Let’s play the “What is it?” game!

[outdoorsman4880]

The old guy at deer Creek gun shop in Kennesaw, Mr. Pat Raybun, said that this shotgun is probably from the early 1900s and it looks like it is made with twisted wire construction so it is a "welded" barrel that should be treated like a Damascus barrel when it comes to potentially shooting it --- and if so, then only with the right kind of low powered black powder equivalent loads.

But he said that the barrel is thick and it looks to be in good condition, but honest wear. Some wobble in the lock-up.

He did pry off the wood for end and separated the barrel from the receiver but his small shop was crowded and I did not want to take the time to get out my camera and do any photography of the marks. I'll take the wood off again later at home to do that.


He said it was definitely sold as a field grade shotgun for working people to put meat on the table, or for somebody to guard their home or shop from intruders.
It was not a distinguished gentleman's shotgun for use at the target shooting clubs.

Still , given all the factors, the shotgun is amazing to have survived this long for its age. Today's trade name guns are the cheap Turkish shotguns you see everywhere. Before this, it was guns like these that ruled the budget gun world. It shows that somethings in the industry don't change that much.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Pics after breaking the shotgun down and taking it outside to get some good sunlight on it.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

More photos

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I thought about shooting it today with extra low powered, low recoil, low noise shells made by Winchester...

... but because this gun almost certainly has a chamber that is shorter than two and three-quarter inches, (I think 2 5/8 was the standard back in the old days)...

and because it was made in the day when shotgun shells had a wad and a small roll crimp rather than a folded or star crimp, and that extra plastic material can constrict the passage of the shot cup moving out of the chamber through the forcing cone, causing a pressure spike...

INSTEAD I cut the ends of a few shotgun shells off, poured out the BBs, and just fired the empty plastic wads out into the backyard. I did four blank shots that way.