HILL & WILLIAMS

The Hill & Williams air rifle in .22 cal. is a barrel-cocking, spring piston design cocked by pushing forward a barrel latch at the breech and then pivoting the barrel downward. British patent number 25222/´05 was issued to Arthur Henry Hill and Walter F. Williams on 16 July 1908 for the design. Hill´s address was 28 Leyton Road, Handsworth, Staffordshire, England. Walter notes that the gun may not have been made by Hill and Williams until about 1908. It was probably too complicated and expensive to compete with the Lincoln Jeffries design underlever rifles from BSA. Production ended by 1911. Apparently about two hundred guns were produced.
This gun evidently was one of the pioneer production designs, along with the somewhat similar MGR First Model Rifle, developed at the very beginning of the 20th century. Specimens in good condition should have a retail value in the $2,600 range. Refs: Airgunner April 1986, Dec. 1986, and Guns Review, Aug. 1978.