doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com hammerless single shots

Lots of turkey hunters and grandfathers have an interest in single shot shotguns. They make great turkey guns because you're not tempted to shoot a second bird (which you'll just have to carry out of the woods). In addition, the hammerless variety single shot is a great trainer for grandkids you hope will graduate to a love of their grandpa's double-guns.

I've owned a number of Savage model 220's, but had never seen a Harrington & Richardson hammerless gun until a local show this weekend. They were made prior to 1941 and only about 25K of them were ever produced. I read somewhere that they might be designated the model 3, but the gun shows no such model designation. The word "Hammerless" however is stamped in large letters across the receiver side...Geo

Yup!! The Harrington & Richardson hammerless was the No. 3. From the 1932 Stoeger catalogue --

Savage model 220, H&R model 3, Ithaca/Lefever model 2 (and 3) "long range and trap" models come to mind. Any other American classic hammerless singles I've missed?...Geo

Great find, George, and it is in very good condition. I would've nabbed that at Eastman in Savannah had I been there.
Can't quite read the markings. "Made in USA .410 Ga. Choke?" Gil

PS: Researcher's advertisement shows .410-12mm. Gil

Thanks Gil. The one I bought is a 20ga , but it is also in good condition. My pictures are generic from a Google search...Geo

I picked up this little 16 bore at auction recently. It comes in with my next batch. It was so cute I just could not maintain my restraint.

Steve, I'm guessing that one must be English?...Geo

It is, and that is pretty much all the info I have on it, no makers name as far as I know.

Researcher, thanks for posting the Stoeger ad. The guy I bought the hammerless from this weekend also had a H&R model 6 "heavy breech" 2 3/4 inch chambered 10ga as pictured in the ad you posted. I didn't buy it due to condition issues, but had never seen one of those either...Geo

Geo, Savage must have ran out of numbers because their current Model 220 is a bolt action shotgun. My first shotgun was a used hammerless Stevens Model 220 20 gauge that I bought for $20.00 with money earned on my paper route. I just may have to dust it off and take it out for Spring Gobbler since I haven't shot it for many years. It is choked super tight, and was tough to break even 14 or 15 of 25 at skeet with it. But when you managed to hit a clay target or game with it, the target was usually pulverized. Whenever my Dad let me use his Model 870 pump, I instantly became a much better shot. Once when I was about 16, my buddies and I were hunting in a large field of pumpkins that had been damaged by heavy frost. I decided to check the pattern of my Stevens 220 and paced off 35 paces from a large pumpkin, and fired. The #6 shot left a gaping hole you could put your fist in with a scattering of pellets on the periphery. I immediately understood why it was hard to hit with it, and later found that it would regularly put 4 or 5 pellets in a beer can at a full 100 yards.

Nice gun SKB. Good English single barrel breech loading guns are surprisingly scarce and even more so if they are hammerless. Worth having a real good look over for any clues as to the maker such as odd initials appearing on the barrels underneath. I too would have snapped that one up. Lagopus.....

My dad had one of the H&R model 3, in 12 ga, 28 inch modified choke.
That was the first shotgun I shot. Kicked an 11 y/o like the proverbial mule.
It went down the road years ago before I had a chance to get it.
I've been looking for one for a long time since then.

I never owned a 220, but I did have a 219 with 3 barrels, 20ga,.22 Hornet and .30-30 Winchester. Nice little gun, but the trigger was too heavy for the rifle calibers.

Savage 219/220 website is www.savagesingleshots.com. Although fairly popular when they made 'em, these Savages aren't common now, especially in decent, un-bubbaed condition.

First shotgun I ever shot was an H&R #5 lightweight in 28ga. It belonged to an Uncle (by marriage) so I never owned it.

Steve - the little single 16 looks to be a dandy. A rifle barrel to go with it will make it even more so. But you're probably already thinking about that�.

Nice single 16!!! Great lines on it.

