Information Found!!! Columbia Ejector 12 ga.
This is what was provied to me by a source I located:
You have what I call a "Trade Brand Name" shotgun and I have a Columbia
Ejector in my collection too.
Definition of a "Trade Brand Name" shotgun. Between 1880 and 1940 it was
quite common and popular for wholesale sporting goods dealers, mail order
houses and even independent retail sporting goods and hardware stores to want
shotguns with names of their own choosing on them. Several shotgun makers
both US and foreign would make shotguns with almost any name in the world on
them as long as the buyer bought a minimum number or paid for the die used to
stamp the name on the gun. These were well made inexpensive, not cheap given
the economics of the times shotguns.
CAUTION!!! These guns are close to or over 100 years old and they were never
designed for modern high pressure smokeless powder ammunition. Also many have
dasmascus barrels. They have been known to blow up when fired with modern
ammo, If you should ever get and overwhelming desire to try to shoot your
gun, have it checked out by a good gunsmith first.
VALUE. These guns have little or no collector value. Their value is as
shooters (see caution), keepsakes, curios or wall hangers. Cash value for a
single barrel at least here in Northern California where I live runs as
follows:
Excl-$175 to $150, V. Good-$150 to $125, Good-$125 to $100, Fair- $100 to $75
and Poor-$50 and below.
Your Columbia Ejector was made by the W. H. Davenport Arms Company of
Norwich, CT (1880 to 1919). It is possible that it was also made by the
Hopkins & Allen Arms Company as well because they used the name too. The
Ejector portion of the name refers to the fact that the gun came with a shell
ejector instead of the more common extractor and ejected the fired shell
instead of just pulling it out to be removed with the fingers. Just when your
gun was made, I can't say because the records are long gone but I suspect it
was between 1890 and 1910
Ned Fall
You have what I call a "Trade Brand Name" shotgun and I have a Columbia
Ejector in my collection too.
Definition of a "Trade Brand Name" shotgun. Between 1880 and 1940 it was
quite common and popular for wholesale sporting goods dealers, mail order
houses and even independent retail sporting goods and hardware stores to want
shotguns with names of their own choosing on them. Several shotgun makers
both US and foreign would make shotguns with almost any name in the world on
them as long as the buyer bought a minimum number or paid for the die used to
stamp the name on the gun. These were well made inexpensive, not cheap given
the economics of the times shotguns.
CAUTION!!! These guns are close to or over 100 years old and they were never
designed for modern high pressure smokeless powder ammunition. Also many have
dasmascus barrels. They have been known to blow up when fired with modern
ammo, If you should ever get and overwhelming desire to try to shoot your
gun, have it checked out by a good gunsmith first.
VALUE. These guns have little or no collector value. Their value is as
shooters (see caution), keepsakes, curios or wall hangers. Cash value for a
single barrel at least here in Northern California where I live runs as
follows:
Excl-$175 to $150, V. Good-$150 to $125, Good-$125 to $100, Fair- $100 to $75
and Poor-$50 and below.
Your Columbia Ejector was made by the W. H. Davenport Arms Company of
Norwich, CT (1880 to 1919). It is possible that it was also made by the
Hopkins & Allen Arms Company as well because they used the name too. The
Ejector portion of the name refers to the fact that the gun came with a shell
ejector instead of the more common extractor and ejected the fired shell
instead of just pulling it out to be removed with the fingers. Just when your
gun was made, I can't say because the records are long gone but I suspect it
was between 1890 and 1910
Ned Fall
0
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Been off on Sea Trials the past few days...so am behind in my duty's here at gb.c, Altho you have some excellent information from a previous poster, I find that DAVENPORT FIREARMS COMPANY, Providence, Rhode Island and Norwich, Connecticut. Circa 1880-1900. The Founder, William H. Davenport, held a great many patents on breech-loading firearms. The company apparently devoted its energies ALMOST exclusively to Single Barrel shotguns of very Inexpensive grades, making them under both house and brand names..Value Wise the Single shot Models are almost worth about 1/2 of the Value of the Double Barrel Models..To actually be sure of the Manufacturer of your Double Barrel Shotgun will require close scrutiny of Proof Marks and Factory Proofs...
Captain Kirk, Tech Staff0
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