Thought that I would post some photos of my latest bit of foolishness :>) About 20 years ago, I bought the remains of a side-opening shotgun. The stock was missing as was the extractor assembly and the last 1 1/2" of one barrel had apparently been blown off. That resulted in the upper rib being lifted for several inches and the last 5 or 6" of the lower rib missing. I didn't want to rush into things so I waited until a couple of months ago to start working on it. :>) :>) I believe the gun was made in the 1880s
One interesting feature is that the only previous American Arms shotguns that I had seen (only a few) had been economy grade guns while I would consider this gun to be very high grade. The locks are as well made as the best British locks that I have seen. The barrels are the tight figure 8 style damascus and the receiver and locks are heavily engraved with excellent engraving. There are no proof marks on the gun, otherwise I would have thought that it was finished in the white in the UK.
The gun is awkward to open sideways and I tried opening it with the gun turned 90 degrees so that the barrels pivoted down rather than sideways but that is a poor choice because I found I tended to also push the barrels forward and for that reason they tend to come off of the receiver. To open the gun you push a sliding button on the top of the receiver forward and twist the barrels sideways. To take them off, you push the opened barrels forward about 1 inch or so and then lift up because the center pivot has a T shaped head and fits into a keyhole like opening so that sliding it back will keep the pivot captured in the water table. The barrels are held tight to the frame by a dovetailed piece on the water table which fits into a dovetailed recess on the bottom of the barrels and kept from pivoting open by a spring loaded detente that anchors into the top of the receiver. The sliding button pushes the detente forward and disengages it. The extractor is pushed in and out by a sliding piece in the barrels but while I have made the piece, so far it has totally defeated my attempts to put the gun together with that slide in place. I even made a sheet metal template of the recesses in the water table which still has not shown me where I am wrong.
Anyway, enjoy the photos below. I will be refinishing the barrels in the foreseeable future. I am afraid that the photos do not do justice to the engraving
cheers mooncoon
One interesting feature is that the only previous American Arms shotguns that I had seen (only a few) had been economy grade guns while I would consider this gun to be very high grade. The locks are as well made as the best British locks that I have seen. The barrels are the tight figure 8 style damascus and the receiver and locks are heavily engraved with excellent engraving. There are no proof marks on the gun, otherwise I would have thought that it was finished in the white in the UK.
The gun is awkward to open sideways and I tried opening it with the gun turned 90 degrees so that the barrels pivoted down rather than sideways but that is a poor choice because I found I tended to also push the barrels forward and for that reason they tend to come off of the receiver. To open the gun you push a sliding button on the top of the receiver forward and twist the barrels sideways. To take them off, you push the opened barrels forward about 1 inch or so and then lift up because the center pivot has a T shaped head and fits into a keyhole like opening so that sliding it back will keep the pivot captured in the water table. The barrels are held tight to the frame by a dovetailed piece on the water table which fits into a dovetailed recess on the bottom of the barrels and kept from pivoting open by a spring loaded detente that anchors into the top of the receiver. The sliding button pushes the detente forward and disengages it. The extractor is pushed in and out by a sliding piece in the barrels but while I have made the piece, so far it has totally defeated my attempts to put the gun together with that slide in place. I even made a sheet metal template of the recesses in the water table which still has not shown me where I am wrong.
Anyway, enjoy the photos below. I will be refinishing the barrels in the foreseeable future. I am afraid that the photos do not do justice to the engraving
cheers mooncoon
