Every day , l provide my fellow forum members with accounts of my past experiences as a professional Shikari in Darjeeling , India from 1962 to 1970. However , today l wish to share with you a very recent news which pleases me greatly. It is no surprise that l am patron of English side by side shot-guns . Being a child born in the end of English colonial era , l had seen a very large amount of fine English fire arms being used by the elder friends of the family . My own late father , while indifferent to hunting big animals , was a passionate bird shooter his entire life. He owned a magnificent 12 bore side by side shot-gun made by the English firm , I Hollis . It was made to take the 65 millimeter paper cartridge which used to be made from the firm , Eley in bright red . Father always had a large stock of number 2 , number 4 and number 6 cartridges always on in the house. Our family table was always abundant with quail , pigeon , dove , hare , Horel and jungle fowl . It was a beautiful fire arm and the first gun in my life which l had fired beginning a life long fascination with the sport of Shikar and fire arms.
View attachment 309197
Father teaching me to shoot the I Hollis 12 bore shot-gun when l was thirteen years of age. Every Friday , this was common practice in the Rahman estate.
After India became independent in 1947 , imported fire arms were no longer present in the country , barring those which had already been brought into the country prior to 1947.
In my career as a professional Shikari , l made do with a 12 bore Ishapore Arms Factory side by side shot-gun from 1962 to 1970. As horrible a weapon as it was , it was the fire arm l used during my eight year career , but this was merely because it was all that was available.
View attachment 309198
Shooting Horels near the Poojari caves with my 12 bore Ishapore Arms Factory side by side shot-gun.
However , whenever English clients would come to Darjeeling , l would enviously stare at their beautiful English side by side shot-guns. There were so many firms . I would see Holland and Holland , William Wellington Greener , Westley Richards , Joseph Lang and Purdey. I always wanted such a shot-gun for my own personal use. However , it was not to be. Father promised me that l would inherit his beautiful I Hollis 12 bore shot-gun and l could not have felt more lucky. All this , was to change in 1972 after the Bangladesh Liberation War. In India , Indira Gandhi's renegade anti hunting , vegetarian government banned any form of hunting in India. They also banned the sale of beef and heavily ostracized meat eaters I'm general. However , for the purpose of today's article , l will mention the worst crime which they committed. They confiscated every existing imported fire arm in India and had them reduced to scrap metal. In May , 1972 a group of so called " intellectuals " broke into my family home where my elderly parents were and they confiscated the two Royal Bengal tiger skins which my mother was using for decoration ( shot by myself ) and worst of all , they confiscated my father's shot-gun . It brings tears to my eyes to even write what became of that family heirloom. This was the last straw and l moved to Bangladesh with my family in 1979. In 1990 , l acquired my first Imported shot-gun. It was a magnificent 12 bore over-under shot-gun with 70 millimeter chambers made by the Italian firm , Beretta. It had a fully choked barrel over a half choked barrel. It was the model s686 Special. Never could l have been happier and it has been my loyal hunting tool for almost thirty years and hopefully it always will , helping me take every creature from a pigeon with a number 6 cartridge to a 202 pound male leopard with an SG cartridge ( in the half choke barrel ).
View attachment 309199
My Beretta 12 bore s686 Special.
However , my heart always longer for an English side by side shot-gun and l was determined to have one some day.
Now , unlike India , Bangladesh allows imported fire arms fortunately . Unfortunately , none of those importers import a side by side shot-gun currently. But all was not lost.
Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan , prior to the War Of Independence . Prior to the Pakistani army conducting their genocide upon East Pakistani civilians ( which would lead to the war of Independence ) , they had confiscated every privately owned fire arm from East Pakistani civilians , prior to the genocide on the 25th of March of 1971 ( which is why l am a massive believer in the second Amendment of the United States of America ). These fire arms were stored in a massive armoury called Mal khana . After the War of Independence , these privately owned fire arms became the property of Bangladesh shooting Federation. These were virtually all , English fire arms made prior to 1947 . This is because , before Bangladesh was East Pakistan , it was a part of India which was a British colony. There are five fire arms shops in the capital of Bangladesh ( Dhaka city ) : They are Amin arms , Ahmed Hossain arms , Moin Arms , Gun Max and Columbia fire arms . BSF released these fire arms back to these arms shops . Among them were a substantial amount of traditional English side by side shot-guns . These English pieces can be found in the second hand cabinet of these arms shops in Bangladesh very easily.
View attachment 309203
The second hand cabinet in F Ahmed Arms ( now renamed Moin Arms ) . Thank you , to my beautiful niece Fabliha for providing me with the photograph by using a face book.
Most of these English side by side shot-guns were purchased immediately by hunters and shooters of refined taste. However , as per the records of BSF , there are still ten English side by side shot-guns in these shops which remain unsold. If an owner of such a shot-gun passes away and their children or next of kin do not wish to apply for a fire arms license , then these shot-guns are re acquired by BSF and they reappear in the arms shops again. The varieties are countless.
