Antique Shotgun

[DeepSouth]

Tonight my Grandfather showed me a double barrel shotgun that his grandfather bought when he was 16. He (My Great Great Grandfather) was born in November of 1876, which would date the shotgun to around 1892. The shotgun is a Hanover Arms "Rabbit Ear" 12 gauge, with "laminated steel barrels" (whatever that is).

You can tell it has been shot a LOT the end of the barrels are very thin, the wood and metal are very "worn" I could barely read the manufactures name on the metal and some of the checkering on the wood is worn off in some areas. But with that said all of the parts 'look' to be original with the exception of one firing pin my dad, the machinist, made. There is also very little rust on the gun, I would probably rate the wood and metal at 80% other than the normal wear areas which are very worn.

I also found out my dad killed his first deer with the gun, the most amazing part of this is that here I am 31 years old and never knew this family heirloom even existed, I have heard my dad talk about a shotgun that my grandfather had that had "The chokes shot out of it" now I know what he was talking about. I guess one day me Granddad will leave it to my dad who will leave it for me and my brother to fight over. It has just made my day, week, and even month to know such a family heirloom is in my family.

Anyway, I was just got excited and wanted to share. If anyone does know anything about the manufactures history, or the guns value I would really love to know about it. Obviously it is not for sale.

 

[RandKL]

It's a Belgian import. Working man's gun from the turn of the 20th Cent. Not much collectible value, sorry to say, and not safe to shoot with modern smokeless ammo. It's an heirloom, though, not scrap...stick it up on the wall and tell stories about it. Value-wise, you're looking at $100-150 or so.

rich

 

[erichtmobile]

That is so great. I would give a pinky toe to be able to have a storied piece like that in the family. Best my family can do is a 30 year old single shot .410

 

[DeepSouth]

Honestly that is about what I figured collectability and value wise, my family hasn't ever been much more than "working class" I am kind of surprised to hear you say it is not safe to shoot modern powder in it. My dad was born in 1950 that would put him shooting it well into the 60's and probably 70's and he was shooting buckshot. It doesn't really matter anyway I wouldn't shoot it, because of the slack between the reviver and the barrels. Especially being that I have no idea what a laminated steel barrel is, maybe I'll Google it later.

 

[oneounceload]

Starting around 1892 Crescent firearms manufactured single and double barrel shotguns under a variety of names. These firearms which are sometime called "Hardware Guns" are considered to be the most prolific of all manufacturers of private label guns

Folsom imported most of these Belgian shotguns from about 1893 to WWI

Two different tidbits gleaned from Google. Proofmarks can determine if Belgian or not

 

[RandKL]

Laminated is the same as damascus in that it's a twisted and welded steel barrel. Those can be incredibly strong for their type when they were new, but they get more and more unsafe as the years pass. Every shot stretches the steel and then it contracts back...and steel welds don't take that as well as solid steel does. They start to develop micro cracks that eventually start to rust and they become weak spots. Pair that with the fact that the German standards, *if* your gun was proofed under those more strict rules, pre WW2, *proofed* a gun at 12,000psi and standard ammo at that time was under 8,000psi....modern ammo can often pass 12,000psi straight from the box. Pair that with your gun almost certainly having a 2 1/2" chamber where modern ammo is 2 3/4" standard. Pair that with you stating the barrels on yours were worn thin....

Pop the forearm off and look over the proofs on the bottom of the barrel. If you see a "pineapple" oval with ELG and a crown and star, it's a blackpowder proof mark. If you can find a "lion rampant" lion standing on its back legs, it's a nitro (smokeless) proof. If you want, post all the marks you can find here and we can all look them over.

I am NOT suggesting you do this because I won't suggest you fire that gun, but you can do this to make the gun more presentable...a simple smith's trick to tighten the barrel/breechface gap is to add a shim of thin metal between the pivot and the pivot pin. You can do by cutting a 1/2" wide strip of Coke can about 4" long and wrapping that in a U-shape around the pivot pin with the loose ends out the front. Replace the barrels, trim the shim material off, and replace the forearm. The only other way to fix the gap is to press out the pivot pin from the receiver and replace it with a new one, but those guns almost always had shaped receivers so the work would be tough and more expensive than the gun's really worth.

Peace.

richard

 

[Big Bill]

I wonder how many marriages that ol shotgun had enforced?