doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Help Identifying WW Greener Hammer Gun

Added some additional pics of the barrels:

http://s304.photobucket.com/user/djangofandango/library/?sort=3&page=1

About 1/2 an inch in to the chambers the walls measure 4.77mm/.188 inches - I agree that wall thickness needs to me measured through the forcing cones.

My thought was to get some 10 gauge gaugemates with the forcing cones built in provided there is still sufficient wall thickness near the end of the chambers and shoot 2.5 inch 12 gauge low pressure loads.

Definitely Laminated Steel; not Greener's proprietary Silver (Laminated) Steel Dan.

Thanks Drew.

Does anyone know what the acceptable minimum thickness is at the forcing cone?

I honestly wish I could put this gun through proof testing. It seems so solid.

Oh and the previous owner told me that he put 10 gauge handloads through it and shot a round of trap (recently - probably also the first and last time he fired it). He inherited the gun from his grandfather and I think had no knowledge the gun had been altered from original. When I asked how old it was, he said he thought it had been made in 1910...

Wall thickness thoughts here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZIo0y746UsSRZIgRuuxwAbZjSBHitO_EanvwLYc-kGA/edit

Interestingly, because the angle of the forcing cone exceeds the angle of the taper of the barrel, the forcing cone wall thickness has measured equal or greater than the end of the chamber in almost all the vintage barrels that I have evaluated.

There's a reason the gun is off face...if the gun was a 12ga cut to a 10ga. I'd have no interest in risking life and limb to shoot it.

Dr. Drew, thanks for the information - that was very interesting reading.

I guess I will just get some additional measurements and then make a determination. Of course, if anyone can recommend someone who is competent to evaluate the condition of the gun as modified, for a reasonable fee presumably, I would be happy to send it off.

Thanks to all for the input.

Just as a general update, I have taken the following measurements that I found to be particularly interesting. The distal third of the barrels are thinnest on the bottom of the barrels just before the chokes at .023-.024. The tops and sides of the barrels are much thicker. From the breach, measurements are (bottoms start at 4 inches):

1879 WW Greener Hammer Gun Wall thickness measurements

From Breach 2.75 4 6 9 12

Left Barrel
From Top 0.130 0.122 0.093 0.063 0.042
From Side 0.123 0.121 0.093 0.064 0.045
From Bottom 0.123 0.098 0.066 0.044

Right Barrel
From Top 0.117 0.115 0.091 0.064 0.045
From Side 0.116 0.120 0.091 0.064 0.045
From Bottom 0.128 0.097 0.068 0.044


Left Barrel
Bore 0.782
Choke 0.748 Full

Right Barrel
Bore 0.783
Choke 0.748 Full

I shot a round of trap with low pressure 10 gauge RST loads and experienced no issues. Given the above numbers, I think the gun would pass appropriate reproof, if subjected.

Those would certainly appear to be adequate wall thicknesses to me. If there is anything against shooting mid 10ga loads it certainly would not appear to be inadequate walls.