doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com First year Sterlingworth

First year 'pin' gun (per list on this site) s/n 505XX.

Marked: The Sterlingworth Co.

28" barrels have light external pitting along their full length. I was considering hand polishing and rebluing them, but do not know Sterlingworth valuation enough to to know what this would do to the value.

Gun has signs of poor storage. Buttplate screws are rusty, barrels as mentioned and the varnish on the wood is flaking.

A sound gun that could really stand a strip, clean and refinish but I do not want to devalue.

Only other Sterlingworth I have owned was also a pin gun (1911 marked) in very good condition. Now in the hands of another member here.

Is the Gun Marked Wayne Junction or Philly? The Wayne Junction guns are much rarer. Only a few hundred made if I remember correctly.

Somehow I've accumulated three of those Sterlingworth Company guns. All mine are full choke and great duck killers. I'm surprised they don't bring more money with the rarity and the cool faux Parker recessed bolt...Geo

Do you plan to sell it and recover at least what you paid for it?

If so, don't alter it.

Do you plan to keep it indefinitely? Is it yours now, or are you just storing it for the next owner?

If you feel as though it belongs to you, then I suggest you do with it as you wish. Share your plans for it and offer to sell it for a handsome profit to the first person who cries "foul!"

I believe Dudley is correct, I have 314th Sterlingworth made, and is a Phila. gun. They do make great duck guns,full and Exfull!
Best,
Craig

Let's see.

The barrels are rusted & pitted the entire length, the wood finish is flaking off.

I say repair this gun and save it from the neglect of the past.

I fully understand keeping a gun all original if it is in decent shape, but used as intended.

I don't understand the American love affair with rust & wood with no finish.

One of the main topics here over the years has been how to save these old guns by re-finishing or re-storing them.

The best posts I remember were the ones by Dr. Oscar Gaddy & his meathods of how to a save these guns. Rust never sleeps!!

I had to look. Philly gun.

Bought for resale. I have developed the skills to handle the restoration of this Sterlingworth, but if I were to devalue it I would also be out my labor.

I essentially bought it by accident. Threw out a bid among a bunch of others and won, when I wasn't actually interested in doing so....

At this point I am leaning toward a minor restoration. Reblue the barrels, refinish the wood and clean up the checkering.

I haven't measured the choke yet. I did run my Skeets into it when it arrived just to make sure it had choke, but will measure when I am stripping it down.

dogon, I have an entire file of Oscar's posts saved on my computer AND printed, just in case of a hard drive failure!

I took a few pictures, so I thought I would post them up.

That sterlingworth does not look all that bad to me. Yes the wood finish needs some attention. But the metal looks respectable based on those photos.

One note about your gun is that it has a "Baker" latch style forend. Which uses a hook shaped spring on the iron to hold it on. Your spring is dropped down into the forend in the photo, so it is hard to see. This type of latch was used on Bakers, LC Smiths, Stevens and some others. This type of latch on a Sterlingworth is also a rarer feature used on the very early guns. The typical latch type was the kind with a spring loaded plunger on the barrel and a roller on the iron.
Your kind of latch is difficult to find parts for if you would ever need to.