Bought an interesting single shot in the Guyette&Deeter auction. It is a Greener single shot 10 gauge but is a top lever single barrel, not a more common Martini style. It looked to be in good shape in the pictures and turned out to be in very good mechanical and cosmetic condition. Haven't taken any pictures yet but is overal a very nice gun with nice laminated barrels. The serial number is 30xxx. If it falls in the listed Greener sequence it should have been made in the later 1880's. The gun looks much like a double from the side and has a typical Greener safety on the left side.
What shocked me is the size and weight of the gun. The dimensions are shootable and akin to a modern field gun. The listing said 11-6 for weight but it is a real chunk! I have a couple of 8 gauges (single and double) and it is heavier than them. Barrel is 36". The only thing I own that is in that class is an older high quality French waterfowling single in 10 gauge. The action and barrel of the Greener is similar in size and weight to that gun. The Greener seems to be almost to be too big for a 10 gauge. I measured the barrel and as far as OD and ID at the breech through the muzzle it could have been bored to 8 gage and had a min of .035 walls at the muzzle and huge at the chamber/breech. I almost think this was built as a market gun but in 10 gauge to save on ammo and recoil. It is a similar concept to the French gun but built a decade later and hammerless with a safety. It is pretty early I believe even to have a choke, but it does and is marked Not For Ball. I believe that in itself would put it in the 1875-1887 period. The serial number would seem to push it toward the latter part of that range.
Has anyone seen a similar Greener? I'll try to post a couple of pictures in the next day or so. The gun is so well proportioned that picking it up after seeing the pictures is a shock.
Last edited by AGS; 09/25/26 12:29 AM.
