Help ID this Double Barrel Hammer Shotgun
- Thread starter rvd
- Start date
Boothroyd lists Clabrough from 1871 on sometimes by himself and sometimes as brothers and sometimes in partnership. The specific choice is probably on the top rib including their address which may be a clue as to date. The fact that the gun is a top lever and has rebounding hammers makes me guess that the gun dates sometime after the 1880s. The proofs under the barrels particularly the details of choking and "not for ball" if present would help.
The Clabrough guns that I have seen and owned have been of reasonably good quality.
Most shotgun barrels are about .15" thick at the breach; if your barrels are markedly thicker than that, the gun is built on the frame of a heavier guage. Although not common, I have seen a number of guns built on much heavier frames and I am not sure quite why unless it was for firing very heavy loads or perhaps for having a second heavier guage set of barrels. The extra set of barrels does not seem probable to me since at least some of the guns I have seen like that have been more or less economy grade guns
cheers mooncoon
The Clabrough guns that I have seen and owned have been of reasonably good quality.
Most shotgun barrels are about .15" thick at the breach; if your barrels are markedly thicker than that, the gun is built on the frame of a heavier guage. Although not common, I have seen a number of guns built on much heavier frames and I am not sure quite why unless it was for firing very heavy loads or perhaps for having a second heavier guage set of barrels. The extra set of barrels does not seem probable to me since at least some of the guns I have seen like that have been more or less economy grade guns
cheers mooncoon
Mooncoon, you'll also run into guns built on a heavier frame than you would think, just because it was easier to make them ike that: less custom work. I have a W&C Scott & Sons 11-bore double (numbered 2 of a set, so there is another one out there somewhere) which is built on an extremely heavy frame, appears heavier than the frame on my 10. I wrote to them, many years ago, and got a reply saying that they thought they made it about 1870, but that their records went up in smoke in the Blitz. They didn't even know that they had built an 11, but the thing is in my safe right now. Paper 10 shells won't chamber in it, paper 12s are 'way too loose..... and it's marked 11 on both barrels. Nice old piece, FULLY engraved, but it needs 2 men and a boy to carry it around.
The breech on the OP's gun looks awfully massive in comparison to the rest of the gun. I was wondering if this were an 8 or something else fun.
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The breech on the OP's gun looks awfully massive in comparison to the rest of the gun. I was wondering if this were an 8 or something else fun.
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