doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 19th C British Double Action Color

Jim,
Your case looks nicely vintage, and I would try just cleaning it up a bit before totally relining it which would take away all that nice patina. I'm aware that there may be different bluing solution formulas that give different results in finish. It appears that your trigger guard and action/trigger plate screws are the original color and that the floor plate was given a fresh bluing. I'd be inclined to use the gun and see how the new bluing would age. Please take good care of that beauty for the next generation of owners!
Karl

The English practice is to blacken the soft parts, trigger guard, bottom cover, top lever. Not my taste, but it is traditional.

Thanks everyone for the great input.

What I find a little off-putting is the juxtaposition of the great patina with the newly blacked parts. On my gun, the black parts also seem to be cold blued or something different than the barrels.

But I'm glad to know that it's done in a way that is traditional, and I plan to leave it alone, perfect being the enemy of good.

That's a good suggestion, Karl. I wasn't sure how well the lining would clean up, but I should give that a try first.

Amen on the next generation of owners. And I've already found them: Here are two of my boys checking it out the day it arrived...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NtbdLqwhsp4sCmHo7

You'll forgive their country boy, shirtless ways.

Jim,
It looks as if they are vetting the gun for you. It's great to imagine them as the next caretakers of your prize!
If you care to, tell us of the specifics of your gun.
Karl

I haven't gotten a chance to do all the measurements, but it's a Henry Atkin 12 gauge boxlock ejector, with 28 1/2" barrels IM/Full chokes, and 2 1/2" chambers.

According to the maker's ledger, it was built around 1892 or 1893 for a Mr William LS O'Brien (whom I have decided, mostly without good evidence, is the William O'Brien MP who's imprisonment sparked the first Bloody Sunday of the Irish Home Rule movement). The serial number is 630.

As a point of personal interest, my 4th great grandfather was a tailor a few doors down, at 66 Jermyn Street, from the Atkin shop location (2 Jermyn St) where the gun was built.

The current barrels were built by Atkin, Grant & Lang in 1973 and were nitro proofed for 1 1/8 ounce loads. The gun originally had 28" barrels and later a 25" set, according to the ledger.

The stock has 14 1/2 inch LOP, with a small amount of cast-on. Not perfect for me, but I have at least two left eye dominant children in my brood, so I plan to leave the stock as is and learn to shoot it well until one of them is old enough to start hunting with it, which is still some years away.

You are looking at two completely different methods of bluing/blacking plus the trigger guard was allowed to get too hot in the caustic blacking solution and has turned slightly red.
The barrels will probably never look the same as the gun furniture (base plate, trigger guard, top lever pins etc) as the barrels are cold rust blued while the furniture is hot caustic blacked or temper blued: two totally different processes.
Back in my past I tried cold rust bluing some furniture and it was not a success! And of course you can not use hot caustic on a normal soft solder constructed barrel set or you land up with a kit of parts!

Thanks for the input, Toby. I suspected that the bluing methods were different, but I couldn't understand why the trigger guard had that brown/red undertone. Your explanation makes sense.

Was the problem you had with rust bluing the furniture a matter of experience or is it your understanding that it is innately more difficult to rust blue those parts? In other words, are you suggesting that it is best to just leave the parts alone and accept the difference? Or that, if I am bothered by the difference, that I had better get a professional to do the rust bluing on the furniture for me?