Iver Johnson Skeeter 410 value question
 

What would be a reasonable price for a mint 410 Iver Johnson Skeeter (skeet and skeet chokes)?

26", $4000, 28", $4500, 30", $7000, assuming automatic ejectors. Original factory Miller trigger, add about $300.

Bill. , thanks. I looked at one locally today. 26 inch barrels, all original, near mint. Came out of an elderly ladies closet where its been sitting for over many years. Barely been shot. no mods. $3,200. I'm buying it. Can't resist these small gauge sxs's. I plan to strip the urethane finish or whatever the factory put on it and replace it with a nice oil finish. The wood on this skeeter is absolutely spectacular.

Good buy but I would leave it as is myself!

When I have it in hand, I'll take pics of it and have posted here

I'm with you Allen, I hate urethane finishes. They are fine on modern soulless guns, but a nice double needs an oil finish. Those Skeeter's are wonderful little shooters.

Im told they did not make many of them. 300?

Take the original high gloss finish off and reduce my estimates by $500. I must admit that my 30" .410 skeeter has a matte finish, but I think it's factory special order, like the 30" barrels.

Pictures and specs and condition would be necessary in order to place a value on it.

"Mint" could mean 'fully restored and never used since' in some folks' lexicon.





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Dean, By mint I mean there is not a mark on the gun. Barrel bluing is clean and shows no wear whatsoever. Apart from the factory finish on the wood, there are no cracks, scratches etc. Gun is tight as a drum. barrel insides are clean and bright showing nothing at all. Bluing on frame show no wear at all....as if it just left the factory. No cracks, dents. I just dont like urethane finishes per se on old doubles and prefer oil. Gun just doesnt look like it had much handling and shooting. And when I'm gone, Logan, my grandson or Campbell will inherit it,

Dean, when I pick it up, Ill send you a bunch of pictures for your critical eye and comment. You will like it, especially the beautiful wood Iver Johnson put on it.

IJ used beautifully figured wood on the SKEETERs. I'd love to see it.
... so you bought it already?
PG or straight?? Single trigger or double" Mine had a selective Miller.





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It's not always about "collector" value. Why have a gun that you think can look better? It's ultimately the owner's decision. A very high grade gun I'd leave as is, but then I wouldn't buy it anyway. I'd want to shoot it and shoot it a lot!! Verstehen?

Dean, I'm picking it up next week. Pistol grip, ejectors and double triggers. Dean, the wood on this skeeter is better than what's on my DHE Repros. The dark burl is stunning. The one drawback is that for a 410 it is a bit on the heavy side. But I'll get over that. A good friend of mine at the club shoots a very nice Browning 410 over under. When I show him this 410 skeeter it will blow his mind. I'll have to let him shoot it. Do you know how many of these Iver Johnson made? I'm told that it was less than 500.

Hate to say it but I agree with Murphy , nice factory original beats refinished 24/7 in my book :whistle:

I dont plan on selling it. What my 2 grandsons do with it after I'm gone is not my concern.

IJ never used a urethane finish on the SKEETERs.

And yes, they’re bit heavier than some of us think they ought be but that’s because they were made as competition Skeet guns, not as something you’d be carrying all day in the grouse woods.





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Then what is the finish they put on? It looked like urethane to me

or some type of hard finish other than oil

I have an IJ Hercules 410 26” straight grip double triggers , it’s actually a little to light and whippy . But I still shoot it well on the skeet field if I pay attention .

Depends on when it was made... urethane wasn't being used as a gunstock finish until at least 1940 having just been invented in 1937.





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I think IJ ceased production of the skeeter in 1941

According to the I.J. catalogs the stocks and forearms were "lacquer finished."

Attachment 115961

DuPont Duco would be a likely candidate.

i like the info in the ad of the shot % at 30 and 20 yds for skeet bore. going to test my fox skeet and upland at those distances. :) i just noticed that the skeet guns had reversed choking. Ad said " Rt barrel 75 % at 30 yds (out going birds) and Lt barrel 75% at 20 yds."( in coming birds) choked like a Parker skeet gun. The fox skeet and upland choke like a normal SxS Lt tighter than the Rt.
scott

If it is laquered and with a very glossy finish, it was likely a French Polished finish, which required more work than a well finished oil. It is a method used on best quality guitars and violins for centuries. Given that it is original, I would personally live with the gloss. JMHO.

