WOW little question that’s asking for a LONG reply LOL
well lets start by ringing the barrel . We could go in depth as to why this happens but unless you really want to the simple explanation is this .
You take the barrels of the stock and you hang them.
Normally if im going to gun shows , farm auctions and such I take a 2 ft piece of cotton string in my pocket , and a small brass rod that’s about 4 inches long , just for this purpose ..
Any metallic rod will do really even metal. . Hang the barrels by the string and then tap them . You don’t need to hit the barrels hard , just tap them like you would fine crystal . What your checking for is that the ribs are still tight to the barrel . If they are the barrels will ring a nice sharp DINGGGGGG just like a sweet bell .
If the buzz or make a thud sound , that means the barrels have a loose spot .
Meaning that the barrels need some work
The greener is a a couple towns away , Im sure the fella still has it . I was going to buy it but my wife wouldn’t let me said I has enough SXS in my collection
She just happened to walk by as I was looking it over , very poor prior planning on my part .
The barrels do need to be cleaned up as there was some pitting but not bad enough they couldn’t be freshened up . The locks were sound and crisp . No cracks in the stock and all the engraving was still in fair shape .
I can try and give the fella a call today if your interested .
As to where I look , well I look everywhere LOL .
As I stated before , farm auctions are a good spot and you often get the best prices .
SXS haven’t been to collectable and the prices are still relatively low .
I also look at gun shows but the prices at those are usually on the higher side or way out of reason .
Pawn shops are another good place to keep your eye out in . most times you will find them hanging up on a wall , you have to ask . a lot of time they will say they aren’t for sale . But other times they are and are up there because they couldn’t sell them .
I also have bought Many Originals . LMAO way to many according to my wife up at the Monroe WA gun show .
3 years ago I came home with 7 , all but 1 in shoot able condition and I didn’t pay over 200 for any of them . In fact the one that wasn’t shoot able was easily reparable and I paid 125 bucks for.
LMAO I bought every SXS that was for sail at the show that year LMAO . My wife was not a happy camper .
The next year , word got out and the prices went up 100%, I didn’t come home with any .
But last year a local club member wanted a SXS and gave me 300 if I ran across a good one .
I was one of the first 25 in the door and . Right inside the door was an original Williams, in reasonable shape for 225.
I snagged it figuring if I came across something nicer ok , if not , it was a steal .
All I saw through the rest of the show were a couple originals in the 350-600 range .
A couple CVA’s in the 300 range and 1 Investment Arms for 450 .
As it turned out , the Williams was a great buy . Stock had a crack in the wrist , nothing that couldn’t be fixed and the barrel and locks were clean and sound .
I also watch while im working and talk to folks in conversation . You would be surprised what folks bring out . I once had a fella tell me that he new a man that had a couple old SXS that I thought he would sell for cheep .. The guy was up there in age , lived out on an old ranch .So I ask if he would call the person and see .
He said im sure they are , I heard he was having some money problems and such , but ill call
Sure enough , yep they were for sale . So we took a trip over to the guys farm to take a look .
Now I want to say something here . When you go into peoples homes , be honest with them . I would say 99% of the time they have no idea what they have . The guns I find for the most part are very Old and handed down through the family . Sadly many art in very good shape and havent seen the light of day for many years . But still be honest if the guy offers to sell you something for 50 bucks and you know its worth 10’s of thousands , tell them . The kindness will come back to you 10 fold .
don’t rush in , sit down , chat with the person , have coffee . Let the subject of why you are there come naturally
With this particular case , after a walk out to look at a new Bull the guy had just bought , a couple pots of Coffee , he brings out this 10 gage Remington , rabbit eared SXS . At one time it had been a grade A SXS , fully engraved with a high end Bernard ” off on spelling sorry “ pattern. But the stock had once been broke and the fella said his dad had carved a new one from a piece of Oak they had .
