[Bob R]

A while back I was able to pick up an interesting shotgun, for the price of a wall hanger.

I love the looks of this shotgun, in fact you could say it is Sharp's like in appearance.

It has a small forestock, exposed hammer and what I think is the coolest part, a brass underlever to break open the barrel. It is a 12 gauge, 2 3/4" chamber.

The barrel is 28" long, with a tiny groove on the receiver and an equally tiny brass bead front sight. It has a very nice brown patina on most of the metal, although you can tell it was probably blued at one time.

When was this thing made, you ask? Well, that is a very good question. There is not a lot of information on these guns out there. It says "Bay State Arms Co. Uxbridge Mass. U.S.A. Pat'd Dec. 25, 1888 Wm. H. Davenport" on the barrel, and because just about every part of it has a serial number of 731, including the wood, the lever, receiver and several of the small parts, I am going out on a limb here and will say it was probably made in very late 1888 or early 1889. That's my story and I am sticking with it.

Yep, black powder shotgunning, here I come! That is by choice, it will shoot 2 3/4" smokeless just fine. I just don't want to yet.

The bad: the buttstock is cracked at the tang and has warped away from the receiver, but it won't be a hard fix.

Now it is your turn to fill in the holes.....if you can think of any.

bob

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Beautiful! I'm an old gun enthusiast. I have never seen one of those before.

 

[RandyTheHack]

Same here - very nice old gun. I've never seen one like that one though... what a beauty.

You have to love the brown patina... I have a Winchester 20 ga single shot that's turning brown. It was given to me by a very old gentleman who most likely bought it new. The old guy taught me how to butcher deer. The gun is as good as the day it was new; I wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

[olhippy]

Nice looking outfit. By the serial number matching on all the parts at least means it is all original. Nothing swapped with another gun. Nice grab.

 

[gearchecker]

BobR,
That's a great looking classic. I like the lever handle as well. It's a pretty unique feature. So you're going to load some BP casings for it? that's going to be fun to shoot for sure. Please post some photos of any paper you decide to destroy with it. Maybe I can shoot it next summer? I'll bet snakedriver can figure out a great load for it.

Regards,
Gearchecker

 

[BigSkiff]

Nice old gun!

 

[EuroMan]

Nice early American single there Bob.

You pretty much have this one pegged. The bit of info I have shows "Bay State Arms at Uxbridge, MA, was in business from 1888 to 1892 and then was bought out by Hopkins and Allen" another source quotes: " Baystate single shot rifles manufactured in Uxbridge, MA from 1883 to 1885. In 1885 this company was acquired by Hopkins & Allen. The company also produced a 12 gauge shotgun under an agreement with W.H. Davenport of Rhode Island."

It is pretty certain the gun wasn't mfg. prior to the pat'd date on the barrel and with the low ser#, You have this one pegged real close at spring of '89

There were also Baystate shotguns that were entirely different.These were made by H&R from 1908 to 1942.

Thanks for sharing this little gem.

 

[oneounceload]

1888 or 1889 is NOT a 2-3/4" chamber and it would have been safe for BP loads only, so as long as you are just hanging it on the wall, that won't matter much, but if you want to shoot modern 2-3/4" ammo in it, I hope you have good insurance