G. E. Lewis "The Gun of the Period"

NavyCuda

NavyCuda

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NavyCuda, G. E. Lewis first used the name "The Gun of the Period" in 1878. Guns bearing this mark included both hammer and hammerless guns and even a cape gun with one rifled barrel. They were offered in 12, 16 and 20 gauge. The guns were fairly popular and won several awards at international exhibitions through 1884. I am unsure for how long after that the "Gun of the Period" trademark was used.

Given the serial number of this gun, I would guess it is from the mid 1880's.

The firm is an interesting one, and did much to promote the use of 2 3/4" cartridges in 16 and 20 gauge (2 1/2" was the norm). The last of the Lewis family of gunmakers passed away in 1988, and the rights to the firm were sold to gunmaker John Harris. He may still be in business, he was 10 years ago.

If you can break the gun down and take pictures of the water table and barrel flats, the proof markings there will provide more info.

Sharptail
 
Yes, thank you. The marks shown are Birmingham black powder proofs of the type used between 1813 and 1904. The 13 over 1 indicates that the bores were originally a loose 13 gauge (not uncommon for a British 12 gauge gun). The gun should be chambered for the 2 1/2 inch black powder shell.

A little searching has revealed that the "Gun of the Period" trade mark was used at least as late as 1915, perhaps longer. However, the proof marks on your gun and the serial number reinforce my "mid 1880's" guess.

Sharptail
 
Sharptail said:
Yes, thank you. The marks shown are Birmingham black powder proofs of the type used between 1813 and 1904. The 13 over 1 indicates that the bores were originally a loose 13 gauge (not uncommon for a British 12 gauge gun). The gun should be chambered for the 2 1/2 inch black powder shell.

A little searching has revealed that the "Gun of the Period" trade mark was used at least as late as 1915, perhaps longer. However, the proof marks on your gun and the serial number reinforce my "mid 1880's" guess.

Sharptail
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So I should ask for 2 1/2" shells equivilent to black power? I want to try some trap with the gun before I put it up for sale.

Any idea what would be a fair price for this shotgun?

-Shane
 
I do not think you can find off - the - shelf ammo for this gun. GameBore used to make "Classic" black powder shells for guns such as this, but they have not been produced for three years or so. Maybe you can find a store which still has some in stock, but it's a long shot.

By far your best bet would be to make some black powder shells, you will need some paper hulls cut down to 2 1/2 inch length.

I have been experimenting with "nitro for black" loads and have found that when you get down to black powder pressures the shells are very temperature dependent. In other words, you need a different load for when it is 5 degrees than when it is 15 degrees.

Another question is, what is the condition of the barrels? Are they pitted? Have they been honed? What are the minimum wall thicknesses? Have the chambers been lengthened? I would recommend that a good double gunsmith take a look at the gun, measure the barrel walls and determine that it is safe to shoot.

The value of the gun will be directly related to its soundness and shootability.

Someone is bound to point out that many a good set of black powder barrels have been re-proofed successfully for nitro powder. The cost of sending the gun to England for re-proof will exceed the value of the gun, but a gunsmith who has measured the barrels may offer an opinion as to their suitability for shooting with a lower pressure, 2 1/2 inch nitro shell such as the GameBore Pure Gold loads (available here). Just remember that if they are wrong, the cost will be lost fingers or worse.

G. E. Lewis was a fine maker, not known for innovation but renowned for the attention they paid to each gun, its regulation and its patterns. The gun you have could be a great candidate for restoration. The barrels are the key, have them measured. In shootable condition and with a butt pad fitted for you, you will not find a better upland gun, even with black powder loads.

Sharptail
 
Sharptail said:
I do not think you can find off - the - shelf ammo for this gun. GameBore used to make "Classic" black powder shells for guns such as this, but they have not been produced for three years or so. Maybe you can find a store which still has some in stock, but it's a long shot.

By far your best bet would be to make some black powder shells, you will need some paper hulls cut down to 2 1/2 inch length.

I have been experimenting with "nitro for black" loads and have found that when you get down to black powder pressures the shells are very temperature dependent. In other words, you need a different load for when it is 5 degrees than when it is 15 degrees.

Another question is, what is the condition of the barrels? Are they pitted? Have they been honed? What are the minimum wall thicknesses? Have the chambers been lengthened? I would recommend that a good double gunsmith take a look at the gun, measure the barrel walls and determine that it is safe to shoot.

The value of the gun will be directly related to its soundness and shootability.

