doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Where does Meriden fit w/ rest of Americans?

Came across a basic hammerless model and was surprised at
the fit/finish quality of wood. Surprising thing is asking price
was what one would expect to pay for Stevens 5100.
I don't know much about this action. Seems comparable to a Smith
on the surface. Is this action inferior? What are the "lookouts"
one should watch for with this make?
Thanks,
-Jim

Bad gun. Stay away. Where is the gun being sold?

Just kidding. We know a good bit about the Sears Aubrey / Meriden guns.



http://damascus-barrels.com/Aubrey.html

They are sidelock's with an automatic safety and chamber indicator. They run a gamut from very plain to some very nice guns. They could also be custom ordered.

This is perhaps the earliest gun made and belongs to Daryl H.


Here is a Model 55 with Chain Damascus.


This is my M97 hammer gun, which I got from John Mann.


Another M55 which I own. This one has Krupp barrels.


This is the entry level Model 18.


The number of models changed over the years. It varied from 18 to 6. This does not include the special guns like the Diamond grade or the $250 gun. Nor does it include the custom guns that could be ordered.
Barrels were available from crystal steel, twist, damascus, Krupp all the way to Whitworth, though I have never seen a gun with Whitworth barrels that I could confirm.
They were made in 12ga, 16ga and 20ga. Most have extractors, though ejectors were available from the beginning. Nearly all are choked Full & Full. A customer could request Cylinder bore.

If you have any questions, please ask. Also, if you could obtain the serial number of the gun in question, also the length and composition of the barrels, I would like to add it to the list.

They were also sold under the name Berkshire. While Sears offered the Berkshire gun, I believe that name was used mainly by the Biffar stores.

Pete

There are any number of American tools that'll do the job - it's just that they cost thousands less than the other American tools.
The fun in Hardware Store guns - are the stories one must come-up with.

Pete,
Glad you chimed in. Gun I saw matched closest to the Mod. 18 you show above.
Had Meriden stamped on front of lock plate, no engraving, steel barrels (but didn't catch
if they were Crystal steel or Krupp-would that be marked on the rib/barrels somewhere?)
and seemed to be put together well and was in pretty good shape.
A field grade L.C. would bring + $1000 more than this gun. Is there a flaw in the Meriden design
that warrants the lower value? Or does the market look down on Meridens because they were a Sears venture?
What's the wrap on them? Seems like a hidden gem.

If I get back to the shop I will be sure to gather more info
on it for your database.
Thanks,
-Jim

Pete:

There's a 53 on GB currently with apparently bobbed barrels.

The birds on the Meridens look like those on GH Parkers. Did the Parker engravers moonlight?

Jim,

There are a lot of makers who simply do not have the name recognition. Rocketman takes account of this in his spreadsheet which was developed for English guns, but it can be applied to many markets. There is no flaw in the design. I really do not want to make any comparative statements as I own many different makers and consider each of them unique and having something to offer. The Aubrey guns are a good example of American gun making available at the moment for a reasonable investment. In all I think about 80,000 were produced (my opinion could change). I get emails about them on a regular basis. People usually are not willing to part with them... I know Russ Rupel had some. He also had some custom Aubrey's. I do not know what happened to them after his death. I know one of his Baltimore Fox guns just turned up on an auction site.

Sometimes on the rib you may see Crystal or Armory or even Krupp. For the most part, if you remove the barrels and look at the watertable they are marked with the model, barrel type and length and serial number. The barrel type can be T=Twist, D=Damascus, S=Steel, K=Krupp, C=Chain Damascus. This coding is not found on some of the very early guns. On some of the very late guns it becomes a bit of a hit and miss.

Model 18 with 30" Steel barrels. Made about 1915.


Model 58 (top of the line catalog gun) with Chain damascus 30". Made about 1914.


Here is a set of Berkshire locks.




These are Aubrey Hammer gun locks.




They seemed to be producing hammer guns based on 2 different forgings. Both were around from the beginning. Not enough hammer guns have surfaced yet to draw any real conclusions.

Pete

Norm thanks. Yes the 16ga is a 53 and it has lost 4" of barrel over the years. Nice catch by the way.

You got it on the engravers. Gough was contracting with anyone he could. When the Aubrey operation started up in 1905, Gough was living in Meriden. Also AJ Aubrey's brother, William, was an engraver. So I am sure William Aubrey knew Gough. William was the only Aubrey brother who did not work for Sears in this operation. He was busy with other concerns.

Pete

Pete,
Thanks for the very thorough follow up. Appreciate the help.
Now I'll know what to look for when I go back.
-Jim

Pete,

I don't believe the original question has been answered, is there an inherent flaw to Meridens? You very thoroughly responded to my question of ID on "Dad's old gun" a couple weeks ago. The flawI,m aware of, if you consider it a flaw, is that Meridens shoot loose. I attribute this to heavy loads shot through them for 3/4 of a century and believe some of the more desireable guns suffer from a similar end result. I suspect you're interested in keeping the market dampened on this cool old brand! Yes, the Model 18 is a hardware gun, but weren't many of the others, Sterlingworth/LC/Baker/etc. in about the same price range in their day?

Steve

You give me way too much credit. I highly doubt my posting an opinon will "dampen the market".

Pete