Iver Johnson's
There is a gun in my family and I would like to know it's value, even though we would probably never sell it, or even just the history would be cool. My cousin was told that it was 1 of 200 made for Harley Davidson about 40 years ago, by Iver Johnson's. All of the marking's on the gun I could find were Champion,16ga,76142xh,
arms&cycle works Fitchburg Ma.
arms&cycle works Fitchburg Ma.
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I can tell you the same thing any of 100 guys on this site can: the Champion was produced from 1909 until 1956 and I.J. made a million of them! Is there anything on the shotgun at all to lead you to believe that it was made for Harley Davidson? Without either the original box or some sort of distinctive markings on the shotgun it is almost impossible to draw any conclusions. These types of firearms are so common that even if there was a special run for H-D the serial number gives no clue. If it were to read HD 1 of 200 or simular, then you've got somewhere to go. Even if the number you give is a special serial number range- at this point in time no one is going to remember anything about it. Did your cousin purchase the shotgun new forty years ago are is he passing along info he was told when he purchased the gun second hand from someone else?
In average condition these guns retail for less than $100 and have no real collector interest. I'm a BMW motorcycle man myself, but there must be some hard core "knuckle-head" out there who can remember that far back! I do know that H-D is very particular about licensing their name and that extended way back. If this gun was built for H-D it would be marked on there SOMEWHERE becuase Iver Johnson was going to have to pony up some bucks to the boys in Milwaukee! Good luck.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!"
Mark T. Christian0 -
SewPM, I spoke to a gentleman yesterday regaurding your Iver Johnson 16ga., which you believe may have been made for Harley Davidson. While not an IJ expert, he does collect some of the less common Champion's, like those chambered for centerfire cartridges. He claims to be unawre that any such Harley Davidson shotgun was ever made by IJ. His reasoning seems sound to me so I will pass it along to you:
IJ stopped prduction of the Champion back in 1956 so if your cousins shotgun is about 40 years old it would have been one of the last built and any special run of firearms, particularly at the end of a long production run, is going to cause people to remember those guns.
The Champion was a utility grade shotgun, one of the most basic ever sold and thats why its production run was so long. The fact is that IJ was making and selling thousands of these shotguns every month for something like 35 years. A run as small as 200 for such a gun would be highly unlikely. No special run of ANYTHING in a quantity as small as 200 would be attempted without some type of special marking or a serial number indicating that your shotgun is made for Harley Davidson. At the very least there would be a marking on the stock or barrel or SOMEWHERE! It would simply be too easy for such a Champion to be lost with the other several hundreds of thousands produced.
This post is not the final word by any means. It is always possible that you do have some special gun...the problem would be how on earth can you prove that? To fix a value, which is what you asked for, you will have to provide some documentation- otherwise your shotgun is worth no more than its other IJ brothers. I honestly hope that you can some how prove a link to HD. With their popularity now a days, such a shotgun- if proven real, could fetch a price. Good luck.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!"
Mark T. Christian0 -
I suppose the part where it says:
"Arms & Cycle Works" has led someone
to tell him this....probably nonsense.
I`ve had a few,Iver Johnson "Champions",
they are the class of the American
single shots.
.2180
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