doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com mystery 8 gauge

My friend buys this 8 gauge gun. I fixed the broken head of the stock for him. That isn't surprising since the lock area and the grip seem to small for the gauge. This gun is strange and interesting. There are no marks on the gun except the stamped initials of TB and the number 9405 inside the nicely made locks. The triggers also have the number stamped on the blades. On the outside of the locks is stamped W.W.Greener. I don't think this was made by them but the locks and triggers may be. There are no proof marks and nothing stamped on the tubes. The top rib shows some twist pattern but the barrels do not. I have not tried to etch them to see if they are twist. The top rib has in a rear sight position a dovetailed blank inserted to fill the slot. It has a witness mark on the rib marking center. Where the front sight would be is filled with a blank but this one must be soldered since the rib is bellow the tubes. The front blank has a brass bead in it. Forend is held on with a wedge. There doesn't appear to be any choke in the barrels. The chamber walls look thin for the gauge at .155 at the breach,it looks odd. Gun opens up by under lever. So what do you guys think this is? Something an American gunsmith hobbled together from parts he scrounged up? It kinda looks like it started life as a round ball "rifle" since it has evidence of having sights on it. What is your opinion?
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Taking a guess, at a big meaty ball gun that was bored out and re chambered for the next size up?

Could have been a heavy barreled 11 gauge or other obsolete case that was bored out which might explain why its quite thin at the breech, if it had been rifled or some kind of slug gun it would explain the presence of the evidence of sights, and just to really clutch at straws whoever bored it out might have scrubbed the marks when he did the work.. i really don't know.. interesting though.

Some early breach loaders ( some pinfires i have ) were quite thin at the breech, if it was not for the radius on the action i might have suggested a pinfire convert.

Has he shot it? what does it feel like and swing like?

Nice find though.

He has not shot this gun yet. He got a load from another 8 gauge shooter that is made up with bullseye powder and 1 1/8 ozs. of shot. As for handling,it is very muzzle heavy. The barrels are 29" so I would expect a fowler to be more dynamic and have longer lighter barrels. Thanks for the input.

no proof marks on the barrels?

I'm thinking the logical first step would be to contact W.W. Greener.

Yeah, Graham Greener will give you all the information he has if you provide him with the serial number. I have had the best luck with email, which he replies to.