About 2.5 to 3k for an Excellentia or equivalent grade in fairly good to excellent condition is about right. Most of these guns will have close to 3” DAH, sometimes more, rarely less than 3” though. A good many will be off the face, and almost all of them will probably require a professional strip and clean. The hook cocking system is very good, but can be finicky if things are gummed up. A lot of these guns are black powder proofed and show signs of being shot with heavy bp loads, if it was used for waterfowling, no telling how many overly stuffed bp loads the thing has digested during its 120+ years of use.
My Scotts are all Bp proofed, I shoot nitro loads in them that are way below the pressure generated by the bp loads that were used in the guns back in their heyday.
Another thing to look closely at when you get the gun in hand is the condition of the stock, look very carefully at the wrist and in the checkering to see if you can detect any repairs through that area. I’ve inspected a lot of old Scotts that have been fractured….more than likely the cause is from using extremely heavy game or pigeon loads in them. Higher grade Scotts usually have very good quality French walnut on them, many times it’s not the woods fault.