Someone is bound to point out that many a good set of black powder barrels have been re-proofed successfully for nitro powder. The cost of sending the gun to England for re-proof will exceed the value of the gun, but a gunsmith who has measured the barrels may offer an opinion as to their suitability for shooting with a lower pressure, 2 1/2 inch nitro shell such as the GameBore Pure Gold loads (available here). Just remember that if they are wrong, the cost will be lost fingers or worse.

G. E. Lewis was a fine maker, not known for innovation but renowned for the attention they paid to each gun, its regulation and its patterns. The gun you have could be a great candidate for restoration. The barrels are the key, have them measured. In shootable condition and with a butt pad fitted for you, you will not find a better upland gun, even with black powder loads.

Sharptail
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From visual inspection the barrels and all components seem to be in good condition, nice and smooth no pitting. Very little in the way of surface corrosion. I know it was my grandfathers favorite to get pheasant with, though I doubt if this firearm has been operated in over 20 years.

I have a micrometer that I would be able to check the chamber depth, diameter and wall thickness at the ends. I cannot afford to take any of my toys to a gun smith, not to mention I like to consider myself rather handy.

If I post some measurements, they will have been taken in millimeters, but I will convert and also posts the archaic measurements in case anyone doesn't like the metric system.

EDIT: as far as taking it down and handling it, it is extremely comfortable to use. I'm looking forward to trying some trap with it, should I find satisfactory ammunition.
 
NavyCuda, that's a fine looking gun!

Can you tell us the barrel length, and total weight of the gun?

Have you convinced yourself that this is not Damascus? All references I see the the use of this name ("The Gun of the Period") are for Damascus barreled guns.

I beleive we can narrow down the possible date of manufacture a bit. The 12 over C in the diamond came into use in 1887, and the lack of any indication of appropriate payload tell us it is from between 1887 and before 1904.

Here are a couple of old advertisements I googled up.

GELEWIS.jpg


GELEWIS2.jpg


I too suggest caution, I collect & shoot vintage SXS's, and without the proper tools to measure barrel wall thickness it is impossible to determine a gun's safety.

Mark
 
'Cuda, you will not be able to measure the minimum wall thickness with a micrometer. If you measure at the muzzle you will be measuring the thickness of the choke, not the barrel wall. Another critical area of measurement is the wall thickness at the front of the chamber. It takes a special tool to do these measurements, see an example here:

http://www.csmcspecials.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=T0350

If you can find a gunsmith who has this tool it should not cost much to have the gun measured, but if you want it done for free bring the barrels to the Calgary gun show at Easter. The Holt's booth always has one of these tools and they are happy to measure them for you. If you are very handy, you might be able to make a tool.

Whenever I see a 100+ year old black powder gun with no pitting my first thought is that the barrels have been honed, reducing wall thickness. The fact that you know the history of the gun is very reassuring, though.

I am not trying to be a wet blanket, just trying to give you an idea of what is entailed here. Remember, the value of the gun is directly related to the condition of the barrels, and knowing the condition is valuable.

I encourage you to look into making some black powder shells, it is not that difficult. Maybe you know someone who already hand loads shotgun shells?

Here is a diagram showing a typical barrel profile. Major deviations below these measurements are of concern:

wallthickness.jpg


I hope that you are able to enjoy shooting this fine piece of history. The handling characteristics of guns like this will spoil you for everything else.

Sharptail
 
Sharptail, It was stricktly from memory, but I have gone & double checked now.

The best reference material I have ever come accross is the old "Gun Digests" each year for many years they covered the proof laws for one country, the British proof laws are covered in fantastic detail in the 1977 edition.

Mark
 
I was talking to my dad today about this fine piece and apparently it is not a demascus barrel. It seems in the 60's my grandpa put the "magnum" shells of that day through it with no issue.

Another point that seems to support that it is not demascus is the thin wall thickness of the barrel and the lack of demascus "texture" The barrels are very smooth.

I have some 3" slugs kicking around and they will completely seat into the chamber, with the action closed.

I will have some weight and dimensions shortly.

-Shane

EDIT(didn't want to double post)

Ok here is some measurements I’ve just collected.

