Hopkins & Allen shotgun value? safe? date?

[countrymusicmakesmegag]

I received a shot gun from my grandfather, (alot of posts i read start like this one, i know, but i couldnt find my exact one) it reads Hopkins & Allen arms company NORWICH conn USA on the left side of the gun. On the bottom behind the trigger is stamped T0091. We shot 16 gauge 2 3/4 bird shot out of it, which it (seemed) to shoot fine, hit my target. But after reading posts about this gun producer, alot of ppl have been told to hang these on the wall, just wondering if i should do this also. Gramps also told me this gun had a value of 600-700? Here are some pics :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30247287@N02/
any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

[GCBurner]

They're not particularly valued as collectors items, in fact, you'll see a lot of old H&A shotguns hanging over the fireplace as decorator items in Cracker Barrel Restaurants.
Hopkins & Allen were bought out by Marlin in 1914, but kept producing shotguns under their own name until the plant closed in 1917, when the US entered WWI, and gun production resources were prioritized to the military. Ones like yours were made at the very beginning of the smokeless powder era. If an inspection of the barrel doesn't show any corrosion or pitting from firing black powder shells, it should be okay for use with normal factory 16ga. ammo, these weren't made with Damascus twist barrels. If the bore shows any pitting or signs of neglect, though, I'd just hang it on the wall as a keepsake.

 

[oneounceload]

Have the chamber checked to make sure it is 2-3/4 and not a shorter one. Guns made around the turn of the last century came with a variety of chamber lengths - including 2, 2-1/2, 2-9/16, and 2-3/4. The length is the length of a fired hull