doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Information on old unusual Baker

I have just acquired an old damascus barreled Baker serial number 3538 in 12 gauge. 26 inch barrels that must have opened at one time to cyl/cyl. The chambers have also been opened to 2.75 inches as I would think that these old circa 1890 or so guns would have been 2.5 inch chambered. The gun has a nice bird dog etched on each side of the action. The unusual part is that the old girl has an Infallible trigger that functions great. The gun is properly on face and is mechanically good but a bit rough costmetically. Any info/ideas on model, date of manufacture, etc. To date I have cleaned at least 50 years of grim from the gun and will have it restored after the season. Any info would be appreciated.
Tom

Hammer gun or hammerless?
Pictures would help
Here is a picture the single trigger in my Baker

Your dog look like this?


or like this?

Mike

Mike,
The engraving on mine is not as extensive as the ones in your photos. The bird dogs on mine look much like yours in the first photo but are looking up at the same symbols seen on yours that I call flying turnips. Further, the switch for my barrel selector is on top of the tang near the safety. I have a second Baker with steel barrels with a serial number 6657 that is in excellent condition and has been restocked. It has the same bird dogs on the sides of the action. No grade is indicated anywhere on the gun.
Tom

Tom:

Did you recently get this gun from Ed Lander? If not, he has/had one just like it. Might check with him.

p.s. With the engraving you describe - Damascus = A grade, Twist = B grade
I'm no expert, if I'm wrong on this, I'm sure someone will correct me.

I would guess the Infallible trigger is an after market on your gun. I have a very late Lefever, probably assembled at Ithaca which has an Infallible trigger on it. This one may have been there when built or may not have. The trigger is selectable but does not reset upon opening the gun. Thus if one bbl only is fired & then gun opened & reloaded it will still fire the opposite bbl on next trigger pull unless manually reset. The selector slide on the tang moves to the other position with each trigger pull.

From your description it sounds like you have a Baker Grade "R".



It was a later addition to the Baker line and was in production at the time, 1912 and later, when Lancaster Arms Co. was making the Infallible Single Trigger.

Researcher
Many thanks. Both of my Baker's steel SN: 6657 and damascus SN: 3538 show the identical bird dogs looking up at the flying turnip type swirl same as in the pictures provided above. No birds are on the sides. Do you have any info on dates of manufacture, etc. Both guns have 26 inch barrels and the 3538 gun has the original Baker buttplate with a LOP of only 13.5 perhaps due to the mounting of the single Infallible trigger. There is no evidence that this gun was ever a double trigger shotgun. Any additional info would be appreciated. Merry Christmas to you and to all the board members.
Tom

Tom, both serial numbers of your gun are in the A and B serial no. range. I would guess your 3538 has engraved dogs, rather than etched. I think the Infallible trigger could have been an option supplied by the factory. It was a somewhat better trigger, design wise, than the Baker one. R grades were from a period when Baker marked the grade on watertable.

Daryl,
Many thanks! I was hoping that you might see my entry. Question: Is there in print a book on Baker shotguns? I have noted a difference in the two guns I have. The damsacus gun with the 35XX SN. assembles with a stud on the fore-end iron pushing back s plunger that protrudes from receiver, somewhat like a Parker. The 66XX steel gun has a cocking arm that protrudes into the fore-end arm when assembled and must be carefully pushed back into the receiver when the gun is assembled. Comments on this please.
Regards,
Tom

We are still waiting for Daryl and Chris to write it!!

The Lancaster Arms Co., the maker of the Infallible single trigger, wasn't around until 1912, a few years after Baker had dropped the A and B grades. So, it has to be a retro-fit.