Total assembled empty weight:

3.26kg (7.187lbs, conversions done by google, rounded up to the thousandth)

Barrel Lenth excluding extended extractors

777mm or 30 5/8” (You guys are lucky I have a bi-###ual tape measure)

Wall Thickness at Muzzle

Both - 1.65mm (0.065”)

Bore Diameter at Muzzle

Left – 17.68mm (0.696”)
Right – 17.67mm (0.695”)

Chamber Diameter

Left – 20.57mm (0.810”)
Right – 20.53mm (0.808”)

Chamber Wall Thickness (accessible portion at the break line)

Left – 4.95mm (0.195”)
Right – 5.12mm (0.202”)

I was unable to accurately measure the chamber depth due to the rounded edge leading into the bore. The micrometer feeler was roughly 73mm (2.874”) at the large ID of the rounded chamfer. As I said earlier a 3” slug did completely seat. I don’t know a whole lot about shotguns, but I’m guessing that a certain amount of large diameter is needed for when the husk opens up. So if my theory is correct it is not chambered for anything 3” in length.
 
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Interesting gun, NC. You mention extractors, but in one of your pictures the extractors are split as on an ejector gun. Also interesting is that in the first ad from 1901 that Mark posted it mentions "now available with ejectors" as if all previous ones of that model had extractors. Your action looks like a Webley patent. I have a Webley & Scott that looks very similar with the cross bolt made in 1904.
Mark, wasn't it the ammended rules of proof in 1896 when they first started to use the 12-c in a diamond for chambers less than 3" long? You know far more than I do about these things and I don't have your reference material. Nitro proofing was optional until 1925 so if my book (Game Guns and Rifles, Richard Akehurst) is right NC's Lewis may be 1896-1904.
 
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jimmyjazz said:
With some TLC she could be a fine shotgun again.

I would keep her.
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If I could afford too, I would.

I have an old ithica that appears to have a demascus barrel that is going to go onto the chopping block next.

If I didn't need a good welder so bad I probably wouldn't think of selling them.

It was either the shotgun's or the winchesters... and I like the rifles too much.
 
NavyCuda said:
If I could afford too, I would.

I have an old ithica that appears to have a demascus barrel that is going to go onto the chopping block next.

If I didn't need a good welder so bad I probably wouldn't think of selling them.

It was either the shotgun's or the winchesters... and I like the rifles too much.
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Like anything in life, it's all what you make of it. You didn't own this gun in the past, your grandfather did. You received it by will I assume... therefore it didn't cost you a dime, so "if I could afford too..." is a notion you've convinced yourself of. I've been there. Almost sold a rifle I received from my grandfather when I was younger, thank goodness I didn't go through with it. At the time, it was easy money, convinced myself I couldn't afford to keep it. Luckily, no buyers showed, my excuse was bollocks it hadn't cost me a cent!

All I'm saying... is I've been in your position. It seems crazy to me that one might drop a beautiful double that's been in the family more than half a century by the sounds of things because of the need for a new welder. Think it through! You may regret it. PS... that gun belongs in the field, not a trap range. ;) Trap's the last game I'd shoot with that gun.
 
Ardent said:
Like anything in life, it's all what you make of it. You didn't own this gun in the past, your grandfather did. You received it by will I assume... therefore it didn't cost you a dime, so "if I could afford too..." is a notion you've convinced yourself of. I've been there. Almost sold a rifle I received from my grandfather when I was younger, thank goodness I didn't go through with it. At the time, it was easy money, convinced myself I couldn't afford to keep it. Luckily, no buyers showed, my excuse was bollocks it hadn't cost me a cent!

All I'm saying... is I've been in your position. It seems crazy to me that one might drop a beautiful double that's been in the family more than half a century by the sounds of things because of the need for a new welder. Think it through! You may regret it. PS... that gun belongs in the field, not a trap range. ;) Trap's the last game I'd shoot with that gun.
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My grandfather loved to hunt with it, from what I understand. His hunting days were mostly over by the time I was born.

I do not have the heart to kill an animal. I have no problem with hunters, not to mention I wouldn't hesitate to hunt if I needed to. My issue is that there is already a food supply that readily available too me and I have no desire to kill something I wouldn't use.

There are alot of things that are getting sold that shouldn't.

I don't have the money to raise to buy out my grandfathers car... so sadly it will be sold.

He bought his dream car at a bomonts in Vancouver... a 1956 Bel-Air convertible for $4111. He was the original owner...

So you are right, this gun does belong out in the field. It doesn't deserve the 20 or 30 years of storage it has endured already. Shooting trap or skeet is all I would ever do with it and once or twice a year I imagine.

So if someone bought it that truly would enjoy it more than I would, that would be nice. Admittingly it would be sad to allow such a piece of history to leave my hands.
 
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