Old Double shotgun

M

mellow_c

New member
Hello folks.
I have a friend who has an old double shotgun. I have not seen it, and I dont know much about older guns in general, but I was wondering if anyone could help us figure out what it may be worth, and or the history of the gun.

This is what he sent me in an email
" Here is the info on the shotgun I have. It's about 100 years old. 12 gauge. says "twist Belgium" on the barrel.
The barrel is 30 inches long side by side 12 gauge. Double hammer. There are markings stamped on the bottom side of the barrel but they mean nothing to me. I suppose they are some sort of manufacturing numbers. It is a W H Hamilton."

He said that one of the firing pins is broken out of the gun, and that it always has been since he's owned it. It's been passed through a few generations of his family. Thanks everyone :)

One last question.... Where in the world can you find black powder shotgun shells??? I've looked everywhere.
 
Last edited:
At one time Belgium shotguns were shipped to the U.S. by the hundreds of thousands. For the most part they were very inexpensive shotguns made in dozens , perhaps hundreds of small shops. Twist steel is just a another , perhaps cheaper form of Damascus steel. Steel strips are hammer welded around a mandrel. This would date the shotgun prior to WWI. After a hundred years of , God only knows what kind of usage and storage, I don't feel these old, very cheap damascus shotguns are safe to shoot , even with black powder shells. A cross section of the barrel could very well look like a piece of wood that has been infested by termites. JMO. Your decision, they do wonderful things in extremities transplants now a days, they're still working on eye transplant through.:D
 
What you have is a shotgun shaped artifact, not a working firearm.

This sold for a few bucks new, and that was close to a century ago.

There's no way in heck anyone could persuade me to shoot off even one low pressure round from that.

Shotguns and grenades have similar working pressures.

Have a smith take out the other firing pin, hang it on the wall and admire it......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top