Sure, Canvasback. The bluing, to begin, is very smooth and perfect, and has a wonderful grey/blue color. Foxes had a black color and showed more linear texture that is easily recognized by Fox enthusiasts. The case coloring may or may not be original; hard to tell.
The wood finish is very glossy and perfect also, that hints of some polyurethane in the mix. These guns originally had a linseed based varnish that would show a significant patina as well. Notice some of the rounded corners at the rear inside of the forend where it was over-sanded and does not meet the iron.
Hope this helps, and Doug, I'm not trying to be too critical of your gun. It's still a nice acquisition.
JR
Thank you to everyone who posted so far, and thanks to Dave Noreen for the information and the pictures of his 16 gauge long barrel guns.
Thank you to Mike for his beautiful High Grade long barrel 16 pictures, something to see for sure....
JR:
A High Definition Sony Digital Camera magnifies close ups by about 4X, I'm sure you already knew that. Therefore cracks, SHADOWS, spaces and joints appear more than what they are to the naked eye in real time size.
The forearm on this gun fits quite well and works even better as do the ejectors...That being said, here is a picture of the same side as pic 1 above, taken in poor florescent lighting with a standard Non High Definition digital camera just for you.
The picture does not show the cyanide case colors well BUT does show the FOREND FIT and the wood before I cleaned and waxed it up.The barrels are about as black as any I have ever seen. You are looking at a lighting reflection and calling the gray lighting reflection the barrel color. Had you looked at the picture in the initial post of the muzzle, you would have seen the very black texture of the barrels.
The wood has been touched up by me and waxed by me to a gloss. Since this was not the purpose of the post, I did not go into detail on what I did or didn't do to this gun. In my opinion the wood has been refinished sometime during it's lifetime.
It is also my opinion that the blacking on the furniture and the barrels is most likely original as evidenced by the barrel flats, the signature line, the muzzle and the breech etc. If it is not original, then it is one of the best re-blackings I have ever seen. The cyanide case colors are original as well in my opinion.
I took the gun completely apart and serviced it with EEZOX as I had once before about 10 years ago when my friend first bought this gun. I timed the ejectors and I timed all the screws to 12/6 o'clock as is my style.
Besides the poor picture of the side of the gun in poor lighting with a poor camera below, I have also included an additional picture of the barrel signature lines and the wood right after I waxed it up.
Just because the metal surfaces are not worn
does not mean they are not original. I have seen many New-In-The-Box guns at large shows that are mint new in all respects and many are near or over 100 years old
and they all look better than this gun. Just my opinion, yours obviously is different.
Best Regards,
