I own a "stars & stripes' damascus barreled Hollenbeck (serial #16) high grade 12 gauge (Feb. 13,1900 patent stamp on the water table) 28" barreled drilling stamped "Damascus Steel" on the top rib, at the breech. It has dogs on the left (setter) and right side (pointer) of the receiver and two quail on the trigger guard surrounded by detailed scroll engraving, remaining in excellent condition, with traces of case hardening still visible. Pistol grip stock is high grade wood with ebony insert at the pistol grip end. There is no pitting in the three bores and no cracked or chipped wood, Hollenbeck Gun Company, Wheeling, W. Va butt plate. I would like to know more about this beautiful drilling and what caliber is the rifle? A 32-40 bullet fits tight to the muzzle end of the bore and will not enter the rifling completely, but the chamber is made for a straight wall cartridge approximately 2 1/4" or 2 5/16" long. Any help would be deeply appreciated. It's grade and value ??

SxS Only

Pictures please 🙏

Hollenbeck/Three-Barrel/Royal Gun Companies

Hollenbeck Gun Co. 1901-early 1905
Three-Barrel Gun Co. Late 1905-early 1908
Royal Gun Co. 1909-May 1910

The shot barrels were offered in 12-, 16-, 20-, and 28-gauge (only Hollenbeck Gun Co.), with the rifle barrel at various times in .22 WCF, .25-20 Win., .25-20 SS, .25-25 Stevens, .25-35 Win, .25-36, 30 WCF, 32-20 Win., 32 Ideal, and 32-40. It appears to me that 25-25 Stevens and 32-40 were by far the most common calibers.

One often sees guns marked Three-Barrel Gun Company on the barrels with a Hollenbeck Butt Plate, or marked Royal Gun Company on the barrels with a Three-Barrel Gun Company Butt Plate. One also sees quite a few of these guns unmarked in any way except for the serial number and the patent date, which were probably taken by workers in-lieu-of pay. "Patd FEB 13, 1900" which was Frank A. Hollenbecks patent number 643,601 which covered the bolting, and was also used on the Baltimore Arms Company double guns. Frank A. Hollenbeck's Patent # 753,492 granted Mar. 1, 1904 covered the locks and cocking mechanism, though I've never seen this date stamped on one of the guns. All three companies also offered doubles, and the latter two offered a single barrel trap gun of Lefever design.

My two-part article on these companies was in The Double Gun Journal, Volume Thirteen, Issues 2 and 3. There was an article on a very interesting one of these guns fitted with a Miller single trigger in the Arms Gazette for September 1978, and one in The American Rifleman for June 1964.

https://www.buffaloarms.com/32-ideal-cases-bertram-box-of-ber32ideal.html

SxS Only,
A quick search of a copy of the original records does not list the information for #16. Unfortunately the serialization book/records is spotty for the Hollenbeck, TBG co. and Royal Arms Co. a majority of the first 100 guns are absent from the records. If you remove the forend and look at the barrel lug the caliber of the rifle is sometimes stamped on the left side of the lug. Would love to see pics of your gun!!!

[quote=doublenut]SxS Only,
A quick search of a copy of the original records does not list the information for #16. Unfortunately the serialization book/records is spotty for the Hollenbeck, TBG co. and Royal Arms Co. a majority of the first 100 guns are absent from the records. If you remove the forend and look at the barrel lug the caliber of the rifle is sometimes stamped on the left side of the lug. Would love to see pics of your gun!!![/

doublenut, no rifle stamping on the lug, but researching a 32 Maynard caliber for pictures and specs. Chamber is longer than 32 ideal, but not sure of anything just yet. Hope to load pictures of this drilling tomorrow. Thank you!

SxS Only

The surviving ledger that I have starts with the Three-Barrel Gun Co. but includes the Hollenbeck Gun Co. guns still in inventory at the time of the reorganization.

The value of this Hollenbeck drilling would be impossible to estimate without more details including good pictures. I don't know if these guns were typically marked as to gauge and caliber, so it might take a Cerrosafe chamber cast to determine that.

I noticed one omission on the list of rifle barrel chamberings was the .30-30, which was discussed in this 2018 Thread

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=510830&page=all

I missed out on a nice Three Barrel Gun Co. 12 x 12 x .30-30 drilling at a Penna. Gun Collectors Assn. gun show about 1990. It was not a real high grade gun, but it was in excellent original condition, at a very attractive price. Unfortunately, I didn't see it until I had about emptied my wallet by getting some extremely great buys on four double shotguns. I think about it whenever I think about the ones that got away. What was normally a very large and crowded gun show was very sparsely attended that Saturday, because there was a home playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns.

.30 WCF is the .30-30.

The Hollenbeck and Three Barrel Gun Co. drillings that I have seen had the rifle caliber marked on the barrel flats like this Three Barrel Gun Co. , serial 570

The ones I have have had the caliber stamped on the side of forend lug. Photo to follow . I have seen the 32-40 and 30-30 to be the “be most common”
My current keeper is a 25-35. I think they are coolest guns but the rifles need to be loaded really light in my experience and have generally been such a pain I have not finished the process and bagged a deer.

I have a higher grade Hollenbeck drilling, 16 ga, Krupp barrels #232. The rifle caliber does not seem to appear anywhere on the gun.

Still working on determining the caliber of my drilling, but, I do not have sophisticated tools. Case length is close to 2 1/4", using a flat end cleaning rod, and rim diameter measures close to .438.
Any help, thank you in advance!

SxS

S&S Only,
The caliber of the Drilling not being marked is pretty common for guns of its age. About the only to accurately determine the nominal caliber is to "slug" the barrel and make a chamber cast. If you make a chamber cast to include enough of the barrel, you might not have to "slug" the barrel. Because of your lack of tools, you may need to have a local gunsmith or experienced handloader make the chamber cast for you.
Mike

The 32 idea case length is 1.77, head is .411
25-35 is a bottle neck 2.043 long, head .506
30-30 head is .506
25-25 length 2.37, head .376
25-36 Marlin base .500
25-20ss length 1.63, base .378

On these old guns the barrel head recess can be over sized compared to the actual cartridge head.
The 32 ideal bullet uses .323 very close to the 32-40.
Really need to get a casting of the chamber but the 32 Ideal looks like a pretty good candidate.

32 Ideal case length is too short 1.77 vs my measuring of 2 1/4" I'm going to have the chamber cast, but I think that will only give the same information that I already have. SxS

Poor a chamber cast. Oil the barrel. Put a wad or tight cleaning patches in the barrel in front of the chamber. I use sulfur flower for the drug store. I melt it outside and don't breathe the fumes. When melted poor into chamber and let it set a few minutes. Knock out with a cleaning rod.

Photo posted above... I believe all 6 or so that I have owned were marked as such...
30 30
32 40
25 SS
25 35


I don’t doubt yours is unmarked. Simply posting the photo for future reference.