16ga.com ~ View topic

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2346 Location: West MI

Not nearly as pretty as the last post, I have no idea what it might be or was, so might be interesting to learn what the 16ga collective thinks it is....

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/892795369

Joined: 22 May 2020 Posts: 268 Location: Ky

Toast!

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1837 Location: Central ND

Yeah......no!! Laughing

Joined: 21 Mar 2019 Posts: 523 Location: Texas

Hey ugly chicks need love too!

Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 2124 Location: Hudson,Wy

I like project guns but where do I even start with this? Proof positive not to let children have unsupervised access to tools...and it sold for $125! I wouldn't have traded a day old hamburger for it.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2346 Location: West MI

Fun stuff, comic diversion with hunting seasons winding down & waiting for the Snows to turn back North....

Any ideas what it is/was? It looks too well made for a home made shop project but too funky for a production gun??? The stock looks reminiscent of a Fulton, the barrels look Italian, the action body looks like a hunk of bulldozer engine block, locking lever trigger guard and triggers sorta resembles a Stevens...

Gulp. Hard pass.

Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 2124 Location: Hudson,Wy

Jr. High School shop project at best.

Joined: 04 Jun 2009 Posts: 827 Location: N. Shore, mn

expensive pry bar or door stop.

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

Best guess is a Franco-Belgian gun from the early days of O/U. Looks like a gun that killed a lot of barn rats/pigeons in its time and in the meantime lived in the barn waiting for its next chance. The cheekpiece says "Belgium" (no German would have made that gun). The sling swivel on the butt says "France or Belgium", as does the braze/solder spot on the lower barrel where a sling swivel had once been attached to the lower barrel. Likewise, the shape where the barrels meet the standing breech looks similar to the early O/U guns. One of the folks here bought a Merkel O/U like that a while back, IIRC. The ghosting from the missing fore-end reminds me of the three-piece fore-ends on early Merkel and Belgian O/U guns, before later designs like the Superposed smoothed all those bulges. As to those design points compare the pictures here https://simpsonltd.com/merkel-o-u-with-ejectors-z46490/
The action is vaguely reminiscent of a French O/U I saw among the hundreds of other guns on the rack at a gun store in rural NC a few winters back. That one had some parts that moved in funky directions to lock the breeches. It was a rarity for two reasons - the French copy no one and no one copies the French, on the one hand, and it was just too complicated, on the other.
Of course, the cocking mechanism we see could just be the handiwork of Bubba (or Farmer Bob, out in his workshop) when something inside broke, the gunsmith wanted more than the gun cost (or lived too far away or had no idea) and he decided to go the designers one better.
Over the years a friend has built a collection of what he calls "Farmer guns" - the single-shot shotguns, usually break action and 12 ga, that were all-purpose tools parked behind the kitchen door, out in the mud room or in the barn for quick and easy pest control, harvesting the occasional game animal that wandered too close to the house, home defense and light hunting use. The breadth and ingenuity of the designs made for an astonishing number of variations - everyone trying to move their product through a hardware store or farm supply had their own better mousetrap. Most of them worked well enough for the intended purpose. Most of them also were treated like the farm implements they were. Because they are in a "collection", his are usually better-condition examples unless they were so rare that he had to buy a real beater.
Stuff like this comes out of the barns and attics in Maine pretty regularly, or at least it used to. This particular dealer (I've dealt with him - straight shooter) calls them like he sees them. This particular gun was fairly described and probably fairly priced (if only to cover the seller's costs). That it sold - not everything he posts sells - should tell you something.

“ the French copy no one and no one copies the French...”

LOL

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2346 Location: West MI

Interesting, makes sense. Incredible the knowledge and experience that hangs around here, thanks for the input. Still chuckling over the French dig.

Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 962 Location: Minnesota

If I was looking for a gun to hang over the cabin fireplace, I’d keep looking .