great grandpa's dbl bl

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stegar1

New member
i have been handed down an old shotgun that belonged to my great grandfather. the gun has some wild history. it was borrowed by a neighbor to go " huning " then used to shoot and kill the town bully who laid in wait for said neighbor. this happened in the early 20's i think in titus county ,TX

i dont know how old it is. i dont know much else about it. it is a Hartford firearms co 12 ga. it has hammers and is stamped genuine armory steal. the only #'s i could find on it are 174646.

any info you could give would be helpfull. i have not been able to find anything.
 
To expand a bit, Crescent made hundreds of thousands of utilitarian shotguns from c. 1890 to c. 1933 under their own name and also under a couple of hundred trade names for hardware and gun distributors and even individual stores. At one time, anyone ordering as few as ten guns could have his name or the name of his store put on them, so the variety was almost unlimited.

Generally, Crescent guns, while reasonably well made and serviceable in their day, do not bring a high price, with a tops of about $200 for one in top shape with solid steel barrels. I think the term "armory steel" means a solid steel barrel, but many Crescent guns were made with Damascus twist barrels which should never be fired with smokeless powder and could be dangerous even with black powder. Remember if planning to fire the gun that it might be made for shells shorter than today's standard and firing any modern length shell could be hazardous.

Jim
 
There are no serial number records of these old Crescent shotguns. There are only guesses base on the style and features of the gun. Out side hammers were popular prior to and during WWI. and armory or fluid steel ( I read somewhere ) became popular about the same time, perhaps because of the lack of Belgium Damascus barrels and steel making process had improved so much.. So I would guess your shotgun was made approximately between 1900's and 1920. Just a guess.:) And I have been wrong a few times before and will be again.
 
great info. i was thinking it was the late teen's when he got it(as the story goes) the value is god to know but the gun will never be for sale. is there any place to get parts? the left hammer is a little weak and does not strike hard enough to fire. i have shot the gun with in the last 20 yrs. i'm not sure i would still fire it but would like it to work.

thanks again for the info
 
It is probably the hammer spring that is weak. The trouble is that those guns were made in several models, and the company is long out of business, so it is hard to find parts.

If you can remove the left lockplate, perhaps you can determine what is wrong. If it is the spring, you might find what you need from Gun Parts Corp. (www.gunpartscorp.com); they have some Crescent parts, including some mainsprings.

Jim
 
Hartford arms co

HAAG HAGGEN IS CORRECT. IT WAS MADE BY CRESCENT AND H&D fOLSOM ARMS CO FOR SIMMONS HARDWARE CO OF ST LOUIS MA
MR HARLEY
 
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