James Purdey & Sons Ltd., one of the British manufacturers of deluxe hunting arms, has added to their website a new over and under shotgun called Purdey Trigger Plate. As the name implies, this shotgun utilizes a rather rare lock mechanism type called trigger plate.

Normally the hammerless shotguns have two main lock mechanism types – sidelock and boxlock. In the case of the sidelock, the lock mechanisms for each barrel are mounted on the side plates. Boxlock is a simpler mechanism with a more efficient layout of the trigger mechanism parts. The differences between these two action types are well explained in an article published on the website of another British company called Boxall & Edmiston.

The trigger plate lock mechanism, which is used in this Purdey shotgun, has all the trigger mechanism parts mounted on the trigger plate. It is similar to the trigger mechanism layout of many modern semi-auto or pump-action shotguns. The entire lock mechanism can be easily removed from the bottom of the shotgun. One of the most obvious advantages of such system is the ability to maintain and clean the trigger mechanism without a need to do any advanced disassembly.

As in the case of any other Purdey gun, the Trigger Plate shotgun is also completely handcrafted in Purdey’s London workshop. This shotgun is designed for hunting purposes. Here is how the company describes the reason they designed it:

In recent years, the shooting world has seen the increase in the prominence of higher birds and heavier cartridges. Reflecting these changes, this new over-and-under shotgun has been designed to meet the demands of today’s sporting world. As part of the process, it was tested with more than 150,000 cartridges to prove that it can meet such challenges.

The Purdey Trigger Plate shotguns are bespoke firearms and can be built to fit any particular customer. Most of the features of the shotgun can be custom ordered. Such features include the barrel length, chamber length, choke configuration, stock dimensions, engraving, case finish etc.

Purdey Trigger Plate shotguns have a starting price of £55,000 which is roughly equal to $73,000.

Images from www.purdey.com