I viewed this single barrel 16 bore at Gavin Gardiner's auction yesterday. It goes under the hammer today: http://www.gavingardiner.com/BidCat/detail.asp?SaleRef=0027&LotRef=280

From what I could make out it is of European manufacture. There is no visible serial number and there is no mention of a single barrel 16 in the Beesley ledger. I therefore assume it to be a cheap grade gun for a child or lady to potter about with.

Tim

[url=[URL=http://s1201.photobucket.com/user/trw999/media/Beesley/NVSN%2016%20Bore%20Single%20e_zpstddw4qjr.jpg.html][/url]][/url]

<http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=551876170>

Here's a Meriden hammerless single on GunBroker. I had missed that one. I'm surprised Iver Johnson never had one in their line-up.

I guess if you consider SBTs there would be many more, but they are in somewhat of a different league. No doubt the Brit and Euro singles are much more attractive! ..Geo

I've owned a few of the Italian "Companion" under lever hammerless singles. A 12 gauge with a 30" barrel was my first shotgun. Still have it, and the box it came in.
They are a lot higher quality than the various American singles, hammerless, or, not.

Best,
Ted

Ted, I had a 20ga Beretta folder I liked ok. It kicked too much though.

Add Stevens and CVA to the American hammerless single list. The Stevens may have been a precursor to the Savage 220 though, and the CVA doesn't really look American to me...Geo

Stevens: <https://www.gunsamerica.com/941715530/j-stevens-hammerless-single-shot.htm?showlogin=2>

and CVA: < https://www.gunsamerica.com/984228946/CVA-Shotgun-Model-Single-Shot.htm> Note: the CVA says "Made in Italy" on it.

The first shotgun I used as a kid was a Stevens, hammerless, single shot, break open, 20 gauge. Used it for a variety of hunting on my grandparents farm in Virginia. Everything from doves to groundhogs.

I have a Beretta Folder in a 410 bore. Weighs last then 5 Lbs. and with 3" shells lets you know that it has some recoil. When I do shoot it I use 2.5" shells, much more comfortable.

Remington's Model 1894(?) was a hammerless single.

Roundsworth, I think the model 1894 was Remington's first hammerless double. They built a 1902 single shot that looks like a hammerless, but is actually a side cocker. You may well be right of course about there being a hammerless single made by Remington, but I haven't run into it...Geo

As far as I know, other than trap gun$, the only single-shots currently manufactured, hammerless, are Baikal MP-18's and the Yildiz .410.
No one currently imports the Russian Baikals because of import restrictions resulting from Ukraine activities. The Yildiz is available only through Academy brick and mortar stores. For the money, both are hard to beat for reliability and carry weight. The Yildiz is a knock-off of the old Beretta folding design. Gil

450/400 2&3/8"? A rifle conversion had occurred to me, this is also the gun I was considering having a 20 bore paradox tube made for.

That's what I had in mind, Steve.
I was shooting a friend's Holland double last week in that caliber, we were trying out some .405 Woodleigh Weldcores to see how they shot. The undersized bullets work quite well if you've got all the other ducks in a row.
A lovely cartridge to shoot - and I think it'd work well on deer.

The J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. offered a number of hammerless single barrels from 1900 to 1916. Beginning with the No. 140 in General Catalog No. 50 --



By General Catalog No. 51, the hammerless single barrel offerings had expanded to include these top-lever guns --

No. 180 --



No. 185, 190 and 195 --



The No. 180 remained in the line to J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. General Catalog No. 54, their last --



and by then they added a trap gun No. 182 --



After The Great War, the J. Stevens Arms Co. offered the No. 181 --



No. 183 --

Remington Arms Co. offered two slightly different side-cocker single barrels. First the Model 1893 aka No. 3, from the October 1894 catalogue --



In the second Remington Arms Co. catalogue for 1902 they began phasing in the 1902 Model aka No. 9 --



while still offering the No. 3 in the slower selling gauges --

Geo,
Try a 3" round in my Companion 12 to get a different perspective of "kicks too much".

