doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thomas Wild Hammer Gun

Sometimes things go around and come back.

Back in the early to mid 2000s, I owned a Thomas Wild Hammer pigeon gun. A friend of mine sold it to me because I liked it...I may have bugged him about it a bit. 😉

I shot it well - to the the point that I broke all 30 clays at the old Yooper Shoot's "Pigeon Ring" two years in a row with it. No, not all the ribbons fell in the circle.

At some point I decided it needed a thorough cleaning, and when I took it all the way apart, I discovered that the head of the stock was cracked in four places. I fixed it...but I'd lost confidence in the the gun...so it sat for a bit, and I wound up trading it to Cabela's in Rogers for an Arrieta that I thought I needed.

It turned out I didn't like the Arrieta.

I kept my eye out for another similar gun since.

Back in very early March, I found the Wild's twin on one of the auction sites I've been buying guns on...bid hard on it, but fumbled the bid when someone bumped me at the last moment.

About a month ago, I spotted another one...and started bidding on it. When I looked closely at the photos, there were a lot of similarities...so I dug up the photos I had of the original gun...and this one had the same proofs, right down to the London re-proof in 1999...so I looked at the barrel flats. Same serial number. Same gun I'd traded off back in 2008.

I went back, put an almost stupid max bid on the gun and waited.

The auction finalized last Thursday, and I'd bought it back...for a fair amount less than I'd traded it for eight years ago.

Specs:

12 bore, 30" barrels, choked at .012/.020, wide, matted rib. They are flawless, inside and out.
Stock is 14 3/4" LOP, 1 1/2" DOC, 2 1/4 DOH, with just enough cast off that I'm looking right down the rib every time.
Weight is 7 lbs., 14 oz., and it balanced dead on the pin, and right between my hands.

Still handles fast, and swings smoothly

The gun was originally made with 3" chambers and proofed for 1 1/2 ounce loads...when it was reproofed in 1999, that was updated to 76mm, 1200 BAR proofs.

Doing my research this time around, I was able to determine the gun was originally made in the mid to late 1930s - about a decade after I'd assumed it was made when I had it the first time.

The gun isn't covered with fancy engraving, but there's enough to make me happy, and there's plenty of original condition to the gun - lots of case color left on a gun pushing 90 years old.

Whoever had the gun since 2008 lost the original butt plate...but that's OK, I'd always shot it with a Galco pad on it, so this time I'll just add a proper pad and set it up how I want it.

Congratulations on a great find, and re-acquiring this excellent gun!

Let us know how you get on with it with the new pad?

That's a good one, ammo can be bought at Walmart or out of the way Country Store. External hammers add value because whem buying vintage young bucks want it to look old and vintage. Values of field grade Winchester 97 versus Model 12 comes to mind.

Value will be my daughter's problem once I'm gone.

What a wonderful shotgun and a neat story to boot. Thanks.

That is too cool! I am still hunting my midland 3" hammer gun that got away from me. It even had a 15" lop