doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com George T. Abbey Rising Bite patent?

Just got back from Idaho hunting pheasant with a George T. Abbey 10 gauge hammergun with apparently his own adaptation of the famous Rigby Rising bite locking system. Gun was probably made between 1872 and 1875. I've never owned a Rigby rising bite gun. How are they similar or different? Anyone know?

Interesting gun. The Rigby (or Bissell) rising bite is more oblong than yours. You may want send an email to Diggory Hadoke to see if has run across this 3rd bite. Is there a patent use number?

Ken

No patent use number as this is supposedly his own patent.

Is the gun marked with a Chicago address. This one sold by Julia’s in 2015.

Abbey

Ken

Abbey-Foster rising bite design was ten years before the Rigby-Bissell design. Is your gun a two digit serial number ? If so, I probably owned it for a few years.

Yes, Chicago address. It has a 4 digit serial number

Double Gun Journal has a good article on the Abbey rising bite. Also, I think there is more discussion on the subject in past posts here.

That is an interesting hammer gun. Very nice engraving. If I owned one like it, I'd have a hard time letting it get away. The split front of the trigger guard to accommodate the opening lever is interesting too.

And even when my state had a healthy population of native pheasants, I never saw any ringneck roosters with such long tail feathers. There ought to be a Boone & Crockett record book category for such trophy length feathers.

They were all mature birds. Lots of grain fields around so they had plenty to eat and they grew into big roosters. They would then hide in thick cattails to evade predators. The tail feathers were long but not as long as you would think. I think the longest measured 27 inches.