My Dad made sure it had a 3" chamber, because, to his way of thinking, if 3" wasn't better, they wouldn't make 'em. I uncorked a few in the gun before it occured to me that my Dad had gotten way into goose hunting, and my Mom's perfectly good Irish Setter (a show dog that would hunt) was getting left at home.

See you at home, Pops. Been a grouse and pheasant hunter ever since. The Remington model 17 came to live with me right around the same time, and sold me on the notion of having more than one round in a gun. Still have that, too.

I HAVE used the Companion, with it's 30" barrel and super tight choke, for snowshoe grouse hunting, a pretty much pointless exercise in the winter woods, and can report it makes a fine balance beam for snowshoeing.

I've killed exactly one grouse with it, in 35 plus years. WIth the low noise and recoil Winchester loads, it is a tolerable trap gun.

I missed in the bidding on a 16 gauge version a few years ago. Might be a good thing.

Best,
Ted

From their introduction in the U.S.A. circa 1915, the .410-bore shell has also been called 12 mm and 36 gauge. from the 1915-16 Rem-UMC catalogue --







Our .410-bore shell kind of had a dual-track evolution from the European 12 mm and our own .44-40 and .44XL shot cartridges.

Here's a French roll crimper for the tiny 2" .410/12 mm. shell. It won't handle longer shells. Gil

Wow Researcher! Many thanks for the Stevens single shot hammerless line-up. I had no idea they made so many varieties. Where the heck are they all. Much cheaper to "collect" single shots than expensive doubles...Geo

The tiny 2"! That was the only size in .410 until around 1912. At that time it was a taxidermist specimen hunter's collecting gun and based on the old 12mm. Walkingstick gun cartridge. 2" ammo is still widely available in the U.K. and used a small vermin round usually for rats. Lagopus.....

Researcher, let me add my thanks also for a most illuminating series of posts. I had never heard of the fancy Stevens singles or the Remington 1893 in 10 ga. Now I want one of each...

Mergus

Hopkins & Allen, Davenport, and Fyrberg made hammerless singles and American Arms Co. mfg. a semi-hammerless.

I have never seen one of those fancy J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. hammerless single barrels for sale. At list price of $25 to $35 I doubt they sold many. One could buy a K-Grade Remington, 00-grade L.C. Smith or DS-Grade Lefever for the $25 price of the No. 185. One could buy a Field Grade Ithaca, a Baker Batavia Leader or a Winchester Model 1897 for less!!

I have yet to see one of those Remington No. 3 or No. 9s in anything approaching collector condition. They seem to have all been run hard and left out in the chicken coop.

Purdey made a very limited number of single barrel guns on the Beesley action. Donald Dallas described one in an early edition of the Double Gun Journal, round about 1996 but unfortunately I have either misplaced that edition or lent it to someone. There is an article about this gun here:

https://www.facebook.com/LindaMellorPhot...17403174938961/

The reason I am so interested in that article is that I grew up in a cottage on the Balbirnie Estate and my father was best friends with the Keeper "Sloane". We all called him "Jimmy". While I was in high school and university I used to go beating on the estate and that is where I got my first interest in shooting.

I was walking on Falkland Hill this past October and flushed a couple of grouse at almost the same place as one of the photographs. That article, when I found it, brought back many pleasant memories of going through thick bramble bushes and the constant tapping of our sticks.

I have one of the Remington semi-hammerless singles in 20ga. With a cutoff barrel at about 26" it's not exactly collector quality but not bad condition.
I can sorta see how they came up with 12mm for the .410, presume this was based on the case size of a 12mm round @ .472" rather than the bore of the shotgun, but never quite figured how they came up with 36 gauge. With a 36 gauge @ .506" bore I suppose it was just figured this sounded better than calling it the 67.49 gauge that it truly is.

I recently traded into a Joseph Lang & Son (1901-1905?) single barrel hammerless 12 Ga. Barrel is about 25 1/2" in length and choked cylinder bore. It came cased and at first I thought the barrel had been shortened at one time or another but then I noticed the the initials FGP on the gun and also on the case. Since the disassembled gun fits the case like a glove I have to assume the gun came with the short barrel. Have not weighted the gun yet but it cannot be much over 5 1/2 pounds. it is Nitro Proofed and appears to have 2 3/4" chambers (could be 2 9/16"). Sure wish I knew who FGP was.... I think I have my new grouse gun for the upcoming season... WBLDon...

