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Forums10
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Apr 29th, 2024
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,986 Likes: 299
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,986 Likes: 299 |
I have a fascination with them.
They were made in Toledo, OHIO fer goodness sakes!
My specific questions would be:
Who's the big collector of them?
Anyone have a picture of a "High Grade" model?
What do the locks look like inside?
Who made their barrels?
Yada, Yada, Yada
I know they are old, and less sophisticated, but hey, THEY WERE ACTUALLY MADE IN TOLEDO, OHIO!
Pictures are problematic right now,
But let's have a discussion about these modest catalogue shotguns.
Out there doing it best I can.
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 8,158 Likes: 114
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 8,158 Likes: 114 |
Add them to the list of other Toledo, Ohio "greats": Home of Tony Packos, Willys-Overland (Jeeps), Detroit's AAA team the Mudhens, Franklin ice cream stores and a great newspaper named "The Blade"- and the hometown of MASH's Cpl. Klinger- Jamie Farr, and also the late Ernie Pyle.. And a fairly great zoo as well.
"The field is the touchstone of the man"..
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 580
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 580 |
There is a strong Lefever connection here. Charles F.(Fred) Lefever, son of Uncle Dan Lefever, went to work for Union Firearms in Toledo when Dan and his other sons left Syracuse for Defiance, Ohio. There he patented a semi-automatic revolver made under the Union name. He later went on to invent the Daisy model 25 BB gun among other things.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,986 Likes: 299
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,986 Likes: 299 |
I've read that before, Dr. Bob.
I'm curious about the doubles.
I've not seen their innards, nor have I seen anything close to the grade of gun they depict in their catalog's.
If the photohosting stuff can be worked out, perhaps we can use this second half of summer to go over their attributes in some detail.
Out there doing it best I can.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,417 Likes: 314
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,417 Likes: 314 |
Sears 1900 Catalog No. 110 Colton Gun. $17.75 Laminated Steel (Twist); $21 Genuine Damascus..."made so strong at every point that it is adapted to the use of any grade of white, black or smokeless powder."  Sears 1902 with the Colton lockwork. I'll look for the original and see if I can zoom the image.  Colton Fire Arms Model 1902  "Wilson's Welded Steel" was a tradename used on c. 1900 Sears shotguns by Crescent and others. I've analyzed a chunk and it is Bessemer Rephosphorized Low Alloy Low Carbon Steel AISI 1017  Union Fire Arms Company was incorporated in Toledo, OH in 1902 by George B. Colton, and was successor to Colton Manufacturing Company (1894-1902). Union Fire Arms Company continued supplying Sears and others with double barrels under the names Union Arms Company (c.1910), Illinois Arms Company (Sears) and Bee Bee Arms Company. Researcher has more catalog pages. This is all I have  
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 5,889 Likes: 109
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 5,889 Likes: 109 |
Union kind evolved in a tangled web from Colton and Hickox (1891), later Colton Manufacturing Co. by 1894. By 1901 Colton was listed as gun manufacturers in the Toledo directories. Colton was manufacturing guns for Sears & Roebuck which appear in the 1900 and 1901 Sears catalogs. On September 8, 1902 the Union Firearms Co. was incorporated. Sears needing a supply of cheaper repeating shotguns than the Winchesters or Marlins, had a plan to acquire the remains of Spencer, from Francis Bannermann who had been manufacturing the Spencer pump, and move the equipment to Toledo. This apparently went wrong, and Colton and his people (including Charles Lefever, son of Uncle Dan) went ahead on their own to manufacture a pump. Union made a slightly different version of the pump for Sears. Union was also manufacturing a double with ejectors by 1903. Both this and the pump were in Sears 1903 catalog. Their last listing in the Toledo city directory was 1913. By Union Fire Arms Company's 1905 catalogue they were making a single trigger double with a Lefever patent single trigger, steel, twist or Damascus barrels at $25, $26, or $27. Engraving $3.50 extra, fancy figured stock $3.50 extra, recoil pad $3.50 extra, and ejectors $10 extra. Union's Model 23 was their finely finished gun at $60 with Laminated or Damacus barrels, ejectors $10 extra. The Model 22 was their plain double with steel, twist or Damscus barrels at $18, $19, or $21, ejector $10 extra. Model 24 was the pump gun at $19 with steel barrel, $20 with Laminated barrel, and $22 with Damascus barrel. They also offered two hammer single barrels. By the 1911 catalog they had added a Model 25 Peerless pump gun, and a Model 25A which was a trap gun. I've condensed this from Joseph T. Vorisek’s "Shotgun Research Newsletter" volume three, issue one. The only Union paper I have is a little catalog reprint by the late Dr. Wm. Paul Smith. Here are scans of the double gun pages --    Note the cheapest gun the Model 21 cocks by movement of the top-lever, used decades later on the Savage Model 420 and Model 430 over/under. I believe there was also an article on Colton/Union by Cdr. Roy Gunther in The Gun Report, but I don't have the reference.
Last edited by Researcher; 07/04/17 10:45 AM.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,986 Likes: 299
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,986 Likes: 299 |
Have any of you ever seen in person any of these models?
All I've ever seen was a couple junker sidelock's, similar to early Crescents.
Whenever I'm googling around, I stumble upon people asking about them, but they are always very old internet threads.
Is there someone that is collecting them? Are there any high grades actually in existence?
Out there doing it best I can.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,718 Likes: 479
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,718 Likes: 479 |
All the double guns I've seen, maybe half a dozen have all been of the lowest grade. I am sure I've missed others of the same type. If it is a very worn, beaten up double I don't give them much of a look anymore. I did look at a pump gun that was field grade but it had very nice wood on it. Could not rule out a restock job or perhaps an employee gun.
I had friends working at Remington who would go into the wood room and pick out "employee grade" wood for any gun they were going to buy themselves. A couple were exhibition grade blanks on a 1100. Wonder what ever happened to all those employee guns?
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,417 Likes: 314
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,417 Likes: 314 |
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 514 Likes: 13
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 514 Likes: 13 |
CZ, I have a Colton in poor condition and a decent condition Union F.A., SxS. Both are model 22 guns I also have 3 Union Model 24 pump guns. If I can get the picture posting issue ( photobucket) remedied I will post some pictures. John [img] http://s39.photobucket.com/user/euroclan/media/P_20170130_050125.jpg.html[/img]
Last edited by John E; 07/10/17 01:02 PM.
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