1881, damascus steel, 10 gauge with pictures

[John F. Collins]

Greetings All,

I am a new member to this forum. I am not a collector per se, but more of a shooter with modern rifles and pistols. I recently came to possess a Parker Brothers shotgun.
The story goes like this. It was 1972 and my family had moved into the same house my Dad grew up in. Our neighbors, 4 doors down, were 2 sisters in their 90’s. They called my father and stated that they had found a gun and they wanted him to “get it out of the house!!” When my Dad came back to our house I could see that he had a shotgun that was a mess. It looked like lots of rust and dirt. The lifter mechanism was working and after ensuring that it was unloaded I was allowed to hold it. My dad said that it was in the rafters of the basement. This house was built in 1858 so it could have been there a long time.
The shotgun was given to a friend of my Dad’s who restored it. The result was quite amazing. My Dad had it till he died in 1994 and then my brother got it. My brother had some low power black powder rounds made for it and fired a few founds without any ill effects. Earlier this year my brother passed it on to me as it has just been sitting in a closet.
My research shows that it was made in 1881 as a grade 2, 10 gauge with Damascus steel barrels. There is a fair amount of pitted steel on the barrels and the insides while shiny appear to have minor pitting the length of the barrels. The stock appears in excellent condition with a couple of dings. The barrels look like they were blued and a screw head near the barrel lugs has been buggered up.

I took several photos and would appreciate any observations or insight. This doesn't look like anything rare and valuable, except to me.


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