I'm stumped
I was asked to value an old muzzleloader shotgun but can't find info anywhere on it. It's a Johnson Arms double barrel in a gauge slightly smaller than 20 but bigger than a .410. The only other marking on it is on the rib between barrels . It reads "laminated steel". Can anybody help me out with info on this? Thank you.
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It would be best to post quality photos, per this link.
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=259294
Not likely to be worth a lot, though. Percussion shotguns were made in great quantity between the 1840's and the 1870's. Very little collector interest in them unless highly embellished, or with established military provenance. Bore could be 24, 28 or 32 gauge?0 -
"Johnson Arms" and "Laminated Steel" sound like a typical phony trade name and marking as used on Belgian exports to USA, although this was more common in the breech loading era.
If you can remove the barrels, check for proofmarks on underside.0 -
28 gage. 0 -
Most of these things are little more than wall hangers, of interest only to interior decorators. As such, their value is between $100 to $200 depending on condition. More if you buy one from the decorator. None of these shotguns, even if factory engraved and in pristine condition, will fund your retirement. 0 -
It was common practice in the 1850's to 1880's for gunsmiths to buy imported completed shotguns or the barrels only and put their name on it. England and Belgium had the manufacturing factories to make laminated barrels. It is unusual that yours is marked "Arms." This could indicate a larger production facility than a small, one man gunshop. For an antique, condition is everything: $50 to $300 for a double percussion barrel shotgun. Is it in good overall working condition, heavily used, broken, inoperable, rusted, what quality level. Heavily engraved and carved wood shotguns fall into a different category and are usually European guns. All of the nine Johnson gunsmiths in American Firearms Makers were in the northeast states with one in Minnesota. 0 -
24 gauge--125 to hang 0 -
"I was asked to value an old muzzleloader shotgun but can't find info anywhere on it. It's a Johnson Arms double barrel in a gauge slightly smaller than 20 but bigger than a .410"
A muzzleloader can be any numbered gauge, not necessarily only the even numbers used in breechloaders, but here's a chart of millimeter and decimal diameters for even numbered gauges:
Gauge - Bore diameter (millimeters) - Bore diameter (inches)
6 - 23.3 - 0.92
10 - 19.7 - 0.77
12 - 18.5 - 0.73
14 - 17.6 - 0.69
16 - 16.8 - 0.66
20 - 15.9 - 0.63
24 - 14.7 - 0.58
28 - 14.0 - 0.55
32 - 13.4 - 0.526
The mm measurement will usually be marked underside of Belgian barrels:
I call my ancestor's percussion double a 13 gauge: Right barrel is marked 17.8, left barrel 18.0.
A dime is tight in right barrel, loose in left.0
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