Tobin Arms SxS 16ga .. info?

doubletap9

doubletap9

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I found this in my Dad's place after he passed away. It's my Grandfathers old Tobin Arms SxS 16ga. Haven't been able to find out much about it, hoping someone here can fill in the blanks. It's got double triggers, action is super tight ( despite the decrepit looks ) and still seems to click right ( I dry fired it once to see if they actually worked ). A little leery of firing it .. I found a box of old IVI "Canuck" 16ga to go with it, but would like to know if these had a good rep for quality before I give it a try. The Tobin Arms stamp is on both sides of the receiver, found the serial when I took it apart.

Was pondering possibly taking a shot at refinishing it, but I'd like to find a bit more out about it if I could.

Any help would be appreciated. :D


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That's Grampa's Family Crest on the buttstock .. ( he was my Step-Grampa to be exact )

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I used my father's Tobin 12ga. for many years. Dad only ever used Imperial Special Long Range, kicked something awful. It even had a handmade fore-end. I couldn't tell you if your particular shotgun is safe to fire, only a competent gunsmith can do that, but Tobin shotguns are well built and well thought of.

Edited: Please don't "refinish" the old shotgun.
 
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You don't ever see many Tobins up for sale or ever period, I would leave as is as this is one of the few guns made by a Canadian company. And those nice side plates give it a touch of class you don't see often anymore as it is expensive to manufacture nowadays with prices of labour and materials. I would clean the cobwebs out of the bore and go shoot some clays and take it for a walkabout after partridge this coming fall. I know I have info. on this company somewhere but can't lay my fingers on it at this moment, alls I remember was they were not around very long before they ran into troubles, I once had a 22 bolt action made by this company but foolishly sold as i was not aware how hard they are to comeacross. If I find the info on the Tobin Co. I will put a post up, take care Dale
 
Sweet! Thanks for the info and the link, Gentlemen .. :)

I noticed the metal in the forend is still pristine case-hardened color. Is there a safe way to clean the brown patina off the receiver and restore the case-hardened look? If it's a collector, I know that's sort of blasphemous but the pics on Sharptails are very nice, and I have no plans to let it go anywhere. I would like to clean it up a bit. It's not the usual rickety family relic of a SxS ... the more I go over it, the more I realize it is a seriously well put together, quality piece.

Thanks Again .. :D

DT
 
You can't restore the colour case so don't clean off the patina. If you use the gun your hands will make the receiver somewhat brighter in time. It's a nice old gun.
 
Does yours have the Krupp steel barrels? As others have mentioned don't mess with a good thing.
 
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bosley said:
Does yours have the Krupp steel barrels? As others have mentioned don't mess with a good thing.
Click to expand...

I checked underneath the barrel, I don't see the 'FLUID STEEL KRUPP ESBEN' stamping, so I'm guessing not. Do you figure it should still be ok to shoot even if it doesn't have the Krupp barrels? The forend seems to have the remnants of nice checkering, and I found a faint "1919" lightly carved into the wood with likely a pen-knife, and my Gramps last name carved inside the forend where it fits against the barrels. The more I look, the more neat stuff I find .. :)

DT
 
Thanks Road King !

According to the book, it seems I may have a Krupp barrel .. I remember a "54" stamped by the forend lug . ( going to check later ). This was a wealth of info, and a really interesting history lesson .. Thanks again !

DT
 
I really also enjoyed your posting of this article, the info I have is somewhat less technical than your excelent posting, very much appreciated by us dyed in the wool gun collectors who still love hunting with these older pieces of history, take care Dale
 
Please don't mess with the finish in any way other than to clean it with quality oil.
Leave it as is!

doubletap9 said:
Sweet! Thanks for the info and the link, Gentlemen .. :)

I noticed the metal in the forend is still pristine case-hardened color. Is there a safe way to clean the brown patina off the receiver and restore the case-hardened look? If it's a collector, I know that's sort of blasphemous but the pics on Sharptails are very nice, and I have no plans to let it go anywhere. I would like to clean it up a bit. It's not the usual rickety family relic of a SxS ... the more I go over it, the more I realize it is a seriously well put together, quality piece.

Thanks Again .. :D

DT
Click to expand...
 
If you ever find yourself in the London area, shotgunsmith Nick Makinson had one of these on his bench the last time I visited him. I have the article above and a couple more as well I think. What I recall is the locks are of a unique design, sort of half boxlock, half sidelock.

Nick could certainly check the gun out for you: check the locks/safety, measure the wall thickness of the barrels, etc.

From what he told me, I wouldn't shoot heavy loads through it. The wood at the wrist is particularly thin on these guns because of the lock design and you don't want to crack it.

What are the barrel lengths and chokes are your gun? I'd love one of these for grouse hunting. My 12 ga SxS gets a little heavy after a long day but the cost of a nice 20 ga makes my head spin LOL.
 
cantom said:
Please don't mess with the finish in any way other than to clean it with quality oil.
Leave it as is!
Click to expand...

I intend to do as advised, no worries. :D I'm just going to give it a good soft toothbrush scrub and wipe down with oil ( It's been in several closets for a great many years, and the dust is quite thick on it.) and maybe clean the wood in some fashion that won't disturb the crest on the stock.

I am going to take it out to the range on my day off tomorrow and take a few shots with the old canuck ammo. They appear to be light bird loads, so I don't anticipate any problems. I'll see how the shot patterns.
 
Well, I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth .. and touched 'er off .. :D

Nice shootin' piece .... pattern opened up to about a half-hand-span at 15yds, and the recoil was very slight. Very stiff opening, this shotgun is still mechanically very tight. Cleaning the bore makes me think this is a fully-choked gun .. the bore cotton brush was near impossible to pop out the muzzle. Only fired six rounds ( that leaves me 19 Canuck's ... ) but was very impressed. Now for a detailed cleaning and back to the safe for now. Might try some fall bird-hunting on my buds farm with it. In the meantime, I'll hunt for some vintage 16ga to hunt with ... :)

DT
 
If your looking for reasonably priced 16 gauge ammo for bird hunting or shooting clay birds try RIO it is excellent stuff for the price, if you can't locate any PM me and I will hook you up, Dale in T-Bay
 
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