side by side
- Thread starter homegrown
- Start date
Not enough information . A picture of the gun, a good clear picture of the bottom of the barrels in the breech area and a good clear picture of the frame under the breech with the barrels removed. The marks in these areas will/may tell where it was made and if it is proofed for black powder or smokeless powder. If you have a Russian Baikal shotgun there is sometimes a model number on the piece of plastic on the end of the pistol grip or butt plate.
Pull off the forearm. Some times info is stamped on the underside of the barrels and is hidden by the forestock. Most of these guns had one modified barrel and one full choke.(Not all of them) If you have access to a caliper you can measure the barrel ends to see if they are different or the same. Most guns were made for 2 3/4" inch ammo and if they were chambered for 3" they were stamped accordingly...ST...
Unless it is a very old turn of the century shotgun which is what I suspect with the only marking being " steel" which could/maybe indicate it is not damascus and anything that is trying to tell you it isn't damascus probably/maybe has a 2 1/2in. chamber for the old rolled crimped shotshells. But this is all a guess with so little information.
Take it apart, e.g. take off firearm and then take off the barrels. Look for markings. As for chokes, there is some weird way to get them with canadian coins (10 cents = something). Usually for 3" it's IC & M, for older 2 3/4 it's often F & F or F & M. For chamber, just use a rod and slide it on the inner side of the barrel until you hit the bump, mark the rod. If it's 3" = 2 3/4 shells, 3 1/4" = 3" shells. If your 3" fits it means nothing!!! 3" shell will fit 2 3/4" chamber, but can blew up the gun.
You must also remember that a shotshell isn't 2 3/4" or 3" in length until it has been fired. That is why you can put a unfired 3" shell in a 2 3/4" chamber.
BEARMAN's likely on the right track. Based on the lack of additional stampings, your gun is probably of older vintage. Early coach guns were cut down field guns. Manufacturers began producing dedicated coach models only after they became aware of the demand for the configuration.
In addition to the likelihood of 2 1/2" chambers, it probably didn't start life as a coach gun (although the possibility still exists that it did). Chances are, though, that it was originally long-barreled and was cut back at some point. If this is the case, the proof marks on the barrel flats and on the water table may relate to the original choke configuration and not to the current modified state. (the original fixed chokes would have been entirely eliminated, if the barrels were shortened by roughly 4" or more).
So, you see why we need pictures. We have to establish the make and model and approximate year of manufacture before we can even tell you if it's a coach gun model to begin with.
In addition to the likelihood of 2 1/2" chambers, it probably didn't start life as a coach gun (although the possibility still exists that it did). Chances are, though, that it was originally long-barreled and was cut back at some point. If this is the case, the proof marks on the barrel flats and on the water table may relate to the original choke configuration and not to the current modified state. (the original fixed chokes would have been entirely eliminated, if the barrels were shortened by roughly 4" or more).
So, you see why we need pictures. We have to establish the make and model and approximate year of manufacture before we can even tell you if it's a coach gun model to begin with.
