A C Grade without Barrels

[Bill Murphy]

I'm bringing this thread to the top for the reading pleasure of "Dollar", the owner of the recent South Carolina gun show find, another C Grade two barrel set that started life in South Carolina. I just reread the entire thread and punched the "Thanks" button for all posts that were supportive of my efforts. Kevin has finished the case and we will try to get some pictures of the entire outfit. The provenance of the owner and seller of the gun is astounding, including Civil War anecdotes concerning invading Yankees and home invasions, as well as plantation life in post war years.

[charlie cleveland]

bill did you ever find the rest of the gun.. charlie

[Bill Murphy]

Yes, Charlie, the gun is all together in its original Parker Brothers trunk case with both sets of barrels and the back end intact. It was at least a 25 year search, but it is over. The best part is that the DH Grade gun I bought to fit to the barrels on the CH Grade has been reunited with its original barrels also. It is all covered in this "too lengthy" thread. Thank you to all who participated, especially Jack Cronkhite, without whose help this project would not have been possible.

[Bill Murphy]

Gary Carmichael also participated in the reunion by locating the original missing barrels for the DH Grade gun that I had used to put the Charleston gun back in action. Both guns are worth the effort used to put them "together again". Otherwise, a two barrel CH Bernard gun and a DH Damascus gun would be just a jumble of parts separated by hundreds or thousands of miles.

[Larry Mason]

Thanks for re-posting this, Bill. It was just as thrilling as the first time. You would not happen to have the Damascus barrels for a BH 1 1/2 frame, serial number 83030?

Thanks again,
Larry

[Bill Murphy]

Ok, here's the end of the story. Gary Carmichael had the barrels that fit the DH gun that John Davis had the back end for. Gary bought those off of a gun show table in NC. I bought both the back end and the barrels from John, but was short a forend. John had used the Titanic barrels and forend from 74151 to make a two barrel set out of a favorite BH. Fast forward a few years, and John Davis advertised the Titanic barrels for sale on the PGCA forum. I PMed John about the barrels, not knowing they were from my gun #74151. John didn't remember either, or he would have contacted me before putting the barrels up for sale. Fast forward again, I bought the barrels and forend and this morning, located the back end and Damascus barrels for 74151 in my gun room and snapped on John's Titanic barrels and forend. Now, I not only have a two barrel CH (The Charleston Gun), but I have a beautiful two barrel DH with Damascus and Titanic barrels and original forend, although John had renumbered the Titanic barrels and forend to the number of his BH gun. Now I have two great multi barrel sets thanks to four or more of our members, most important, Jack Cronkhite, Kevin McCormack, Gary Carmichael, and John Davis, as well as Paul Ludwig on the West Coast, who had the CH back end, and Bud Stanley, who hooked me up with Paul and the CH.

[TARNATION !!!]

Great end to the story Bill. Gun now needs a good hunting story to put the icing on the cake. Cheers, Jack

[Bill Murphy]

Jack, the hero of this story, I checked the spelling of your name this time and edited my post to give you proper credit. Thank you so much, my good friend.

[Bindlestiff]

Wow, great to see it all come together! Any idea how or why these "parts" originally went into the wind?

[Bill Murphy]

The CH Bernard gun was separated from its barrels in a house in PA. The back end of the gun went to the West Coast, the barrels, forends and case ended up at the Allentown, PA show where Kevin saw them and told me about them. The DH gun was separated from its barrels, the Damascus barrels ending up at a gun show in NC and the rest of the gun in Georgia. Gary Carmichael bought those Damascus barrels in NC , took them home to Virginia and offered them for sale. I saw the ad, bought them and took them to Maryland. The fluid steel barrels that came from out of the blue ended up with John Davis in Georgia. He would use those and the 74151 forend on his BH two barrel project. Those barrels would have disappeared into gun commerce except that I saw John's ad offering them for sale. When John and I were negotiating, he realized that I owned the back end of the gun that belonged to his barrels and forend. So, like always, I bought them. Now everything is safe at home in Maryland. Two complete two barrel sets reunited. I think I got all this right.