I told him I might be interested but that it was missing a lot of parts. . He understood about the Remington but ask if I would give him 25 bucks for it . I looked it over and figured with some work I could repair it or at the very least use a lot of the parts that were left . So I said , How about I give you 50 . The old guy smiled and said sold .
He then brings out another old Belgium gun , also a breechloader but a very early one .
He said , you know , I don’t know about this 16 gage but its been in the family for a while . My dda gave it to me when I was a boy . He started into this long story , much longer then this one im writing now lol . I sat there an listened for about another hour about duck hunts with his father and such .
You could see in his eyes that there were a lot of memories in that old SXS . Finally I said sir , you need to keep this gun .
IMO you write all this down . Put it in an envelope and , roll it up and slip it into one to the barrels . He slowly got up and put it away .
Comes back out and says well son , that’s all I have I guess , that’s worth anything .
I said well sir I think you for a fine day , if you know of anyone that has any old muzzleloaders , that what im really looking for .
He say you mean those old front stuffers ? Ya I said that’s what really hold a place for me ..
Then he says . I have one but its not much good . Its been in the family for who knows how long . My grandfather said it was his grandfathers and they brought it with them when they homesteaded this ranch back in 68 .
So you know what he meant by 68 , that 1868. Heck if its any good , id just give it to ya .
It should be out in the barn in and old trunk of things .
So we made another trip to the barn with full coffee cups . Listening to him tell me how he had meant to throw all this old stuff away but just had never found the time .
To make a very long story even longer LOL , this wasn’t just a trunk . This thing was a SEA chest about 5 ft long with big bands going around it . You could see that at one time it had been covered in leather .
I mentioned that which lead to another story about his great ,great grandfather was a Ships captain if he recalled . .
As he opened the trunk , it was filled with letters and pictures on top . He just scoped them out onto the floor . Under those were dresses and petty coats and such . I remember thinking WHOLLY SMOKES!!!!!!! And saying SIR!!!! You need to take this stuff down to the local historical society .
Which just got me a odd look .
But anyway eventually he says , ahhhhh here it is and he pulls out the dress that wrapped around this gun . He laughs and says you know I haven’t seen this since I was a boy . Cant tell you what shape its in .
He un wrapps it and drops the dress to the floor .
There in this old mans hands rested a Manton SXS flintlock in about 75% condition .
To tell you the truth I about went to the floor with that dress .
The old guy says , I know its not much , always been in this trunk , don’t really know anything about it .
Im standing there looking at the inscription with the name Joseph Manton, my mind just shifted into neutral and I remember say something like JESUS .
The locks worked flawlessly . The original RR with a wonderful hourglass shape at the tip was still in place . .
I said sir , I cant take this
The old guy started to get upset and said I told you it wasnt much .
No I said I really cant take this . And I told him about the maker , about the locks about what he had and that he really needed to get this ensured and that IMO the SXS was worth in the neighborhood of 25 thousand but I wasn’t sure .
He started to laugh said , that would be nice but I doubt its worth all that
I quickly placed a call on my cell ,to a guy I know who is a collector and we spent the next 45 minutes on the phone checking markings and numbers .
The gun now sits in his collection vault don’t know what he ended up paying for it but I here it was enough to help they old fella out immensely.
But because of that kindness , mind you , I could have taken that SXS and ran like a fox from a hen house . But because of that kindness , folks remember or have heard and they take me at my word because they know im not going to cheat them .
Sometimes I come home and there is a box of original gun parts on my porch . No name , nothing , just sitting there .
Others bring me old SXS and ask if I can fix them so they can shoot them or they here that I have some old parts and they need something . Be it a firing pin , maybe a mainspring or such for GG grandpas shotgun .
I don’t charge for those parts that get left , I just pass them on to folks here and there
So butterchurn just take your time , look around , there is a lot of them out there to be had .
In fact ill send you a PM I have something you may be interested in
Topic: Double Barrel Shotgun (Read 3438 times)