Old English shotgun

P

petenice02

Inactive
12 gauge double barrel shotgun. I inherited this and have no use for it except for its good looks. On the barrel it reads Horace & Soley Co. The barrel is 18 1/8" long and was painted black. Seems at one point it may have been a stage coach gun. I have tried doing some research on it and have not come up with anything except its an old english shotgun and there were tons of em back then so its hard to trace its lineage. Does anyone know anymore about this gun so i can give it a value and possibly sell. Thanks
horace2.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t11/petenice02/horacesoley.jpg
 
Well, you could look for proof marks on the undersides of the barrels and the frame flats. That might indicate where and when.
A hammer double with the STEEL barrels sawn off would be worth a bit to some Cowboy shooters. If steel and not Damascus.
 
Double barreled shotguns were imported from England, literally, by the boatloads for many years. Often they were stamped with the name of the buyer, usually hardware stores or similar, who would then retail them. Very unlikely you will be able to track down original source or maker. Even in shooting condition value is probably not very great.
 
Some were imported from England, others, complete with English or English-sounding name were made in Belgium and are generally of lesser quality.

The fact that the barrels are 18 1/2 inches (just over the U.S. legal minimum length, indicates to me that the gun has probably already been in the hands of the CAS folks.

Jim
 
Hi, petenice,

Perhaps you have more experience than I do, but I have found that checking the inside of a barrel is not always a good way to determine if the gun has twist or Damascus barrels. I think I would remove the paint for a better check.

However, I found one reference to Horace & Soley that says they were in business in London from 1917-1930, well past the Damascus era. It is not indicated whether they were gun makers or a retail shop; if the latter, they may have sold older guns.

Jim
 
You can dip the muzzles in boiling water and the patterns will show up when you pull them out if they're damascus. Have to look fast tho before they dry.
 
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