A Boss is beauty. Side-by-side and over-unders by this maker can be stunning, and the nicest Bosses are some of the finest shotguns ever built in London, the UK, and the world.
The pair of Boss & Co. SxSs you see here is near this top — especially for modern guns. They’re .410s, and they were made in 2002/2003.
Notice how Boss put a nice black on the triggerguard, toplever, and forend iron? That’s the classic British way to finish these parts (sometimes the forend iron was color-case hardened). Unfortunately, not every maker does this today. Some are color-case hardening all these parts. This is a shame.
Another thing I like about these guns is the nitre-blue finish on the safety, the toplever pin, the hinge-pin cap, the pin at the front of the triggerplate, and the one securing the metalwork in the forend. Some of these details are signature elements of Boss’s house style, and it’s good to see the company was holding themselves to those standards when they built these SxSs. Again, not every British maker does that anymore.
Scaling a sidelock down to a .410 is hard to do. Some parts — like mainsprings and the ejector work — can only get so small before they fail to work. Others parts have to be a certain size to be functional (that’s why the triggers and the triggerguard bows on these look a little big). These factors can distort the gun’s proportions and throw off the lines of the entire shotgun.
I don’t think that’s the case with these guns. They look perfectly proportioned and as nice as a 12g Boss.
BOSS & Co. BEST PAIR SXS 410 SHOTGUNS: PROOFED 2003 THESE ARE THE SMALLEST FRAME GUNS BOSS EVER MADE AND STATED WILL NEVER DO AGAIN BOTH ARE IDENTICAL 28″ SELF OPENER FULL AND FULL 3″ CHAMBERS SINGLE TRIGGER EJECTORS SPLINTER FOREARM ENGLISH GRIP CHECKERED BUTT NEW UNFIRED IN MAKERS OAK AND LEATHER CASE 5LBS 3 OZ X 2 1/4″ X 1 1/2″ X 15″.
