side release on SxS?

B

bushmaster65

New member
A friend of mine found a SxS in his in laws basement along with an old .22 Winchester pump action. The SxS has a barrel release lever mounted on the side of the weapon. Never seen that in my 48 yrs. Anyone know what manufacturers made these weapons? Pics available later on tonight or tomorrow but at this point i'm just looking for a direction for research.
 
Yep, several English makers made sidelever shotguns - Stephen Grant was one of the makers

I am assuming you mean the lever is on the side, but the barrels still tilt down.

Like this?

100354995-1-L.jpg
 
There are even some out there with the side lever on the left.

Later days, the system was mostly found on entry level guns, the standard and nice guns having gone over to the top snap. I like the bottom snap as seen on some Woodwards.
 
You mean like this?

baby3.jpg



I imagine a Darne would also add to the confusion........

darne6.jpg


While not a side lever, the toggle action would befuse and confuddle many.....:D
 
some pics

here is a pic of the latch ;

Model No? or Serial No?

Proof mark:

Another clue of sorts?

makers mark?

I am trying to figure out who made this weapon.
Ideas anyone?
 
The ELG means it was made in Belgium, Laminated Steel means basically Damascus, so it will make a nice wall hanger in its condition. With double hammers, side lever and Damascus barrels, I would venture it was made for black powder.

Are there any others beside what you have taken a pic of? It might have been what is called a "guild gun" meaning one small shop made the barrels, one made the action, one the locks, yet another the stock, and finally another assembled the gun (something akin to what GM does with cars)

Here is a chart of Belgian proof marks:

http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_All_Proofmarks.html

See which ones, if any, match your gun - look on the water table (which is the top of the action where the barrels sit), top of the barrels, underneath the barrels, etc.
 
Do a google search on Winchester 1890, Winchester 62 and Winchester 1906. The shotgun is a Belgian wallhanger. The Winchester if in good shape will be a good shooter and might be worth a little bit in the right configuration.
 
Over the years there have been side releases, ring releases, trigger releases ( extra trigger in trigger guard ), thumb releases, you name it, I think every type of release has been invented at least once, a side release is fairly common on old European shotguns.:)
 
thank you gents for the help thus far. I'm going to confer with the owner and try to get some more pics. I get the impression that in manufacturing terms, its a generic for the time period?
 
Don't know what happened to the pic of the Darne, it was a generic pic, not a copyrighted one........no edit button to delete it either
 
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