A Harrington & Richardson 300 dollar grade.
 

Some consider the H&R doubles built in the 1880s under license from Westley Richards to be the "best" American double built. Not many went out of the factory during the relatively short period of manufacture. And VERY few of their top grade ($300) were built. Here is one of them in 12g.

The wood on this H&R was very poorly refinished at one time. It was heavily over-sanded, and still had 80g sand scratches all over it. Whatever finish was used was glossy, heavily applied with runs and did nothing to show the color or figure of the wood. It was almost a honey tan color with that finish on it. The checkering pattern was barely visible.

The buttstock was barely salvageable from the sanding it inflicted, but it cleaned up well. The forend was a different story. It was so over-sanded at the metal that using it would be a poor decision, so it needed to be replaced. During disassembly, the forend latch fell out in 3 pcs. It was a very thin and delicate piece that would likely not hold up to weld repairing and then the inletting process for the new forend. Since it was a A&D design and very similar in shape to the latches used on AH Fox shotguns, I decided to retrofit a new Fox latch for use on the new forend. It was a very good solution which required a little reshaping of the barrel lug. The Fox latch was only a little bit longer than the original H&R latch, which was of no concern since all the wood was going to be new anyway.

After making of the new forend with horn tip, the new latch was engraved to match the original by Gournet. It was then hardened and colors removed as to match the condition of the rest of the gun.

An oil finish did absolute wonders for the original buttstock. When I stripped the finish and sanded it to 320, I could tell that it had very nice figure, but that was only amplified by the new oil finish that was applied.

The original borderless checkering pattern was recut on the wrists. And the pattern from the original forend was cut new on the replacement forend.

A new Silvers Pad finished off the back end of the gun.

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wow

very nice

Few realize it, but the H&R double is probably the primary reason why the Parker hammerless gun exists. Details in my upcoming book...

Now that's very well done. Thanks for sharing the restoration photos.

Available for purchase when?





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Wow, that is beautiful Brian. It has to be rewarding to bring these old gems back to life. Thanks for sharing the story and pictures with us.

Dean:
My book detailing the complete story of Anson & Deeley is at the publisher's now. I will let the good folks at PGCA know when and where it will be available. But for now, I offer this august audience an excerpt from my chapter on William Anson, specifically, Westley Richards' 1883 correspondence re: Parker Bros.


"Messrs. Harrington & Richardson
Worcester, Mass. USA

Gentlemen:
We have an application from Parker Bros. Meriden, Conn., asking us to give them a license to make our hammerless action. This of course we are unable to do as you are our sole licensee for the whole of the United States..."

MUCH more in the book. From ALL involved.

Thanks John - that's very interesting... Can't wait.





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I have passed up more than one H&R shotgun over the years. Big mistake as I see it now. The bad part is that I knew what I was looking at.

interesting ! The book should be more interesting.

Great work as usual Brian. The stock and checking are first class.

Nice save Brian and exceptional work as always.

Nice job.

Nice work Brian. I was in Virginia for work recently and had the chance to stop at the National Firearms Museum at the NRA headquarters in Fairfax. Definitely worth visiting just to see the three Invincibles. They also had 4 H&R doubles on display. They were all lower grade guns and unfortunately lacked any detailed information. Years ago when I was working for Brad we had an "A" grade #50 come through the shop. He wrote an article for DGJ about it and as I recall there just wasn't a lot of information available on them at the time. I am looking forward to learning more about the short lived A&D connection.

Just an FYI:
Brad's No. 50 A Grade is pictured and discussed fully in my book. Along with an array of ALL the top grade H&R doubles. What's more, I believe readers will be surprised as to why H&R decided to halt double gun production - and exactly who assumed the market role for US customers...!