Hello Crossedchisles,
I now own the Gilbert Bailey, Portland Maine 4 gauge gun that was discussed as a 2 gauge June 16, 2007 & would like to find out more its history. It was sold to me 12/10/2023 & previously sold in 2015.
Thank you for your help.
Jerry
Your 4 bore is a different gun than the one originally discussed. The Bailey 2 bore belongs to the uncle of a friend of mine. The uncle is/was a plumber who found the gun leaning against the wall in the basement of a house he was working in, along with a higher grade Lefever (as I recall) 8 bore double. he asked the homeowner what to do with the guns as they were perched where the work was to be done. The reply was "If you want them take them".
My dad and I went to see the Bailey gun and as David T. described it's a brass action single shot. I thought possibly a rebarrelled line throwing or harpoon gun or some such. 36" barrel if I'm remembering correctly. Measuring across the muzzle showed about 1.25". Very cool piece. Very plain but in nice shape. The owner was not interested in selling.
The story about the gun was that it was made for a ships Captain to shoot sea ducks off of South Portland. There are actually two identical guns. The first was delivered to the Captain and the first time he fired it he was knocked overboard and lost the gun to the deep. So he had another one made. The owner eventually had some cases turned out on a lathe. I don't know if he ever shot it. I took pictures to show David and gather what info he had if any. If I can find the pictures I'll try to post them. No promises as that was about 4 computers ago.
If anyone here is a diver looking for an adventure, there's another one supposedly sitting on the bottom off Willard Beach.
