NR Davis and Sons
 

Looked at this old gun for a friend and ran across odd bore measurements at least to me, 12 ga with bores of .700 in both barrels. Know where Parkers and others typically measure but this one surprised me. Thoughts?

.700 lists out as a 13 ga.

This is about as much as we know about N.R. Davis shotguns
https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads...otguns.550118/

Did you personally measure that bore? How far from the breech?

Bore
 

I did measure and it and it was consistent in both barrels, from before the beginning of choke to about 10".

The tightest 12-gauge bore I've measured is .708" on a Fox Gun Co., Balto., Md., U.S.A. A-Grade.

Is this a hardware store N.R. or is it one of the older more interesting ones? Pictures would tell us.

NR
 

Bill it is one of the old ones, 1900 ish I believe
Think it was batch 29 one.

Batch 29 One??

NR
 

From some reading I have done they referenced batches or perhaps models/ production runs but again just reading. It is a wall hanger gun but was special to him as it has been in family for 100 plus years.

N.R. Davis, like all the U.S. double gun makers, sourced the majority of their "rough forged tubes" or "rough bored tubes" from Belgium, from Cockerill steel.
The tubes were rebored, chambers cut, joined and finished by the U.S. makers.
.700 would be about 18.0 mm
I've looked through a bunch of period resources but couldn't find the typical bore of the "rough forged tubes" but suspect 18.0 is pretty close.
I'm aware of a Crescent that slipped through never having been rebored with a bore of about .700
I assume the bore did appear to have been finished?
Maybe a bad day (or the day after St. Patrick's Day? :) ) in the barrel dept.?

http://books.google.com/books?id=QDk...AJ&pg=PA879&dq
STATEMENT OF MR. THOMAS HUNTER, OF FULTON, N. Y., REPRESENTING THE HUNTER ARMS CO. AND OTHERS
The Chairman. Will you state the companies you represent, Mr. Hunter.?
Mr. Hunter. The Hunter Arms Co., the Baker Gun & Forging Co., Parker Bros. Gun Co., Hopkins & Allen Arms Co., A. H. Fox Gun Co., Lefever Arms Co., H. & D. Folsom Arms Co., Ithaca Gun Co., N. R. Davis & Sons, and Harrington & Richardson Arms Co.
Senator McCumber. Does the American manufacturer use the unfinished importation?
Mr. Hunter. He uses what are designated in the present bill as "gun barrels rough-bored." That is what we import.
Senator McCumber. To what extent do you use those?
Mr. Hunter. Entirely.
Senator McCumber. You do not manufacture any of them?
Mr. Hunter. No, sir. We have no facilities for making shotgun barrels.