A very warm hello from north of the Bay of Bengal. This is my first post although I have been a spider on the wall for some time. That was largely because I really have not enough knowledge about shotguns to contribute but only a wealth of questions. I have tried to read as many topics as I can on this forum to try and learn but frankly while all of it has been absorbing quite a bit of it is beyond me. Any way now I have joined up I would be very grateful for any information and light on my questions regarding the W W Greener 12 gauge shotgun detailed below.
The gun is a 12 gauge W W Greener non ejector shotgun in F4 grade. That is the first question. Just what is an F4 grade?
The serial number is 48914. Is it possible to date it from this?
The barrels are inscribed with
"
W W Greener 68 haymarket london & St. Mary's Square Birmingham, Winner at the London Gun Trials 1875 1877 1878 & 1879"
The chambers are 2 1/2 inch by measurement but the flats of the barrels have no markings whatsoever showing them to be such.
The barrels are marked "Sir Whitworth's steel".
The flats of the barrels themselves are only marked with the following (see pics):
13
Two crossed sceptres marks
choke.
There are no nitro proof markings, no service pressure marks, no max load marks.
Does this mean that the gun was proofed for black powder only? It seems rather surpising given thae overall makeup of the gun!
I would truly appreciate any light being shed on this aspect of the gun and if possible an idea as to when it was made.
I'm sorry for the quality of the pics but they were taken in my local gunsmiths shop and the lighting ws not the best. If you need any more photos I'll try and gt them tomorrow.
There is one further fundamental problem with the gun. The left barrel has a dent 12 inches from the breech. I have read a number of threads here about dents and the general opinion, as far as I can make out, is that dents if properly raised will leave the barrels very usable but if you look at the pic you will see it is about where the fingers of the leading hand would be when you mounted the gun. Would you use it provide the rest of the gun is sound?
Thanks for your time and help.
All the best
Skeeterbd
