doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ranger 410

Did anyone here see the listing for a Hunter Arms Ranger 410 on GunsInternational? It was listed for $2395 I believe and only ran a few days. The gun was in excellent condition. There were only 224 Hunter Ranger 410's made total so I was excited to see it. The pictures were not real close ups but I could see the gun was in wonderful condition. Then a few red flags cropped up. The fore end was wrong,there were no screws in the bottom of the receiver and the Ranger logo on the side of the receiver appeared larger than it should. I messaged the seller and was told the serial# started with an X followed by 5 digits. When I messaged him again,the gun was already sold,I assume for near the asking price since it sold that quickly. I'm no expert,but I'm 99% sure this was a Marlin Ranger, not a Hunter Arms. I trust no one on this forum bought this gun.

Could have also been a Stevens Ranger made for Sears

Rebel, I don't believe there were any Marlin-made Ranger sxs. There were Ranger OU's made by Marlin (Model 90).

Can't help with the gun listed, but Dr Jim recently completed a review of Hunter Arms' boxlock production, including Trade Name guns, Gladiator, and Ranger. Of the 8,237 Rangers produced 1937-1939, 222 were .410; all with 26" barrels. The SNs should be about 162,000 to 190,000.
More infro in an upcoming DGJ article

Drew - I'm curious. Did it address how many Hunter Special 410's were produced. Thanks

I believe you're right. I should have said Stevens made Ranger.

Wow; that is big bucks for that gun!

5971 Hunter Specials; 295 .410s
3475 Fulton Specials; TWO .410s
35,881 Fultons 1919-1946; 812 .410s
(.410 was introduced in 1926; not sure when the first Fulton .410 was made)
38,754 boxlock 'Hunters' 1904-1918; name was changed to Fulton 1915.

Drew, is there a mistake in the dates you show in your last line, or was there an overlap when Hunter was producing boxlocks marked both Hunter and Fulton? Interesting. I've seen a lot of Fultons, some Hunter Specials and Fulton Specials, but never a boxlock marked Hunter.

Nor has anyone over on the LCSCA Larry. This is new information that came out of Dr Jim's review of the existing but incomplete Hunter Arms shipping records.
When Thomas Hunter gave the 1904 Hunter Arms Co. Annual Report, he stated 14 'Hunters' were made in 1904. A total of 15,451 boxlock shotguns were produced before Hunter Arms Co. received a patent for the G.S. Lewis designed gun Feb. 7, 1911 (#983,559). A total of 38,754 boxlocks were produced 1904-1918, and they were referred to as 'Hunters' in the shipping records until the name was changed to 'Fulton' in 1915. Unfortunately, the records are simply a list of serial numbers; without gauge, barrel length, to whom the gun was shipped, etc.
The 1912 Schoverling, Daly & Gales catalogue shows a Hunter Arms boxlock named Manhattan Arms Co., courtesy of Researcher





I found no ads nor mention of the 'Hunter' boxlock in reviewing 1905-1915 Sporting Life

We would VERY much like to see a 'Hunter'!!

Interestingly, Hunter Arms also made 'Hunter' bicycles with 'Crown Steel' tubing



AND Crescent made a sidelock 'Hunter' and 'Nitro Hunter' for Belknap