doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com W.W. Greener Trap Gun ???

Another interesting gun followed me home today. Well, not exactly home. I took it to Steven Hutton for his opinion and assessment.
It is a Greener , circa 1882/83 10 gauge hammer gun with Greener built locks. The gun is somewhere in the middle for grade. On the rib is The Trap Gun and Greener's address in London. It is a heavy and stoutly built fellow. No one would use "she" when speaking of this gun.:}
Steve, having seen thousands of English guns, had never seen one of this model.
Can anyone throw light on this unusual gun?
Best,
John

Pics would be a nice start.

Greener,s book, Modern Shotguns, published in 1888 shows a full page, illustrated ad; for W.W. Greener,s "Trap" Gun. Price for a 12 bore is given as 10:10:O Pounds stirling.The ad; states;"the gun is specially designed to meet the requirements of American sportsmen".The gun is stated to have Treble grip and top lever.
The gun pictured has a top lever, semi pistol grip stock and is scroll engraved as per the grade 3 example pictured on page 95 of Graham Greener,s book, The Greener Story. I have seen two of these trap guns, both matched the description and illustration in in the 1888 ad.

Homeless, et al:
Just think of any circa 1880's hammer double. The look is quite ordinary.
It is the rib marking that is different.
I am interested in knowing if Greener made The Trap Gun as part of his "catalog".
I do not have the Greener book and it may not be mentioned there.
Best,
John

I own the same gun brother John. It is indeed the size of a crew served weapon, but have you ever seen such graceful hammers on a big gun? I have used mine on fresh water ducks and winter wheat geese with equal effectiveness. An ounce and a quarter of biz 2's or 4's will do wonders for either. Sent the SN to Graham Greener and he was kind enough to send it's history. THough it says "trap gun", I am convinced these were built as something of the last word in a reasonably priced pigeon gun. Those same attributes make for a heck of a waterfowl gun. One other thing. The damascus on mine and one other I have seen is of very good quality and well worth restoring by Kearcher or another pro. Congrats.

P.S. A 10 bore cost an additional 10 shillings!

Seems that I may have fallen in it and come up smelling good.
The gun was turned down, as a wall hanger, by a friend, and I offered to buy it. It seemed to me to be unusual and worth the outlay.
The stock head has some internal cracks and Steve will repair them. The nipples are not right and they will also be replaced as will the firing pins.
The gun locks up like a vice, solidly on face and the lever at center. Best of all is that the barrels are great and ring like a chime.
It has the original butt plate. There is even a tiny bit of color if you look for it.
I am a happy camper to have it and to know what it is.
Thanks, friends.
Best,
John

Good barrels and on the face..... Anything else can be quickly set right. I built some 1 1/8 ounce loads for mine and took it to the clays range. It drew a crowd. Anything far was dead; anything close was .... well.... a lot harder. (a custom built gun carriage might not have been a bad idea either.) Enjoy!

The 10's marked 'Trap Gun' of that era were indeed pigeon guns. The standard pigeon or flyer load of 3&1/4 DE 1&1/4oz of shot was also originally a 10ga. loading.

In my observations, Greener never made anything but good quality guns, some pricier than others, but all excellently constructed.

I too, have a Greener 10 bore "Trap Gun" circa 1882 appx. I received a letter back from Graham Greener with imformation on the gun, it is currently in another location but will post contents later.
They were built for the Am. market, there is a short segment in the "Greener Story" on these guns. Should have a dolls head closure.

JR