Unmarked Hammer 12 Ga. Shotgun

[Rocky Nivison]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

rocky i would have me a hammer made for the gun and if a used hammer of same type turns up i would then put it on....enjoy your great grandfathers gun..a treasure it indeed is.... charlie

Thanks Charlie,
The man that lost the hammer made one that works now and probably more valuable, sentimentally, than a new hammer but there has to be 2360 more out there and one may have more markings. The gun is probably only worth about $200.00 and may stay in the family longer if it isn’t worth selling. The fun one can have researching such a thing, again, priceless. I wonder how many horses stage coach operators shot by accident because it has to be the most dangerous firearm ever made. I will have it disabled before passing it on.

[edgarspencer]

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...=260887014#PIC

It's a Riverside Arms, before Stevens bought them out

[Rocky Nivison]

Originally Posted by edgarspencer

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...=260887014#PIC

It's a Riverside Arms, before Stevens bought them out

Thank you Mr. Spencer
With out a stamp and possable a WWI triger becouse that odd looking trigger is oragional and has always been part of the gun as far as I can tell. It may also be a proto type from Fort Polk La.

[B. Dudley]

It kind of has the look of an early J. Stevens Arms and Tool gun.

But those would usually be marked. Other than that, it looks like no other hammer gun that I have seen.

[Rocky Nivison]

Originally Posted by Brian Dudley

It kind of has the look of an early J. Stevens Arms and Tool gun.

But those would usually be marked. Other than that, it looks like no other hammer gun that I have seen.

Thanks, Brian
It’s the way the stock is connected to the breach that is so different from any other. My uncle told me it was an 1894 Remington made for sears or someone that never got stamped, when he gave it to me about 5 years ago. I disclaimed that in about 30 minutes on the internet 3 days ago when I started researching it. 1889 was the last year of the Remington hammer gun although the 1889 hammer on the Remington is identical in pattern but like the gun not as solid. The hammer on both guns must have been patterned after one another. Which one came first are another mystery and another reason to find out the date of manufacture on this one. Remington may have bought out this company and implemented some of its better features, but this hammer gun probably is post 1900 and improved Remington’s features.
I'll look at the J. Stevens Arms and tool gun.

[Rocky Nivison]

Well let’s see if I can get this right and you will have to excuse me if I get anything wrong while trying to pull a rabbit ear shotgun out of a hat. 2361 could be 2-3-61 since my great granddads brother in law, (Fern Smith), lived to be 106 years old and was the last solder left alive for the C.S.A. and the second civil war solder living before he died. I met him on several accessions walking a mile through the woods to fish in his son’s pond, his sword was on the mantel over the fireplace, and they even brought his uniform out on one occasion. He was a cornel for the C.S.A... He couldn’t have been more than 12 or so when he fought for the south. 2 -3-61 is only 12 years before the Remington M1873 or "hammer lifter model". I can remember Fern’s sister my great grandmother siting on the porch and smoking cotton bowl chewing tobacco in a corn cob pipe and my mom said she grew marijuana out by the barn until they outlawed it in the 20 or 30’s. She lived to be 92. This shotgun belonged to my great-great granddad. Maybe he made it.

[B. Dudley]

What made me think of Steven was the shape of the bottom the receiver. It is very similar to teh hammerless 311's and 315's. Also the Forend iron looks like a Stevens.

However there are a lot about it that is not typical of the Stevens hammer guns that I have seen.

[Rocky Nivison]

Originally Posted by Brian Dudley

What made me think of Steven was the shape of the bottom the receiver. It is very similar to teh hammerless 311's and 315's. Also the Forend iron looks like a Stevens.

However there are a lot about it that is not typical of the Stevens hammer guns that I have seen.

Thanks again Brian,
I looked at one Stevens’s gun and the forearm looks similar too but I didn’t get a good enough picture to see much but no it’s not that model. I’ll look at the ones you referred to. I’ve been looking into date codes and stamps and Belgium used an A from 1911 to 1975 but they all had stars on top of the A. I am going to be a little slow responding because my brother will arrive shortly from Austin for 10 days of deer hunting. I can see this gun may be another lifelong hobby and I may have to turn it over to a local Vernon Parish museum where 3 of the original owners resided. I may be able to keep it in the family forever that way and some that used it may enjoy seeing it again. It will probably be about 10 days before I can give this my full attention again.

[Drew Hause]

Rocky: the markings on the receiver are not Belgian, and the odd rear trigger suggests that it is a low quality copy of the J Stevens Arms and Co Model 235 which was manufactured from 1912 to 1932. An example is shown here
http://www.gunsamerica.com/904677034..._MODEL_235.htm
As a piece of family history it is of course priceless, and should be retired to a place of honor in your home. Under no circumstances should it be fired.

[Rocky Nivison]

Originally Posted by Drew Hause

Rocky: the markings on the receiver are not Belgian, and the odd rear trigger suggests that it is a low quality copy of the J Stevens Arms and Co Model 235 which was manufactured from 1912 to 1932. An example is shown here
http://www.gunsamerica.com/904677034..._MODEL_235.htm
As a piece of family history it is of course priceless, and should be retired to a place of honor in your home. Under no circumstances should it be fired.

Thanks Drew,
Yep that’s it and thank you so very, very much. And thanks to everyone for your help and support. Looks like you were on the right track Brian. And a special thanks to the Parker Gun Co. for making this discovery possible. Now I have the information needed so maybe my great-great grand nephew can tell his class mates, this was my great-great-great-great great granddads J Stevens Arms and Co Model 235 rabbit ear shotgun.