Help Identify Shotgun

[oughtsix]

I was sent these pictures of a Shotgun, that was inherited by a friend of mine.
He lives about 700 miles away, so all I know about it is in these pictures. OOPS, he did say it had a .700" bore and the barrels were .040" thick!! Sounds like a 12 Gauge.

Hope I am posting in the correct thread, feel free to move!

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[rcmodel]

There is no way at all to identify it from just the pictures.

I looks exactly like a million other muzzle-loader doubles imported & sold under a zillion different names in the late 1800's.

It was probably made in Belgium by some maker that churned them out for export to the U.S., and sold under a thousand different trade names by hardware stores and mail-order houses.

Unless it just happens to be made by one of the famous English or other makers, it's value is not much, and it's utility is as a wall-hanger decoration.


rcmodel

 

[SDC]

It's a back-action lock percussion shotgun, but without more info on it, that's all we're left with. There should be a cross-wedge in the front of the stock that you can slide out, letting you lift the barrels out of the stock, and see what's marked on the bottom of the chambers; there SHOULD at least be some proof-marks there, showing the maker's marks or the country it was made in. Also, make SURE that it wasn't put away loaded years ago; quite often, these will still have a live charge of black powder left in them, so their owner could just squeeze a couple of caps onto the nipples and let fly. You can use the ramrod to see if there's any obstruction in the barrels, and if the rod won't go back as far as the vents for the nipples, treat it as loaded.

 

[Jim K]

I can't emphasize enough what SDC said about checking for a loaded gun. Incredibly, a century and a half after those guns became obsolete, they still turn up loaded.

Rifle were rarely left loaded. They were used for deer hunting and when the hunter came home he either fired or pulled the charge. But shotguns were kept right in the house, often by the door closest to the chicken coop, because that is where Mr. Fox just might be coming for a free dinner. The caps would have been removed and put up on a shelf where the kids couldn't reach them, but the gun was loaded and was just about never unloaded.

When the old folks went to their rewards, and new guns were bought, the old gun was forgotten, but still loaded, just waiting for someone to snap a cap, even a toy cap, on the old nipples.

Jim

 

[oughtsix]

Thanks to all, for the info!!