1891 CH Bernard 10/12ga

[Bruce Day]

A very early C Bernard hammerless.

Heavy Bernard 12's for waterfowl and light upland 26" D. 10's on a #2 frame. The gun was targeted with Wood's Smokeless Powder in 1891. It has a couple issues. The stock crack is fixed and functional but unattractive. The original skeleton butt was removed and a pad installed but the spur inletting is still there. Maybe a candidate for the Stock Doc.

[Rick Losey]

as always Bruce, great photos of a great gun.

it will also give our new member Alex something to compare his to for condition

[charlie cleveland]

very nice...charlie

[John Havard]

Bruce, you didn't find any "HG" initials anywhere on the frame? It sure looks like his work, doesn't it?

Thanks for sharing.

[Alex Lambert]

Wow, that's in very good condition. Nice to see what the one I have probably used to look like. Was this restored in any way? I'm very hesitant to attempt any cleaning because it would probably only make things worse and devalue the gun. The one I have was kept in a closet for 50+ years with a couple of other guns and I don't know how it was kept before that.

[Bruce Day]

Alex, bluntly, your family gun has significant problems. The stock has been replaced by an incorrect one without drop points and of incorrect wood poorly fitted. The skeleton butt plate is badly rusted. There are rust pits on the barrels.

The only thing that would devalue the gun further is to have chopped barrels. Cleaning with soap and water will not devalue the gun.

However, the gun is salvageable and restorable with money and effort. You would need a proper stock made, the butt plate filed to good metal and re-engraved, and the barrels carded and refinished. This is not an inexpensive proposition, however to restore the gun to its original glory, that is what is needed. If that is your goal and you need names, PM me.

John, yes it looks like Henry Gough's work, but I find no engraver's initials.

[Rick Losey]

to start Alex - if there is rust (like the buttplate) - get some oil on it and stop further damage

the metal can be cleaned with Frontier pads and oil

http://www.exploreproducts.com/big45-frontier-gun-cleaner.htm

go slow and careful. Even with the wear ( someone in your family's history had tales to tell with this gun) you have a great piece of family history to pass along.

[Bruce Day]

To the top again in view of the post asking about short 10's. With the 26 inch original Damascus barrel, this is a short 10.

An interesting comment in one of the Askin's books circa 1900 is that ruffed grouse hunters are recommended to use a short barreled 10 ga with cylinder bores and loads of 1 1/4 oz of No. 9 or 10 shot. That is what this gun is.

However, even with the short barrels, it is still about 7 1/2 lbs. A bit heavy for me to want to carry long in grouse thickets.

[Rick Losey]

a great tool for early in the season when the leave are still too thick

it takes me for ever to shoot them down with a 20 or even a 16



at that weight, i would give it a try- my 1 frame 12 scales at about 7 - so only a few more ounces

[David Dwyer]

Bruce
Fantastic Parker. I have a nice CH 10 Bernard & yours is the only other one I have seen. Any idea how many are still around?

[Bruce Day]

David, the gun is a two barrel set with the Bernards 12ga and the 10s Damascus.

TPS of course would tell us how many 10 ga Bernards were made, but I don't know how many are still around. Almost all Bernard barreled Parkers that I have seen or know of are
No. 2 frame 12ga 30". That is why your two barrel set of 1 frame 12's that you just sold and the BHE that I just showed with 12ga Bernard 1 frame 26 inchers are so uncommon. I know of only a couple 1 frame and a couple 1 1/2 frame 12s. And then the small bores are really rare, 2 sixteen ga 1 frame guns known.

Every once in a while another Bernard surfaces despite at least my thought that all that are out there have been revealed. That's what helps keep collecting interest high. I still have never seen or heard of the few 20 ga Bernards that were made. That's the grail for me.

[Dean Romig]

David, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that the C Grade you have pictured in not your CH 10 Bernard gun.... Am I right?

[Dean Romig]

I have examined a 12/10 CH Bernard gun (both barrel sets are 30" on the 2-frame) and it was originally made as a two-gauge, two-barrel set.

[Dean Romig]

Here are the 26" Bernard barrels with ejectors and twin ivories from a very special CHE built on the 1-frame. I would really love to find the gun ( 118705 ) that this set of barrels came from. 3 lbs., 5 oz. unstruck weight and the flat under the left tube is stamped with a "16".... I have no idea what the 16 represents but this is certainly a 12 gauge set of barrels.




.

[David Dwyer]

Dean
Good catch! No, it looks like my CHE 12ga live bird gun maybe.
Bruce, I wish you had ended up with that 1 frame 2 barrel Bernard set , one of a kind gun. Is the 10ga barrel on your gun original to the gun?
I will try to get the correct picture this time!
David

[Dean Romig]

Dean
Good catch! No, it looks like my CHE 12ga live bird gun maybe.
David

David
The one you showed in your first picture is a Remington era C grade with single trigger and with Robert Runge engraving.

.

[Bruce Day]

Yes the CH 10/12 is an original set.

Its all right, a friend owns your old gun. But I would like to find a 1 frame 12ga short barrel, or buy Dean's barrels for my C 16 B, they might fit right on.