Ian Stanfield

UK

 

Top leaver opening - hammer gun.

 

12 bore

 

Top rib –

 

Serial number 1369

 

Ian has recently taken over the custodianship of this gun from his Father in Law. At first sight it is a fairly conventional hammer gun of a nice grade if not the absolute top quality. Three things stand out which could well justify further investigation. The barrels are black - which could be that they have been blacked over the damascus, replaced, sleeved, or if they are original they could be very early steel barrels - the proof marks should tell us more. The forend tip is made of metal rather than the more usual horn and the wood to metal fit is not as tight as you would expect. The checkering is very sharp - almost too sharp for a gun of this age - so has the forend wood been replaced and the tip changed or was this a bespoke gun with the owner wanting something a little different from the normal. The last anomaly is the serial number 1369 which doesn't seem to fit in with the sequence for that era.Ian is bringing the gun over for me to have a look at in the near future so I will update shortly.