Several years ago a friend bought a William Ford 12 gauge with approx. 24" barrels. We both loved the gun and assumed the barrels were cut however since it was intended for Mi. Grouse we were OK with it since the wood, the engraving and the condition were all excellent. The tubes were touching at the muzzle and imagine our surprise when the chokes (measuring almost 3") came out to .035" and .042"! A few years later I was in Birmingham England and had the good fortune of visiting Ford and looking in their ledger. I was able to find it and in the remarks column was written "Alligator gun". When I asked about this the fellow who was helping me remembered hearing about such guns. They were made for dispatching the Alligator, once captured, over the gunnel of the boat. I always thought this was a neat find and if providence hadn't played a part we would never have known "the rest of the story". By the way, in our mid 70's, the gun actually handles very nicely especially in heavy cover with these short tubes. He's never opened up the chokes wanting it just as it came. It's either a feather explosion or nothing. Thinking about this I may be mixing up two species, on second thought it could have been a Croc gun instead of Alligator. Seems to make more sense this way...
