Shotgun Identification: Nitro King

[Goldfire39]

Usually im a pistol person but lately Ive been shooting alot of clays, useing one of my fathers shotguns becuase ive never had the need to buy one. While I was borrowing one of his Mossbergs I noticed another bag and pulled it out to see what it was. I always knew he had a older shotgun so I pulled it out and its stamped "Nitro King" in scrolling on the side. finish is ok, wood in is good condition, looks to be 12 gauge. Im assumeing it fires the older kind of shells black powder of sorts if I remember correctly. I gave it a cleaning and put it back, its single shot break barrel also. The only thing on the net ive found close to it so far is the "King Nitro" by Sharpleigh hardware co. dateing it back to the 20's-40s. I would just like to know more about it and if its going to drastically reduce its value if it is re-blued, because it could use it.

Oh, and ill throw this in too, Where is there a list of all the Mossberg 500 series shotguns and what model number is associated with model. For instance what is a 500AT or 500AB?

Thanks,
Goldfire

 

[Mike Irwin]

I don't know anything about the mark Nitro King, but I can tell you that it's very unlikely that the shotgun was for blackpowder shells.

Nitro, as a phrase to describe gun powder, didn't exist until smokeless powders came along commercially starting in the 1890s. Nitroglycerine was (and still is) a component in many of these powders. Most people were also familiar with nitroglycerine as an explosive, so it was a natural marketing leap for companies to attach the name nitro to their ammunition to denote its power.