doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What about this nice old Greener????

Lads.I was browsing this Auction

seeing how close i was to the estimated price...& was doing good .
I thought this one rather handsome..I've got to like Greener Guns.

The 2000 -3000 price seemed ok, then read the bit about the not closing bit.
Perhaps thats a simple fix..or perhaps a nightmare in waiting...but if you could check it out & seemed doable...i' d think this high grade Welly a deal if bought for 2000 & fixed for a few hundred or so
What do you Lasds think of her???
cheers
Franc Nice Greener???

Had a few heavey use guns do this and good cleaning solved it.After each shot or so a flake of powder or some such would be on underhook or standing breach causeing the problem.It don't take much on a good tight gun.If you are thinking more of a fiddle than a violin it may just do the job.

That is a beautiful old Greener. Very high class. It does have some issues though. Even though the description says it has been reproofed, its says nothing about the gun being proofed after the chambers were lengthened to 3". I wonder if someone stoked it with a magnum 3" load, touched it off and broke something internally??? I think the asking price is high with the described issues.

Could be extraction problem. Sometimes caused by expansion of case heads with modern ammo with very soft metal in the heads or not enough strength in the extractor mechanism?

Seems like a very nice Greener for the price, especially cased like that.

It is a best-grade Greener (note the gold crown on toplever) built on the Self-Acting Ejector patent of 1881 (see ejectorwork in front lump of barrel). I'd bet there is a problem with the cocking and ejecting work there and if so therein lies the problem. Good system if not bodged but if that is the problem it will be difficult and expensive to fix. Levers for cocking and ejecting are small and demand utmost precision in fitting and new ones will have to be hand-made and fitted and properly regulated by someone who knows what they are doing -- like Greeners.

I would search for opinions on Devine practices and auction descriptions before I call and ask very specific and detailed questions that I would require being answered by email or in writing.
Best,
John
PS--Blued Damascus????

If it will not close after firing and opening...how was it fired in the first place?

To me, and my opinion and insights should hold little if any weight to them at all, it sounds like it just needs a good cleaning and checking over with a fine toothed comb...

But, being a Greener, I'm sure the previous owner may have done this already...

Call Nick Makinson in Canada and ask his opinion. If anyone this side of the pond can fix it, Nick can. He can most likely give you a rough idea of the cost too. This is not a job for any old Joe gunsmith, Greeners are tricky buggers.
Steve

I second Nick, a master. When he came over he was so appreciated in the community that a cop made it his business to find him a house.

I've seen another high grade Greener recently with the damascus pattern barely discernable under the blacking/blueing; one suggestion is that some decades after being built, it was refinished (by Greeners - the paperwork says so) in accordance with more modern fashions and preferences, and re-sold. Good gunmakers knew damascus was perfectly sound, so instead of putting a set of steel tubes on, the old ones were just finished to look new
RG