Fact is there were no commercial makers of shotguns in America before the Civil War, and C/F breechloaders didn't really come on line in England until about 1862 when Daw's shell went into the public domain. But on our side of the big pond, when the war concluded in April 1865 we were years behind. Parker's first C/F gun--called T-Latch by collectors--used war surplus Decarbonized steel musket barrels ca. 1867-68; in 1868 Parker introduced a back action gun with Laminated steel barrels at $100, and in the 1869 catalog there was a full line of front and back action guns up to $200, using different frame sizes to adjust for balance and weight.
The only other late-1860s makers of commercial quantities of relatively expensive guns were Wesson (13 months, 229 guns, $225); Ethan Allen's lid opener; Roper's revolving repeater, and the Whitney three-trigger gun. N.R.Davis made a cheap pinfire, but the pinfire never was popular in America. Boyd & Tyler had a twist opener ca.1870 and then came the Remington-Whitmore in 1873. One by one all the others went belly up or just quit the business. At the 1876 Centenial in PA, Parker showed 26 guns in 6 grades ranging from $55 to $300; the Rem-Whit Mod.'73 was $36 in lots of three, and J. Stevens had just introduced a cheap $40-$60 SxS. Parker won all the first awards. Meanwhile Dan Lefever, having just quit one partnership, hooked up with Nichols and showed no guns. Thus ended the first decade of breech-loading shotgun manufacture in America, and ever after Parker Brothers was acknowledged as the "Pioneer Maker."
If you want my book you should e-mail your snail mail address and I'll send a flyer <knightofthetrigger@yahoo.com> EDM
Thank you. You just answered some questions that I did even know how to ask.
Pete
