My New(to me) Interesting Vintage Shotgun

[greyman441]

I picked up this very interesting 12g pump action shotgun over the weekend. It is a Union Fire Arms model 24. They made 17000 of them, this is 12###. This is the improved version made from 1907-1911. It has 2 triggers. 1 is to fire the gun and one is a cocking/de-cocking lever to prevent dry fire. It is a complex take-down shotgun. It has a MINT bore for being 100 years old. The finish on the stock and gun is all original. There is nothing missing and everything works great. I pulled the buttplate off and found the original owners name, location and date.

Also, do you think it would be safe to fire with modern ammo?

Take a look

It say C.K Shuttleworth
Moose Jaw
1910

 

[rdelliott]

Wow. That is unusual indeed!

 

[greyman441]

Just found this on google.

 

[straightshooter]

It was built to handle nitro pressures, but that doesn't mean it can still handle them. It takes a practiced eye to evaluate a piece such as you have. Certainly, you have the option of proof testing it using a bench mount and a remote trigger string. But, while this is safer for the tester, it does nothing to protect the gun.

The following ad offers a few more details for you.

 

[rodngun]

Thats friggin awesome, sweet piece of history! I love the fact the owner had his name/date/location behind the but plate, very cool, I would almost want to search their family tree, atleast goolgle/facebook them (I wouldn't necessarily communicate but just you know learn more history of that era of how that gun came in to this gentlemen hands!)

 

[greyman441]

Thanks, I have another gun under rimfire and the guys said "remove the buttplate" on it to see whats under it so I decided to do it on this one and that is what I found. That's what I was thinking just looking into the original owners family. Moose Jaw is quite a distance. This gun has done some traveling.

If only it could talk, it would have some amazing stories.

 

[sir_springer]

I'd bet there's darn few of those left in that kind of condition. Looks like the kind of weapon that was bought to be used as a working man's gun, which might mean most were used and abused hard. 17,000 isn't all that many...especially 100 years later!

Pretty cool collector's piece, IMHO. Be interesting to hear what kind of value it might have.

 

[greyman441]

I'd bet there's darn few of those left in that kind of condition. Looks like the kind of weapon that was bought to be used as a working man's gun, which might mean most were used and abused hard. 17,000 isn't all that many...especially 100 years later!

Pretty cool collector's piece, IMHO. Be interesting to hear what kind of value it might have.

Ya doesn't seem like they made a lot of them. Probably only a handful of them left. I ran some dummy rounds through it yesterday and it cycles great. When I got it, it was pretty stiff. Doesn't seem like it has had oil in it in over 20 years. I put some 3 in 1 oil through the action and now it is smooth as glass. I like restoring guns but I think this should stay just the way it is. I was looking on gunbroker and they are going around $400-$450.

 

[straightshooter]

Ya doesn't seem like they made a lot of them. Probably only a handful of them left. I ran some dummy rounds through it yesterday and it cycles great. When I got it, it was pretty stiff. Doesn't seem like it has had oil in it in over 20 years. I put some 3 in 1 oil through the action and now it is smooth as glass. I like restoring guns but I think this should stay just the way it is. I was looking on gunbroker and they are going around $400-$450.

DEFINITELY, do not modify the gun. While the European trade has always considered it SOP to send the gun back to the maker for a tune up every 20 years or so, the North American experience was different. Here, firearms were more prevalent in rural and wilderness areas (which constituted most of the land mass, but not most of the population). That meant that makers were often on the other side of the continent, if not the other side of the ocean. American guns were rarely professionally refinished, so most refinishes were poorly executed.

This background helps us understand why American collectors place a high premium on original, unmodified condition. A refinish is usually seen as an attempt to hide some imperfection and reduces the value of the piece on top of the cost of restoration.

Having said that, I'll now proceed to contradict myself. The exception to the above is when the piece is in mechanically good condition, but the wood and metal exterior show rough use. If such a piece is professionally restored, it can add significant value. (It can also be prohibitively expensive.)