The advertisement notes the .410 was built on a different frame size. Does this mean they used the same frame for 12s and 28s? I've only seen a few of these and handled just a handful, so I'm now curious about the frame sizing.

As for the finish and whether to change or leave it, my two cents ain't worth a nickel.:)

Here is an extensive PGCA Forum thread on achieving a French polish. I do not believe the word,” lacquer” comes up at any point.

https://parkerguns.org/forums/showth...=French+polish

Highlights from the thread:

"Please note that french polish, for those that dont know, is a shellac finish" –Brian Dudley

"French Polish is just shellac with a little oil applied to the pad to keep the pad from sticking to the wood when applied. Oil and shellac don't mix so only the shellac goes on the wood except if you use too much oil, Shellac dries almost immediately so when you complete one application, you can start again. Many applications can be put on in one day. Search the Internet for how to do french polish. I use amber shellac from Bullseye which can be thinned if needed. If you use flakes it needs to be cut down for the proper thickness." -Chuck Bishop

And, as for THE PARKER STORY, in a section on “Stock Finishing”, page 439, the phrase “French polish” is absent, but Charles Parker explains a Parker application process that uses simultaneously shellac and linseed oil.

Last month I attended a large, long gun auction where there were a number of Parkers advertised. There were some "Skeeters" included in the auction. The first one was a 20 ga that sold for $2100. The second was a 410 that went for $4400.00. My interest, as has long been the case, was for a 16ga DHE Parker. Unfortunately, for me was that this was a one of one Parker with factory 25" barrels. I thought it would bring much more than my meager budget would allow and it did. The ironic thing is that there was a PGCA letter to the then owner and at the time the letter was furnished the Parker resided just a few miles from me.

Texan K.C. Miller ran the first .410 100X100 in NSSA competition. K.C. owned a .410 Skeeter and a .410 Parker and no one seems to know which gun he was shooting the day he ran that "first 100 straight". He was noted in Iver Johnson ads but there was no mention of the 100 straight. His .410 Parker was a 28" 00 frame horse of a gun that weighs over seven pounds, maybe closer to eight pounds. Where is that gun today? Anyone know?

Van Campen Heilner, famous waterfowl author, now long-deceased, owned a .410 SKEET-ER and his name appears on the same page, I think 1 line above the one I owned, in the A&F records of IJ SKEET-ERs that Bob Beach supplied to me in his wonderfully extensive research package. I wonder if he hunted dovekies, pied-billed greebes and sandpipers with it.... :rolleyes:





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Im going to leave the stock alone for now. My priority at the moment is to get it on the skeet field at my club (Plymouth Rod and Gun) and shoot clays with it. Thanks for all the input gents.

Belay my last gents. I went over to the shop today to give the skeeter a more extensive look, The lacquer finish is 'crazed' pretty much all over. That will have to be addressed. Also, I noticed that the safety slide seemed a bit tight to move it in the forward position and also when bringing it back to safe. I want that addressed as well. When disassembled it would be prudent to have the action checked and cleaned.

By the way, from what I've learned, IJ only produced 500, 410 ga. Skeeters.

My thinking today is to have someone address both. Any recommendations? I have not spoken with Dan Cullity or Ryan his son who are local to me but I'm open to consider other recommendations. Suggestions anyone?

I had Ryan Cullity strip the crazed o lacquer finish off the stock and put a nice oil finish on it. Came out beautifully. The action was also stripped and cleaned. It functions flawlessly now.. This Skeeter is a pure pleasure to shoot skeet with.

I would love to see some pictures:corn:

Me too.......:corn:






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Had it in my hands today, and I must say, I've never seen a Sweeter Skeeter.

I also had the pleasure of handling this little beauty at Jay's Parker get-together on Saturday, and I echo Edgar's opinion, it is one sweet little gun. Great find Allen.

Brdhntr, glad you are leaving the finish alone. Shoot it and enjoy it as is and if shot enough you’ll take some of that “shine” off the wood! And to boot you won’t diminish the value at all like you would if you had a flat out mint gun’s wood refinished. Looking forward to seeing pics. Congrats on a great buy and great gun!! Just recently saw an exceptionally nice 28 gauge Skeeter which is very hard to come by.

I sent pics of this Skeeter to Steve Hodges the other day. Steve can post them here or email to anyone. I've never figured out how to post pics on this site.

You must be related to our friend, Mr. Murphy…

You sent me these pics this morning.


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