The Baker Brush model was one of their Batavia lines. As such it lacked the draw bolt & firing pin blocks of the higher grade Baker lines. I have had a couple of the Batavia guns over the years, a 12 gauge Batavia Special & a 16 ga Black Beauty, both with steel barrels. Even though on the low end of the Totem Pole as far as Bakers go, they're not bad guns. Certainly well above the myriad of JABC's which infiltrated the country in the same era.
Hammer welded barrels of any sort was a bug I never caught. I had chances to buy several Bakers over the years, but, never did. Something else always was more important in the end.
If you are interested, Dewey Vicknair has added a postscript to his “American Doubles” post on his blog. He is harsh on the Baker, and while I have no dog in that fight, I would think twice before I ignored what he has to say on the subject.
Most of the low grade Belgium guns I have handled in the last thirty years were not technically firearms anymore.
Best,
Ted
