doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lever Action 12 bore?

I've been following the adventures of Frey Hoffmeister, a German woman kayaker who has circumvented Australia, New Zealand, and South America and is now doing North America in Stages. She's about half way through. This summers Arctic stage was from Cambridge Bay to Kugaaruk (Pelly Bay) which included the traditional Inuit portage at Taloyoak (Spence Bay).
https://www.freyahoffmeister.com/ex...ections/na-5-51-cambridge-bay-gjoa-haven

They diverted to Kugaaruk because of ice jamming the Simpson Peninsula and next summer will try the river portage to the south to get to Committee bay and then the Rae Isthmus portage to Repulse Bay (Naujaat): (But won't use the big 20' sea going Kayaks....smaller plastic rapid running boats that can be portaged).



My son paddled a section with her in Western Alaska and taught her how to use his Remington 870 nickel plated Marine Magnum. Up to then she has sort of pooh-po-ed the bear threat. She's come around.
https://doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=601751

For this stage she had two strong partners. One is a very experienced Arctic Paddler. I noticed, he never left his shotgun far from reach and they encountered dozens of bears. But what is it? It looks like a well used nickel plated lever action 12 bore.

Maybe this one?

https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting...75in-lever-action-shotgun-19in/p/1477203

Not sure I’d be crazy about a lever action shotgun for that work. The only guy I ever knew that spent quality time in bear country had a Ruger .44 Carbine that he carried slung, most of the time. Said it killed bears and fit in the plane. He wasn’t a gun guy, just a pilot with a gun.

Best,
Ted

Looks a lot like a Marlin SS guide gun withe forend broken off and the muzzle taped. Looks like it's lead a hard life. I used to pack a sawed off(legal length) single shot in the canoe camping and running traplines. I'd pop the barrel off and use it as a billy to finish critters in a trap. It would wallow around in the bottom of the canoe and get propped up by the fire or stove to dry out. I put more than a few ducks and geese in the pot with it.m

Might be Oskar. Here's a picture of the muzzle pointing out of the tent at an approaching bear. Chad Whiting was her primary partner. Max Lautenbacher owns the gun and has kayaked the Arctic. The Gulf of Boothia has he highest concentration of polar bears in the arctic.

That is exactly what it looks like to me. I doubt very much it is a shotgun.

Something sticks in my head about Marlin lever action shotguns going back to about 1900 or a little earlier. But I can't find anything . They still make lever action shotguns in .410.

I would guess that it's a Browning designed Winchester 1887 that has been re-poped by the Chicoms (Norinco?). Swartzenegger used one like it in the Terminator movies. Ted had it right. It wouldn't likely be my 1st choice for a bear gun (give me a well-proven pumpgun everytime) but I'm sure it's sufficient with buck & ball.

Lloyd, look at the picture. It's not a Winchester 1887 or any clone.

Eightbore: You're right, the lever's all wrong. Ok, it's probably a rifle.

A note on this photo says it's "stainless steel". ?? In that cold salt water environment nickel plate or SS makes sense.