While visiting with family at Thanksgiving I was given this gun to see what I could find out about it including whether or not it functioned properly and was safe to shoot. I have no idea how it is choked. Can that be determined from the stampings in the pictures? I think the date is 1960 but I can't say for sure. It has an "F" and what I think is a lightly struck "1" after it.
I took the barrels off and tapped them. That is the only way I know how to check for a potentially loose rib. I also took the forend off and did the sweep test to determine if there was any play. The gun passed the informal rib test and seemed to be tight and on face. I also dry fired it a couple dozen times with snap caps and I cleaned everything I could without removing the stock. The barrels have some light pitting but not enough that I wouldn't consider using the gun if it passed a firing test.
Some varnish is coming off the stock and it has quite a few scratches. It very well could have been used to drive stakes or paddle a boat.
This gun has not been taken care of but it is functional. I took out Saturday to make sure. I stuffed a shell in each tube, held it by the grip with my right arm fully extended and pulled each trigger. I wanted it as far away from my body as possible if it came unglued. Then I reloaded it and fired each barrel a second time. After that all I needed to do was see if I could hit the broadside of a barn with it.
