Tweed's gun

[OH Osthaus]

I always say I have enough guns - but a new dog doesn't have any of his own

About the time we found Tweed - I found a post on GB listing a field grade 20 gauge Ithaca Flues wanting offers - a quick look at the photo's showed a grade 1 ejector gun in rough shape finish wise but still basically solid.

I made an offer which was accepted and another project arrived. Certainly not one of the 4E + so artfully engraved Ithacas we have seen here lately, but a gun deserving to be back in the coverts

the bores were great but the outside of the barrels were rough - the wood had a few issues, the grip cap was gone, the top lever was broken and when it came time to disassemble it I had to drive the crudded over under bolt out.

the barrels polished well after removing a band of outside pitting that looked like the result of the gun sitting in a rack for a long time. the wood was de-oiled and after some Acraglass and Timberluxe came out OK. A new top lever was fitted to replace the broken one - doing that makes you realize how non standard parts were and how much hand fitting was required - and it makes you understand a good gunsmith's rates

then some polishing of some internals and its all back together waiting for October and Tweed's first bird

a couple befores and an after

[Mike Franzen]

Nice job Rick!

[mobirdhunter]

Very nice! Maybe you should call it "Tweed's Lazarus Gun."

[Harold Pickens]

Nice job Rick! Looks like a 1 1/2 grade. I had one of those once with 28" F/F chokes (20 gage). Shot a woodcock with it that was way out there, flying down an abandoned rail bed. My buddy thought it over 50 yds, but we didn't step it off. It was a little rough also, but someone wanted to buy it from me and I had no real attachment, so I sold it--that was about 30 yrs ago.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Harold Lee Pickens

Nice job Rick! Looks like a 1 1/2 grade. I had one of those once with 28" F/F chokes (20 gage). Shot a woodcock with it that was way out there, flying down an abandoned rail bed. My buddy thought it over 50 yds, but we didn't step it off. It was a little rough also, but someone wanted to buy it from me and I had no real attachment, so I sold it--that was about 30 yrs ago.

the 1 1/2 grade with leaf engraving was introduced in 1915, the 1919 catalog announced that the grade 1 was upgraded to the 1 1/2 engraving style, and the 1 1/2 was dropped.

this is a 1920 gun based on the serial number list in Walt Snyder's book and the grade is stamped as 1

these are 28" barrels, the chokes are marked 2 and 4 - so mod and full. They seemed to work well on clay birds when I tried it at the club