doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com ID a Meriden

My bother has a Meriden, inherited from our father. To the best of our knowlege he bought it second hand prior to WWII. Serial number is 75328. If it is of any importance, right side of water table is marked 18, left side S3C. It is far from original, buttstock has been replaced, barrels reblued and frame recasehardened. We are curious as to manufacture date.

Steve

The Aubrey shotguns in the 1906 Sears catalog started at $13.85 and went up to $69.00 depending on grade and engraving. The cheapest had Twist or "Armory steel" barrels and the most expensive had 6 blade Damascus. They were advertised as having "all the improvements found on other guns as well as some that are not found on other makes" and were the pride of the Sears line with a 60 day free trial and a 20 year guarantee. All were 12g sidelock double guns with either 30” or 32” barrels and POW stocks. Models were as follows:
18 AS - line engraving Laminated - 13.85
20 AT - line engraving Armory Steel - 14.85
22 AD - line engraving 2-blade Damascus - 17.35
30 ALE - leaf engraving Laminated - 16.35
34 ADE - leaf engraving 2-blade - 18.85
50 ASE - fine line scroll and game scene Laminated - 19.35
52 DSE - fine line scroll and game scene 2-blade - 22.35
56 engraved 3-blade - 29.75
58 engraved 4-blade - 39.75
60 made to order 5-blade - 49.75
62 made to order 6-blade - 69.00

Pics are here http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/17474742

PeteM might be able to narrow down the serial number for you. Please note the Model 18 had Twist barrels, but the S3C is probably 'S30' for 30" Steel barrels so I could be wrong.

The gun is a Meriden, M18 with 30" Steel barrels. It was made in 1917. The 1908 the catalog lists it selling for $13.85. I assume it is hammerless? Does it have the patent date of 1907 on the rib? Does it have crystal or armory on the rib? Does it have extractors or ejectors?

http://damascus-barrels.com/Aubrey.html

The Aubrey / Meriden guns were all produced by Sears in Meriden, CT. They are a nice example of American gun making. They started production in 1905 and continued selling them until at least 1918. I believe at the end they were simply filling orders with parts in stock.

If you can post a picture or send it to me at aubrey@damascus-barrels.com I would appreciate it.

By the way, I really like the Springs area.

Pete

And they still kill wild birds! "New Aubrey" by Meriden #15208 last October, with RST paper 2.5" 5 shot.

Sven,

Nice brace of sharpie's. The Aubrey looks good with them. Gotta get over to Mn one day & give it a try.


Pete

Steve: Have your brother get that Meriden out and shoot it, but you may want to have a good gunsmith look it over first. A good source of ammo is: http://www.classicusc.com/Shotshells_s/139.htm

Pete: Picture is of my older brother the skeet shooter. We were pheasant hunting in NW ND and after lunch decided to walk my favorite sharptail section. I uncased the Aubrey and got out the box of 2.5" paper shells. He latched onto the gun and wouldn't give it up so I just handled the pointing dogs. At the end of the mile walk he handed me back 5 empties, and the first shot went straight up when the hammer slipped. The birds behaved as expected in mid-season and didn't tolerate any roading by dog or human. Fortunately we had good scenting conditions, steady dogs, and a 30" extra full barrel. Sharptails in MN are pretty scarce now-a-days, with a very abbreviated season. I'd be happy to have a walk with you on the same section if you were out that way.

Bryan

Pete,
Thanks for the response. The gun is in Sioux Falls,S.D., I'm in Colorado Springs, so a photo will be a little time in coming. You might be disappointed, as I said, we had the gun completely redone several years ago. Put the gun back on face, restocked, reblued and recasehardened so she's not even close to original. Oh, and Bill opened up the right barrel to light modified. On the plus side, that ol' Meriden has killed more geese, ducks, pheasants and grouse than I could count, and the numbers keep rising. It is Bill's "go to" gun for most anything flying in S.D. After 90 years of shooting whatever Federal was selling I've finally gotten Bill to take it easy on the gun and shoot low pressure handloads I supply him with. He shot, and still shoots steel and tunsten matrix with no adverse effects. He stays with the smaller shot sizes, no larger than #1's, mostly 3's.

I own a couple 100 yr. old guns and always wish they could talk and tell me a little about their lives. You've spoken for the ol' girl and we know a bit more about her history, thanks!

Steve

ps, I like Colorado Springs, too. A suprisingly good upland and waterfowl area plus within a day's drive of some awesome hunting!

Steve,

Thanks for responding. I appreciate it. When you have the gun in hand, if you remember.....

I passed through the Springs last summer on my way to Canyon City, to visit some cousins.

I have seen more game, just driving the roads. From my cousin's back porch we saw 30+ quail. Too bad it was July.

Regards,

Pete

Pete,
Scaled quail, no doubt. Those little guys are a hoot, had a lease south of town that was covered with 'em, lost the hunting rights to a developer :(. Head uphill from Colorado Springs and you've got blue grouse and ptarmigan, go way west and there are Sage grouse, mountain sharptail, chukar and Gambel's quail. Head downhill and there is mediocre bobwhite and pheasant. Waterfowl all over the place, you just gotta' find em. Next time you plan a vacation to "God's country", make it in the fall. Colorado allows non-res. hunters to buy one day licences for $10 a day---one heck of a buy!
The biggest problem I have, starting Sept. 1 is deciding what I'm hunting next weekend. Lots of choices, all are fun.

thanks again for the information,

Steve

PeteM:
I hope that I am not hyjacking the thread but do have a Meriden question and not worth a new one.

My Meriden Arms Co. 12 gauge hammer gun is the same as the one in DGJ Vol. 16, Issue 2, 2005 article by James Tyson but for the following.

My gun's breech balls are not nearly so elongated and more modern looking. The serial number is 237XX and therefore a later gun.
The barrels are 30 inch and seem to be 5 band Star Damascus.
It has The Meriden Fire Arms Co on the sidelocks.
All else seems to be the same.

Thus far, I have failed to ID the grade and now that I am thinking of passing it on, this would be helpful.

Thanks in advanced and my best,
John