View attachment 309206
Ahmed Hossain Arms second hand cabinet. I had been to the shop earlier this year as part of an annual BSF authorized inspection.
Thank you , to my wonderful niece , Fabliha for providing me with the photograph by using a face book.
Observe the last three shot-guns in the left side . From left to right : Exposed Hammer 12 bore side by side shot-gun by William Wellington Greener , Exposed Hammer 12 bore side by side shot-gun by Holland and Holland , hammerless 12 bore side by side shot-gun by Joseph Lang.
The reason why these shot-guns remain unpurchased in these shops is because , they were built for taking the paper cartridge . However , Bangladesh imports plastic shot-gun cartridges from Winchester , Remington , Federal , Sellier and Bellot and Game Bore ( whom l personally use ). Majority of these arms were built for the 65 millimeter cartridge. A few were built to take the 70 millimeter cartridge . At least four shot-guns from William Wellington Greener have 76 millimeter chambers . These models were called the Empire model and were invariably fully choked.
A few years back , an over enthusiastic young man accidentally destroyed his father's 12 bore William Wellington Greener Empire shot-gun upon firing it. The exact reasons as to why the shot-gun barrel had burst remains unknown. But at the time , the employees at Bangladesh Shooting Federation had speculated that the reason was because the young man had put a modern plastic 76 millimeter SG cartridge into the fully choked barrel of the shot-gun. My learned fellow forum members , Red Leg and Co Elk Hunter believe that there were other factors at play too ( having seen the photograph ) and l am inclined to believe them . Immediately , Bangladesh Shooting Federation issued a warning that these old shot-guns should only be used with paper cartridges and should be checked by a BSF approved gun smith. Unfortunately , since paper cartridges are not imported into Bangladesh on a commercial basis ( yet ) , the only people who might be interested in these fire arms would be those who regularly travel to foreign countries and regularly bring in cartridges from there into the country privately.
However , l was determined that l would have one. Last week l received the excellent news that my application for a second shot-gun license had been granted by the Honorable Ministers ( l had applied in September ) . I immediately made my wonderful niece , Fabliha get in contact with all the five major arms shops in Dhaka city ( l live in Sylhet division ) to get me some pictures of what is currently available . Being that she has that new popular social media device , Face book , she was able to acquire many of the photographs for me from their face books ( some of which l show today ) . I made many phone calls to discuss . It was the one at Columbia fire arms which attracted me the most.
View attachment 309212 View attachment 309213 View attachment 309214
Since 2017 , they had a beautiful 12 bore side by side shot-gun made by the English firm , Westley Richards . It was in pristine condition . With 28 inch long muzzles ( with a quarter choke and a half choke ) and 70 millimeter cartridge chamber , l was immediately attracted to it.
I immediately acquired their phone number and l gave them a call by telephone . They are willing to sell me the fine piece for the Bangladesh equivalent of 1300 American Dollars.
According to the gentleman whom l spoke to , over the phone this fine fire arm is also capable of taking plastic cartridge safely . However , l am a cautious person who knows that employees at an arms shop will tell you anything to sell you a fire arm. Therefore , l decided that l need a more sure way of knowing. It is here that being a fire arms instructor at Bangladesh Shooting Federation ( Sylhet branch ) is advantageous . I had a formal letter sent by fax to the owner of Columbia fire arms , asking if the fire arm is perfectly functional .The owner has requested some time to verify if the claims made by his over enthusiastic employee are correct. Personally , however , l prefer to use paper cartridges in this grand old piece. My niece's magnificent boy friend , Daniel has offered to send me paper cartridges from the United States of America , as has my young friend and fellow forum member , Hoss Delgado and his grandfather , Don Fernando Delgado ( my former client ). I can also purchase excellent paper cartridges from the firm , Eley whenever l visit England. Given that l am capable of loading my own cartridges , l do not think that l will have a problem in acquiring a stock to last me for sufficient periods of time.
Of course , as my friendly forum member , Shootist43 notes , it is unwise to try using SG cartridge in such a gun ( l use SG plastic cartridges from the firm , Game Bore which l order from Gun Max for my Beretta over-under ). No. This is a piece for winged creatures and hares . Pigeons , quails , doves , Horel , hares and such creatures are my intended quarry for this excellent piece. I will use number 2 , number 4 and number 6 through this lovely fire arm ( of course , if my fellow forum members advise any modifications to this arrangement , l will oblige ) .
It is not as beautiful as my fellow forum member , Red Leg's splendid William Cashmore piece ( no hammer model ) . It will never take the place of my father's I Hollis 12 bore side by side. However , l should think that one could do a lot worse than to acquire a Westley Richards bird shot-gun built prior to 1947 .
I would like to thank my wonderful niece , Fabliha for using her face book to acquire me some of the photographs used of the arms shops. Without her , l would not have been able to share these excellent pictures to this lovely forum. Perhaps some dreams do come true. Even if they take seven decades.
