Saturday, March 16, 2019

Scene from the range

Couple came in, needed the usual ammo and such, and wanted an opinion on a firearm he'd inherited.  Opened up the case, and there was a beautiful old J. P. Sauer und Sohn double-barrel shotgun.  Engraved receiver, fine wood, bores in great shape, tight lockup, 16 gauge.

Asked for my opinion on it; happily I caught myself before saying "I want it."  Checked things over, and it would chamber 2 3/4" shells.  I couldn't see a thing mechanically wrong with it and said I wouldn't have a problem firing it.  So they bought a box of shells and did, with fine results.

Sometimes some fine old things show up that way.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Unless you have a chamber, bore size and wall thickness gages, you should not be passing judgement on the fitness of an old shotgun because it looks good. (My expertise in saying this is in being a Mech Eng and having 20 SxS's over 100 years old. Before firing any of these they are all checked out using CSMC and Hosford gages.) Even then there is a healthful respect for last centuries metallurgy.

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