Well, it's painful to have to admit in a place like this, but my family is responsible for the horrible abuse of weaponry you see below. These three shotguns have been sitting in the unheated, uncooled, leaky-roofed, critter-infested, humid-in-summer bone-dry-in-winter attic of a 250 year-old home for decades. I know with absolute certainty they have been there since 1990, but I think they have probably been there since some time in the early seventies or earlier. They were covered in dirt and debris that had fallen on them over time. Don't ask how it came to this, just accept it as a sad fact of life and move on.
Please help me out with learning more about them. I've done some Google and site searches here, but haven't come up with a lot of info. I am a complete shotgun neophyte, and fairly new to guns in general (just a little basic learning about handguns and rifles), so even the most basic info about these would be helpful.
"Just take them to your friendly neighborhood gun shop" you say. I did that with the badly neglected pre-64 Winchester Model 94 I found (again, don't ask), and I had to put up with them treating me as if I was guilty of beating a puppy or something. My ignorance about the gun at the time just added to my discomfort with the situation. I'd rather know a little more about these before I take them anywhere asking for advice/service. I applied a little bit of Hoppes oil and Number 9 to see what markings are they, after I took these pictures.
They all have some discernible markings. All three have some dirt/rust in the barrels. All six hammers cock, and are fired by their respective triggers. All six firing pins move relatively freely. I'll number them in order from top to bottom.
Number one is marked "Riverside Arms Co." / "Chicopee Falls, Mass. U.S.A." on the left side (as viewed from the butt end) under the chambers. Below and to the right, close to the base of the hammer, is a another line, which is partially obscured by rust. Best guess is it says "PAT FEB. 10-1914". This gun comes apart into two pieces when broken open. I assume this is not supposed to happen, but I don't know enough to be sure. The barrels are dirty inside, with what look like light rust spots in the chambers and near the muzzle, but they still shine and glint most of the way up and down the barrels. There are matching serial numbers stamped on the underside of the left chamber and directly beneath it on the the other piece of the gun. The number is 166[xx].
Number two is marked "Peerless Arms Co." / "Philadelphia, PA" on both sides under the chamber area. The basic design seems related to number one. The stock is much darker, almost black, but a little rubbing with Hoppes oil on a t-shirt shows lighter reddish-brown tones underneath. There is some broken/missing wood along side the triggers on the right side, and the underside of the hammer is exposed. It appears that the stock is cracked back from behind the hammers to near the rearmost portion of the metal on top. The serial number on the metal of the base below the chamber is 159[xx]. There seems to be no serial number on the underside of the barrel.
Number three appears to be engraved Alfred Woodhill in an italic font. The design is markedly different. While the first two break open via a horizontal lever on top, this has a lever on the right side which extends underneath. There is some heavily worn, fine fancy scrollwork and marking on the metal surfaces. The stock apparently broke a long, long time ago. It was repaired by wrapping about 15 turns of thin wire (brass?) around the broken portion, which is held in place by a screw apparently added for that purpose on the left side at the front of the wire, and it appears to terminate under the trigger guard toward the back. The stock is very dark (and scarred), but it looks like there's a beautiful light/dark tiger stripe sort of thing going on in the wood. I can find no serial number. I don't know for sure, but somehow this looks like the oldest of the three.
Any advice on what these things are, what ammo might be safe to use, if they are likely safe to shoot at all (after cleaning and smithwork on the meachnisms), how to care for them and how to best go about getting them in good working order would be appreciated. I've read up a bit on caring for old stocks, and I don't plan to do any aggresive cleaning for fear of damaging the wood. I am not qualified to do any work on the mechanical parts. How do I figure out if a particular gunsmith is going to respect and care for these old warhorses, after their decades of abuse? (I realize that they don't have any collector value, after all the abuse they've been through, but they have sentimental value, and I'd rather not add insult to injury.)
Thanks for any and all advice.
I've deliberately left these as links, rather than inline graphics, to speed loading for those without fast connections. If there are specific pictures which would be helpful with identification, let me know.
Thanks!
-twency
Please help me out with learning more about them. I've done some Google and site searches here, but haven't come up with a lot of info. I am a complete shotgun neophyte, and fairly new to guns in general (just a little basic learning about handguns and rifles), so even the most basic info about these would be helpful.
"Just take them to your friendly neighborhood gun shop" you say. I did that with the badly neglected pre-64 Winchester Model 94 I found (again, don't ask), and I had to put up with them treating me as if I was guilty of beating a puppy or something. My ignorance about the gun at the time just added to my discomfort with the situation. I'd rather know a little more about these before I take them anywhere asking for advice/service. I applied a little bit of Hoppes oil and Number 9 to see what markings are they, after I took these pictures.
They all have some discernible markings. All three have some dirt/rust in the barrels. All six hammers cock, and are fired by their respective triggers. All six firing pins move relatively freely. I'll number them in order from top to bottom.
Number one is marked "Riverside Arms Co." / "Chicopee Falls, Mass. U.S.A." on the left side (as viewed from the butt end) under the chambers. Below and to the right, close to the base of the hammer, is a another line, which is partially obscured by rust. Best guess is it says "PAT FEB. 10-1914". This gun comes apart into two pieces when broken open. I assume this is not supposed to happen, but I don't know enough to be sure. The barrels are dirty inside, with what look like light rust spots in the chambers and near the muzzle, but they still shine and glint most of the way up and down the barrels. There are matching serial numbers stamped on the underside of the left chamber and directly beneath it on the the other piece of the gun. The number is 166[xx].
Number two is marked "Peerless Arms Co." / "Philadelphia, PA" on both sides under the chamber area. The basic design seems related to number one. The stock is much darker, almost black, but a little rubbing with Hoppes oil on a t-shirt shows lighter reddish-brown tones underneath. There is some broken/missing wood along side the triggers on the right side, and the underside of the hammer is exposed. It appears that the stock is cracked back from behind the hammers to near the rearmost portion of the metal on top. The serial number on the metal of the base below the chamber is 159[xx]. There seems to be no serial number on the underside of the barrel.
Number three appears to be engraved Alfred Woodhill in an italic font. The design is markedly different. While the first two break open via a horizontal lever on top, this has a lever on the right side which extends underneath. There is some heavily worn, fine fancy scrollwork and marking on the metal surfaces. The stock apparently broke a long, long time ago. It was repaired by wrapping about 15 turns of thin wire (brass?) around the broken portion, which is held in place by a screw apparently added for that purpose on the left side at the front of the wire, and it appears to terminate under the trigger guard toward the back. The stock is very dark (and scarred), but it looks like there's a beautiful light/dark tiger stripe sort of thing going on in the wood. I can find no serial number. I don't know for sure, but somehow this looks like the oldest of the three.
Any advice on what these things are, what ammo might be safe to use, if they are likely safe to shoot at all (after cleaning and smithwork on the meachnisms), how to care for them and how to best go about getting them in good working order would be appreciated. I've read up a bit on caring for old stocks, and I don't plan to do any aggresive cleaning for fear of damaging the wood. I am not qualified to do any work on the mechanical parts. How do I figure out if a particular gunsmith is going to respect and care for these old warhorses, after their decades of abuse? (I realize that they don't have any collector value, after all the abuse they've been through, but they have sentimental value, and I'd rather not add insult to injury.)
Thanks for any and all advice.
I've deliberately left these as links, rather than inline graphics, to speed loading for those without fast connections. If there are specific pictures which would be helpful with identification, let me know.
Thanks!
-twency
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