Paradox gun in 1885 from Col George Vincent Fosbery VC
George Fosbery
Lieutenant Colonel George Vincent Fosbery VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...

, who also invented the Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver
Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver
The Webley-Fosbery Self-Cocking Automatic Revolver was an unusual, recoil-operated, automatic revolver designed by Lieutenant Colonel George Vincent Fosbery, VC and produced by the Webley and Scott company from 1901 to 1915...

. They chose the name "Paradox" because shotguns are defined by their smoothbore
Smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:...

 barrels, and a "rifled shotgun" was thus a paradox
Paradox
Similar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...

. Holland & Holland's Paradox and Nitro-Paradox guns are not slug guns as they fire standard shotgun shells and cartridges with special Paradox bullets fully interchangeably. Over the years Holland & Holland
Holland & Holland
Holland & Holland is a British gun-maker based in London, England. They offer hand-made sporting rifles and shotguns. H&H holds two Royal Warrants.-History:Holland & Holland was founded by Harris Holland in the year 1835....

 manufactured Paradox guns in 20, 16, 12, 10, and 8 gauge. Today they continue to manufacture Paradox guns of 12 gauge in the famous 'Royal' sidelock ejector as well as in their newer round action sidelock gun.

Other manufacturers

Paradox-type guns were manufactured by several other firms. Other firms in (Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

), England made them for sale under their own names and by others. For example, Westley Richards
Westley Richards
Westley Richards is one of the oldest surviving traditional English gunmakers. It was founded in 1812 by William Westley Richards. Their inventions included the Anson & Deeley boxlock action and the Droplock, which equals in status James Purdey's self opening and Holland & Holland's removable...

 and G & S Holloway made versions. The latter made them under their own name, privately marked for and purchased for sale by high end dealers such as P. Orr & Sons, a premier retailer of high-end jewelry, household items, furs, appliances and arms in Madras and Rangoon. Many had cut rifling that extended more than two inches into the muzzle(s) (3 to 4 inches in some cases).

External links

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