Longthorne Gunmakers of Great Britain are pioneers in twenty-first century gunmaking and offer over and under, and side by side guns of extraordinary quality. They are especially famous for their titanium barrel over and under guns.
Fast Facts
- Longthorne Gunmakers are a British custom gunmaker who use twenty-first century technology to create some of the most interesting guns to emanate from the United Kingdom.
- The barrel making technology that Longthorne use enables the double barrels of a gun to be CNC machined from a single block of steel or titanium, complete with fore-end loop and rib.
- Longthorne are especially famous for their titanium barrel guns which offer a quite unique shooting experience.
There are very few gunmakers who make major firearms components using titanium. This is in part because titanium is quite expensive, but even more so because it is notoriously difficult to work with. While steel is typically quite forgiving when being machined titanium is not.
Among the small group of makers of top quality guns stands Fuchs Fine Guns of Austria, and Longthorne Gunmakers of Britain.
Longthorne Gunmakers combine the best of modern gunmaking technology with traditional British gunmaking knowledge and skills to create some of the most outstanding guns emanating from the United Kingdom.
The advantage of the use of computer age technology in gunmaking, especially CNC (Computer Numeric Control) is the fact that it enables extreme precision, but it enables something even more than that, it enables the control of the way a machining process is carried out such that machining titanium becomes an achievable thing.
At Longthorne Gunmakers the double barrels of a shotgun are machined from a solid block of either steel or titanium.
There is no use of demi-bloc or mono-bloc construction methods because the barrels, including fore-end loop and rib, are all machined as one integral whole: so the barrels are not soldered together nor are they under the stress of being pressed to align them. The barrels are a single unit and the required convergence is set in the CNC machining process.
It is this sophisticated use of CNC technology that makes the use of titanium possible. If a gun requires 32 inch barrels then that integral double barrel component will be machined perfectly by the CNC technology of Longthorne Gunmakers.
Actions similarly are CNC machined from a block of steel, and the use of CNC machining means that the best choice of steel for that purpose can be used.
Longthorne Gunmakers then take these components and apply the full set of British gunmaking skills and knowledge to create a completed gun that has been hand fitted and adjusted in the traditional way: a custom gun, fitted perfectly to the user.
Why would a customer want a gun with titanium barrels? Titanium is significantly lighter than steel, and in alloys can provide very high strength, corrosion resistance, and heat resistance.
Being significantly lighter than steel a gun with a steel action and titanium barrels provides a significantly different shooting experience.
To gain an insight into what the differences are watch this video made in cooperation between Longthorne Gunmakers and the TGS Outdoors YouTube channel.
Longthorne make over and under and side by side guns with steel barrels, and over and under guns with titanium barrels.
- Sidelock over and under click here.
- Sidelock side by side click here.
- Trigger plate over and under click here.
- Longthorne Titanium click here.
- Longthorne Infinity click here.
Longthorne Gunmakers also made pistols which you will find if you click here.
Whether you are currently thinking about a new custom gun or not the Longthorne Gunmakers website is well worth browsing through.
Picture Credits: All pictures courtesy Longthorne Gunmakers
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