Pics:

I have an A.J. Aubrey hammerless single shot 12ga.
32" full choke, Auto-Eject, Laminated steel bbl I think it is,,maybe Twist(I'd have to look again).
It was auto-safe but I disabled that.
I rebuilt the action and made a new FE for. Fixed the broken in two butt stock.

Bought it as a junker parts gun (obviously!) and really not worth the time & effort to bring back in terms of time and $$.
A friend joked that the best thing on it was the orig butt plate, and it is a nice condition one at that!

But I just liked the lines of it and had never seen one before. So we do stuff like that I guess...
Some of their hammer single shots show up now and again, I still have one of those that needs wood.
But this was the first hammerless AJA/Meriden single I'd seen.
AJA/Meriden advertisements showed a 'Trap Grade' hammerless single w/a ribbed bbl. But mine is just the Farmers version I guess w/plain bbl.

It gets some shooting in at duffer skeet & some trap w/light hand loads.

WBL, another lovely Brit single; I hope you shoot it well.

2-piper I also have one of those Remington sidecockers, a model 9. Mine has a 34" barrel so maybe I could loan some of it to you.

Kutter, this Aubrey just sold today on GunBroker: <http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=551876170>
You could 've had a matched pair for short money!...Geo

..and a gen-o-wine Armory Steel bbl too. Good for short Magmums!

A lifetime supply of AJA hammerless single shot parts.
I gotta get out more!

WBLDon - here's the contact for AG&L - http://www.agl-uk.com/contact#.VxBK_fkrKUk

Email them and they'll give you some info on your gun and info on how much a letter will cost.

Based on the s/n ranges in Don Master's book Atkin, Grant & Lang your gun was probably built between 1910 and 1915 but only AG&L can tell you for sure.

FlyChamps, Thanks so much for the information. I will indeed contact them.

WBLDon

Serial number puts it at 1912 according to what I have. Marks indicate Black powder proof and I would be surprised if the chambers are anything but 2 1/2 inch. Like FlyCamps says; it's worth checking with the makers. Nice find. Lagopus.....

I seem to have missed this thread until now....

I accidentally bought this J & W Tolley 12 gauge single shot while working on a deal for a Continental sidelock. 29" barrels, 2 3/4" chamber, open choke and 5 pounds even. Turns out I love the gun!

WBL, James,
Lovely guns and lucky finds. Gil

Lagopus, Thanks for the input. I know it is hard to see but the barrel is definitely marked Nitro Proofed and has the NP under what looks like an upheld arm with a sword (London definitive nitro proof for all guns since 1904) and 1 1/8. It is my understanding the Joseph Lang & Son on 102 New Bond Street is the banner used from 1901 to 1905. As per my chamber gauge it is more 2 3/4 and maybe the chamber was recut and it was reproofed at this time. I will update once I hear back from Atkin, Grant & Lang.

Thanks all for the input... WBLDon

Yes Gil, it just needs it's 16 gauge sibling!

One of the men who taught me my trade At W&S and whom I later worked with for a couple of years in Birmingham . Bren Kelly ,who's father Jack and uncle Tommy had worked as jobbers within the Midland Gun factory working on guns for Midland as well as for themselves . Bren told me they one of the things they specialised in was "single Anson's"as they were know in the Birmingham trade up until and just after WW2.

I have looked for years for a light single with safety. A couple of years ago, I found a high condition Model 11 or 12 Francotte with 32" solid rib barrel and a safety. Unfortunately, the safety slide is missing as are the internal parts. Bob Beach from Griffin and Howe helped me identify the grade, but there is no provenance for my serial number. The gun is in very high condition and now has a fresh Silver pad. The gun is very light like most singles, but has all the features of a high grade gun.