JDW, if I understand what you say about Baker/Smith doubles going from 300-9999, but I think you misspoke . Additionally you said you had or have seen a W H Baker and Co. double 1601B. Actually, I owned that very gun for a while. I have maybe 50 guns recorded between serial 300-1700 marked W H Baker and Co. After that, they are marked L C Smith Maker, Baker Pat. or similar. Before that, the doubles would have only W H Baker on them with no "and Company". I think your #355 and 978 fit the W H Baker and Co. range and time frame of the 1880 patent.
Your Monroe Smith gun is a treasure. I think it is a W H Baker and Co. era gun which involved 2 or 3 Smiths as well as Baker. It seems to be a celebratory gun, made as a gift, too. It could be serial no. 1 or 2, but most likely the former. By the way, I have never seen another 16 ga. Drilling from any of the companies. As to rifle calibers, they seem to be all over the place in the drillings. I cerrosafed 5 or 6 of the chambers here and found no two the same. Some were close. Maybe the tools of the period were not as accurate as later tools.
Note that early W H Baker [no company] drillings don't seem to have serial numbers. Neither does my Allerton and Baker drilling which is the only one I have ever seen.
Last edited by Daryl Hallquist; 03/03/16 06:23 PM.
