JABC's

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Although these are a far cry from fine guns (Mr. Dunkle..feel free to delete this thread if you find it inappropriate) I was wondering if anyone here collects, or has had some JABC's at one time. I would like to start compiling the various names that were given to these guns. Also, if the condition was better than most, did you have any fears of shooting them given satisfactory barrel wall thickness? Photos, if you have them, would also be appreciated.
Thanks,
Austin

[Researcher]

My old friend the late Henry Thomas of Federal Oak Farm in Charles County, Maryland, gave me this RICHARD 28-gauge that had been his father's.

Richard 28-gauge.jpg

I actually watched Henry shoot a round of skeet with this gun with factory AAs!! I never shot it.

A few years later he gave me his 1938 vintage 20-gauge Fox-Sterlingworth that he was given for his 21st birthday that year. Over the next 55 years following his English Setters around the Fox-Sterlingworth had been intimate with every thorny growth and barbed wire fence from upstate New York to Southern Maryland.

265642 Henry's 20-ga Fox-Sterlingworth 4.jpg

I shot a few limits of Virginia Doves with it.

I passed both of these guns on to a younger Southern Maryland English Setter man who also knew Henry just before I left the National Capital region twenty years ago. A couple of years later he sent me a picture of Henry's Fox-Sterlingworth with one of his Setters and an Upstate New York Ruffed Grouse.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Austin, what is a JABC?? Synapses are not firing on this one.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Mike Koneski

Austin, what is a JABC?? Synapses are not firing on this one.

You’re not alone I’m a bit baffled .

[Mike of the Mountain]

"Just another bad copy"?

[Researcher]

Just Another Belgian Clunker

[todd allen]

I had a chance to buy a Wells Fargo JABC at a gun show once. Barrels were about 20", and it had a copper plaque tacked on the side of the buttstock that said Wells Fargo, so it musta been real, right?

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

I thought everyone knew about JABC's. They used to be found in barrels at almost every country gunshop and gun show for $50.00 to $100.00 apiece. They were my introduction to double guns when I was a kid as I would be allowed to use my grandfathers while hunting with him and my dad. Grandpa passed on while I was in the military and his brother was given his guns. Where they went from there I could never find out.

[Mike Poindexter]

I almost bit on one a few weeks ago, but the seller said his gunsmith said it was a wallhanger so I passed. Couple a hundred bucks, but a wallhanger I dont need. J. Manton sort of like Barker on those other JABC's.

[Bob Brown]

Quite amazing what the Belgium gun makers could put out for little money. Looking at the late 19th and early 20th century catalogues I've seen them listed for as low as $8 to $10. That would be low, but when you consider that there was a $5 import tax on each one and an ocean to ship them across it's hard to see how they survived.