Anyone know old shotguns well?

[kingdaddy3247]

I’ve heard of using 0000 steel wool to remove specks of surface rust from guns, but I’ve never heard of using it on a camera lens before taking pictures of a gun...

 

[jeep78]

I’ve heard of using 0000 steel wool to remove specks of surface rust from guns, but I’ve never heard of using it on a camera lens before taking pictures of a gun...

Petroleum jelly on the lens, that way you don't permanently harm the camera.

 

[GunCat]

Cosmoline makes everything more better. In Russia, we rub in eyes, so they don't freeze.

As an aside, given that most cell phones have several megapixel cameras on them, or better...it does make you wonder. Unless it's just scratched all to bits...

I politely let the seller know that it was too much of a gamble for me, but if he's able to do well with it, all the luck.

Who knows, might end up on Antiques Roadshow. Just not an adventure I'm wanting to get into.

 

[gh1950]

At the least, you need all the markings off the gun.

Definitely this.

If there are no markings, it's probably fake Damasus, which is actually a good thing because it's more likely to be a shooter of some sort,

All that said, if that's all the info the seller can offer, definite pass. Too many trade guns out there of dubious value.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I'm no expert, but I have researched the history of a few different old (100+ years old) shotguns over the years. Most Damascus barreled side-by-side ( SxS ) shotguns just aren't worth much. Most of them were cheap, mass-produced, and made by little known companies. Many were imported from Belgium and made inexpensively by any one of dozens (if not hundreds) of small arms fabricators in Europe.
Even ones that were manufactured by well-known and popular shot gun makers are still not real collector's items yet. Their overall cheap and utilitarian construction and the fact that so many of them were pumped out over the decades diminishes the value to collectors today.

Like CMshoot said, to identify this gun and see if one it's one of the rare exceptions to the general rule of low value, we need to see all of the proof marks writing engraving and symbols that are on it.

That will require breaking the barrel assembly from the receiver and taking well-lit close-up photos of what's called the "water table" and the underside of the shotgun barrels at the chamber end where they meet the receiver.

 

[ReservoirDawg10]

FWIW, Range Guns and Safes has a damascus side by side 12g for $500. Similar to that one in finish. You could make it real nice, but would take some effort including another acid etch.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

It looks like a sidelock action.
That's an older design that is a holdover from the exposed-hammer shotgun days.
If this is a hammerless sidelock action shotgun with automatic cocking, then it probably has to be no older than the middle 1880s. It could be as new as the 1930s.
Long after modern fluid steel (seamless) was used for shotgun barrels, companies would still make and sell Damascus barreled guns because so many old-timers ether thought they were truly better or they just wanted them for nostalgia reasons.
Just like Colt made them model 1873 Single Action Army through the 1970s. And several Italian companies make high-quality, fairly expensive modern replicas of that same design today. Designs that date to the 1870s!

I assume that short lever or switch on the right side of the receiver is a manual safety catch.

 

[gh1950]

It looks like a sidelock action.
That's an older design that is a holdover from the exposed-hammer shotgun days.
If this is a hammerless sidelock action shotgun with automatic cocking, then it probably has to be no older than the middle 1880s. It could be as new as the 1930s.
Long after modern fluid steel (seamless) was used for shotgun barrels, companies would still make and sell Damascus barreled guns because so many old-timers ether thought they were truly better or they just wanted them for nostalgia reasons.
Just like Colt made them model 1873 Single Action Army through the 1970s. And several Italian companies make high-quality, fairly expensive modern replicas of that same design today. Designs that date to the 1870s!

I assume that short lever or switch on the right side of the receiver is a manual safety catch.

Adding to this, as fluid steel became the standard in the late 19 century, to accommodate those "old timers" the gun companies would acid etch the barrels to look like Damascus. It takes close inspection to determine the difference. You can use acid to test for Damascus on the bottom of the barrels, but not something I would suggest for a one off (wouldn't suggest it for me, and I know how to do it).

The irony is that the "fake" guns have fluid steel barrels, and in many cases are safe to shoot.