doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Galand in a Poke

This is my version of Pig in a Poke (as we say in KY) for auctions this week. I saw this and didn't want to ask many questions because I didn't want to have any revisions posted. The auction pictures weren't great but given the fact that no one was bidding and reading the description, I was intrigued enough to pay a few hundred for it. Also, it is a single to which I am partial. I am posting a few pictures from the listing but am awaiting the delivery to see what I bought.

My observations from the listing were:

Has some serious age on it.
Gun looks pretty substantial.
Barrel is listed as 35" but looks no where near that. Could be but doesn't look it.
Listed as a 10 gauge.
Listed as a "French Made Single" but is marked "Galand Paris" which is a maker that made some really nice guns. The title is one which isn't going to draw a lot of interest. I believe they were Belgian but had offices in Paris and England.
The picture shows a heavy rear sight, which wouldn't be at all appropo for a 35" waterfowl gun.

One of the only single Galand's I found on the internet was in a museum and was a 10 gauge bore rifle.

Any comments before it is delivered would be welcomed.

Yeah I know. I was just being a wise ass.

btw: hello neighbor.

Been in the hospital for 5 days getting some new medicine calibrated, but came home Sunday. Recieved the gun today. I was really surprised. It will be a few days until I can take some new pics, but in sum the gun is way more than I expected.

The only real faults I have is that the nose cap has been knocked off (need to make a new ebony one), there is a little sliver off the edge of the fore end, likely lost with th nose, and the fore end checkering need so berecut due to wear. Other rhan that it is in great shape and looks much better than the pictures.

It is obviously a single waterfowl. The barrel is 35" part octago/part round. The bore is .774 from end to end, so I believe to be original. It does look like it hasn't been cleaned in known memory. There is a large amount of roughness but looks like there is no pits . If there, they are very small. It looks like simple honing of a fw thousandths would completely clean up and polish. Choke is .040. Function is perfect. Locks up wth absolutely no play and good fit on face. A .002 feeler will go in between the breech and face for a total of about 1/8", so there is a slight bevel around the edge, but it won't start to close into battery with the same feeler against the face.
The stock dimensions are surprising with 1-1/2" DAC, 2" DAH and 13-1/2" LOP. Chamber measures 3-1/8"with a tight Brownell's gauge so I assume it is 2-7/8" wit a long FC.

The octagon breech is 12" long. The chamber walls on the flats are over 1/4"; much thicker near the "Points". Forcing cone area is 0.2". Barrels are .15+ at the end of the fore arm and .125 behind the choke. Altogether the most robust 10 I own.

Thr barrel is interesting from a construction standpoint. The round front section is 1" at the muzzle. The rear octagon section is 1-1/8" across the flats at the chamber and tapered to 12" where it tapers down to blend into the round front. What I find unique is tha the round front is a fine twist pattern but the octagon section is made of a bolder laminate pattern. It is obvious when looking at the tapered transition that a fine gauged twist was over laid at the rear part by a laminate layer with all of it forge welded into one blank.

The barrel weighs 3# 10 oz or so. total gun is 9 # exactly, give or take, The back action lock has a rebounding hammer. It is a functional match to my 8 ga WC Scott & sons Light Waterfowl single which has 32" barrel and weighs 10 # exactly.

This gun has a barrel of similar size and thickness and is legal for hunting. Given the barrel and condition I think this would hammer about anything in the flyways with bismuth loads. This with a gun 150 years old.I have 4 or 5 old Parker 10's I shoot and I think the construction of this puts the to shame.

This guy seems to take all his pictures with the gun laying on an antique sideboard or bugget, propped up with an old cast iron clothes iron. That is the handle of the iron, I believe.