Essex Shotguns???

[Black92LX]

I was wondering if Essex Firearms were still around? my grandfather has one that he got from his dad. and whenever my grandfather talks about the first time he shot the gun, the first squirell he got with it, and how after he shot out the local bullies lantern that the bully never bothered him again. my grandpa just seems so happy remebering times with his dad and so and the gun.

but anyway i wanted to get him an essex shotgun for his birthday, but haven't been able to find out if they are even around. the one he has now still fires and he guesses it's around 100 years old. next time i go over there i will get the serial number and details to see if anyone could put a date on it.

 

[Dave McCracken]

The experts down on Harley's forum can answer this better, but...

Essex was not a major maker, and may simply have been the name of a retailor. Many inexpensive old shotguns were made by the Crescent company and marked with any name anyone ordering more than one wanted. Others were made by Iver Johnson and diverse makers and sometimes not marked with any name.

I've never seen an Essex.

A caveat...

Many old shotguns are NOT safe with modern ammunition. Please have a good smith look over the thing before it's fired again and tell you if it's safe to shoot and with what ammo.

HTH...

 

[Jagermeister]

Essex was a tradename used by Crescent-Davis firearms Co on shotguns made for the Belknap hardware co of Louisville KY back in the 18 and 1900's. The term "Hardwareguns" is derived from the Crescent Co, as they made guns for just about anybody, and would put any name on the gun.

The Crescent story has been published in an ealier post, in this forum, and can possibly be found by researching the back posts. The programing will not allow me to post it a second time.

JM