Good things come to those who wait?
If the date stamps on my photos are accurate- it’s been almost 10 years?
In early winter of 2014 I found a straight grip, Baltimore Arms Co C grade listed in an auction. Unfortunately, the auction was 6 months prior to my discovery. I put some feelers out and asked the folks on this forum and low and behold I pretty easily came up with the dealer who had purchased and still had the gun. By the Spring of 2015, I was able to get the gun. However, despite it being a once beautiful and still a wonderfully presentable gun, the barrels were a conundrum like I have never seen before or since.
In a very cartoonish fashion, the barrels bowed upwards. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how they came to be that way. They were not dented, nicked, or scratched, but it was as if the gun had been turned upside down and beaten over a rail- repeatedly. There were SIGNIFICANTLY bowed upward. If the barrels were set upside down on a table, the breech and the muzzle would touch the table and a marble could be rolled under the middle of the barrels!
The dealer was upstanding to a T and agreed to allow me to send them to be further inspected before ultimately taking a return. There is no shortage of wonderful vintage doubles out there, but I was quite disappointed as this one really appealed to me.
I considered keeping it and later fitting another barrel set to it, I may wish I had... I haven't seen a Baltimore barrel set for sale... I haven't seen many full BAC guns for sale since.
DID anyone here come up with this one? Was it salvaged?
It is now 2024 and I have located another Baltimore Arms C grade straight grip. It DOES NOT appear as nice as the first, I believe the engraving on the "new one" lesser on every panel ... 30 serial numbers difference in the two, but with some luck it will be useable and fun to see. The new find is still inbound, I hope it surprises me in a good way.
