doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com New Fulton

The Fulton I bought in NJ a week or so ago, came today. I could not recall if it was a Fulton or Hunter earlier. But it appears that it's a Fulton Deluxe with checkering. It's a 20ga 28" and 2 3/4" chambers that appear original length. It weighs 6lbs 8oz with .032/.013 chokes putting it as a XXFull/LMod. The 1483xx S/N puts it as a 1935-36 production. The plain grained walnut stock is 14" to the original buttplate. It has it's share of nicks and dings but appears to not have been shot much from the plentiful casecolor on the breachface. It's not a 'best gun' or a likely to be a collector, but I thought it'd be a nice quail/chukar/phez gun.

One interesting note is that the gun is obviously cyanide case colored and appears to be original. I didn't note that LC Smith was using this process when reading Brophy. Does anyone have any additonal info on this?

Correction to the above; I believe it's a Fulton Special not "...Deluxe".

Your gun is a regular Fulton, on page 165 of my Stoeger Catalog No. 25, priced at $21.85.

When the Fulton was introduced in 1915 it had a price of $18. In 1916 Fulton Special was introduced at $25. The Fulton Special had a capped pistol grip and a bit of engraving. In my 1929 Stoeger Catalog No. 10 the Fulton is $29.00 and the Fulton Special is $35.00. By Stoeger Catalog No. 18, 1932, the Depression had taken its toll and the Fulton was down to $22.55 and the Fulton Special was $28.35. That is the last listing I have for the Fulton Special. I've also seen some Fulton Specials with the sides of the frame were "engraved?" with some wavey lines.

The Hunter Special with the L.C. Smith rotary bolt wasn't introduced until 1937.

Thanks Dave. I did pay a bit more than $21.85, but the price will soon be forgotten. It's a nice example and has good dimensions for me.

Don't know if there's something special about pre WW2 boxlocks and their retention of cyanide CC. My 16 Hunter Special is identically colored, as you know, and I had a Iver Johnson Hercules 20 once,so colored.

Nice little gun, Chuck. Not too many of these show up and the weight's just right.

The CC process on Fultons, from the ones I've seen, seems to result in particularly wear-resistant colors. I've seen quite a few Fultons, obviously hard used, but with nearly all CC still remaining.

Researcher, I've seen a couple Fultons (not Specials) with a sort of cross-hatch pattern on the receiver. Have not checked SN's to determine if these were earlier vs later guns or something like that, but I've owned a couple pretty late Fultons, and they looked like the gun in the above photos.

Excellent pics Chuck-may I add the close up of the receiver to my Case Color Examples PictureTrail?

RDD,
Yes, you can use the picture as you need. I can send a larger file if the size is too small.

ChucK:
I have no idea when Hunter Arms first began to use cynaide, or how much of that substance was used in hardening (although it certainly seems to have been used for all, or the majority of the Fulton guns); but cynaide was being used in the hardening process. During my research on Smith engraver, Charles Jerred, I learned cynaide had been in use for some unknown time prior to Jerred's employment in 1945. According to his notes, his original employment was being assigned to the case hardening department, which process took place in a poorly ventilated area; and with few safety precautions. On one occassion, his eyes were badly burned by cynaide (was not explained to me how the accident occurred), and he was unable to see. His wife was called to the gunworks and lead him by the hand to their home nearby. He was unable return to the gunworks until he recovered; and it was after that accident that he applied for a position in the engraving department. His son attributes the deterioation of his father's health and his untimely death at age 62 to his exposure to cynaide while working in the metal hardending department.