How do you identify shotguns?

[October]

Given the ability to swap out stocks, forearms, recoil pads, and make other changes to many shotguns, I'm wondering what features are used to identify a shotguns that are in many respects similar, such as a Mossberg 500 and a Stevens Model 67?

Is it the location of features (e.g. safety), the way it operates, the way specific parts look, some other aspect, or a combination of all of the above?

I guess what I'm asking is, when you first look at a shotgun, how do you tell what it is, without looking for the manufacturer's name and model number?

 

[Oldnamvet]

I usually make a quick estimate as to the model based on the "profile". Once I handle it, the first thing I do after making sure it is unloaded, is to look at the name, model #, gauge, barrel length, then overall condition.

 

[JohnBT]

I've been thinking this over and all I can say is...it just takes time. Look at every shotgun you can and one day you'll start recognizing about half of them. Some have an obvious shape, sometimes it's the engraving pattern, sometimes it's the pad, the rib, the placement of the safety and sometimes you get fooled. Go to the store and handle all the guns they'll let you touch.

John

 

[zinj]

There are some major and some minor things.

For example, all Remington shotguns produced since 1948 have essentially the same trigger guard (except the SP-10), which has a long slope on the front.

The Browning Auto-5 and its clones are some of the easiest to identify, the rear of the reciever is very high and does not contour into the stock (earning the nickname "Humpback").



The Ithaca 37 and Browning BPS are both bottom eject guns, and thus have no ejection port. They themselves can be distinguished by the fact that the BPS is a much "beefier" gun, while the Ithaca is pretty trim (it is one of the lightest steel receiver pumps).



It is just stuff like that. It can be hard to tell some of the less common or distinctive guns from each other without close inspection. For example, I can only tell whether an O/U is a mono-block or under-lug style gun.

Most of the common pumps and autos do have at least one distinguishing feature that is easily visible. There is also alot of process of elimination, like X gun has Y receiver style and Z safety placement.

 

[October]

zinj,

You brought up some really good points, especially regarding post-1948 Remingtons. I've never noticed that their trigger guards are distinctive.

I noticed most of the things you mentioned are specific to the receiver. Is that because it is the receiver that essentially determines what kind of shotgun it is?