If we allow a nice WRA 1892- then a "rears & SawbucKo"

[Old and Reliable]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Maybe Mossberg was making the Sears BA gun for them. There has always been the warning told among shooters of the same problem with the Mossberg bolt flying back out of the receiver at the shooter's face. Might just be a rumor but rumors seem to start with a grain of truth somewhere.

-- Hard to say- as there is no serial number and Sears, like Monkey Ward and gamble-Skogmo have long ago dropped out of the mail order and retail shotgun business. I'm more inclined to think High Standard or Marlin- this one seems mechanically "all there" but after I repair the stock and re-assemble- I'll put about 25-30 12 ga. 2 & 3/4" Brenekke slugs through it from a Lead Sled- it is passes that test, it should be fine from the shoulder with a No. 6 HV lead load for Turkeys- this is only chambered for 2 & 3/4" shells as marked on the barrel- wonder if they made a 3" mag 12 gauge- maybe even the "Long Tom" with a 36" Pole Vaulting Special barrel? Quien Sabes, ey??

[Old and Reliable]

No serial numbers on these guns- all were made by High-Standard from about 1946 to 1960- the first three numbers are 583- which was Sears store code for a shotgun made by High-Standard (in which they owned a 65% controlling $ interest then)--the suffix after the 583 is the key- mine is an early one 583.1-- from that series until 583.12 A-Ok, from 583.13 to 583.22 apparently the retaining machine screw that keeps the bolt in battery in the receiver had some heat treatment issues-

Back then a shooter with the shotgun shouldered fired a shot, jerked the bolt to cycle the action, the bolt lug sheared and he pulled the bolt back into his eye glasses- the force of the shell detonating in the chamber did not cause the bolt to move rearward however- Sears and their Phila lawyers did a CYA and recalled them, vis a vis buying back the bolts, initially at $160.00 a copy- later at a $50.00 Sears gife card (smart marketing move, as you could only use it to buy mdse. from Sears at their mark-up)--

Howsomever- as the 16 and 20 gauge J.C. Higgins 583 series (there are some listed on G.I. auction site under American Shotguns at $150.00 each) did not seem to have any problem- as HS used the same billet to machine all three gauges- so the initial wall thickness and the finished wall thickness on a 20 gauge J.C. Higgins was great- nominally the difference between the breech dia. of a 12 gauge and that of a 20 gauge-

I have done the initial stock R&R (repair and reinforcing) will re-assemble it and off to the gun club range and the lead sled for the "proof testing"- I will Loc-tite that screw into the threaded hole in the receiver- you betcha--ya!!!