doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Midland Hammer gun 12GA

Thanks guys I appreciate it

Randy,
Your hammer gun is pictured in my circa 1900 Midland catalogue.Midland called this Gun their; "Rabbit"Gun the price was 1 pound 19 Shillings. They describe it As;"The best gun ever offered by any one for 39 shillings!" Even for 1900 this was a remarkable price!" Their best hammer gun in this catalogue sold for 12 pounds,6x the cost of yours.
As stated by others your gun was made between,1888 & 1904.The proof marks are Birmingham black powder for a 12 G gun bored at 13G at the time of proof. The chambers were in all probability 2 1/2 at time of proof. The pictures; posted of the barrels suggest that they are Damascus that may have been reblued.
For your safety;
Check the barrel dimensions prior to use[Bore Diameter,Chamber length and wall thickness]In my experience many of these old low cost gun have had their barrels butchered or shot out by previous owners. .

Randy,

I think the model is the Rabbit Gun. Bring it over and we will measure it up.
The Carolina Vintagers will be at Sir Eds, Park Road Shopping Center Jan 2, Thursday at 6:30. Show up, say "Hi, I own a Midland hammer gun, who the heck is Joe?". We'll take care of you from there. I'll try and have the old catalogs with me. The Bore gauge and barrel wall thickness gauges will be at my house for later.

Joe in Charlotte.

I have actually sued the gun at turkey shoots it holds a great pattern I have probably shot about 50 or so shells through it with no issues

Never shot anything but low power shells in it i wont be able to make the Jan 2nd meeting but would like to know the next time you meet Just for curiosity what do you think the restored value would be??

Randy

That should have said used not sued

With your restoration job....$200.00 to $600.00 (the top price would need to include someone with zero knowledge of vintage shot guns)

With a 3 or 4 thousand dollar proper restoration....$1200 to $1800 tops.

So in the end you probably made the right choice.

Thanks I the Gun will go to my boy one day

Randy, just note that the gun was never proofed for nitro. Lagopus.....

Yea i probably wont fire it anymore going forward