Quality CH
 

Some photos of the action of a Quality C. Top action hammer. The action is nice, the Bernard barrels need work but are not cut, the stock is highly figured but dark European walnut and a new forend will need to be made. The stock is being refinished and will be really nice. Skeleton butt.

This is a gun worth restoration and it will be done correctly.

On a related issue, a machinist of small parts has asked if there is a small part that sometimes needs replacement that he could supply. I'm thinking check hooks, particularly since they are all the same size and occasionally break. I keep an extra in my travel gunsmith kit. Suggestions from readers would be appreciated.

Wow! Just wow.

Looking forward to the 'after' pictures of this great C.

Looks like I need a refresher course in identifying hammer guns vs hammerless guns.:shock:

Maybe that machinist could make hammers.

Bruce I love the dog and fence on the bottom. It's a split rail fence. My fence I think was a solid affair, almost a stockade.
Does that make 7 known C grade hammer guns with Bernard's?

Boy I sure went stupid there didn't I ? I corrected the text but the title, once set, cannot be edited.

You all are correct of course. For the uninitiated, CH refers to a hammerless gun ( internal hammer), whereas C means external hammer.

George, I think you have the count right. Should be seven known. This one is pretty neat, with the split rail fence. With the D grade guns and lower, the engraving has little variance, but with the C's and above, the first thing you do is see what is in the engraving. Makes them interesting. I would not be surprised if there were at least several more C's still extant and not generally known to the collecting community. Maybe some are good condition, others not so.

Bruce you are not stupid. The designation C vs. CH is stupid.
It would have made more sense if C was the "hammerless" and CH was C with hammers. But since the outside hammers came first, we are stuck. And of course the newer guns are NOT hammerless; the hammers are hidden.

Can you tell us the SN?

This one is owned by a turnip farmer friend who has to have a good year at the roadside vegetable stand to pay for the work, but I will get the SN sometime.

Another farmer in Illinois is sharpening his axe to whittle out the forend.

How do we know which seven we are counting? The book calls for 75. It's hard to believe that only seven are in our group.