Hi everyone! I am a brand new member looking for some information regarding an old side-by-side that has been passed down to me. My father hunted with it when he was young, and his father did before him. Just for information, by father is 78 now. I cannot find too much regarding this gun, other than it is Scottish, but can find no pictures online of one that looks like this one. Top of the barrel reads THOMSON EDINBURGH No18043 . I have looked online and found nothing in regards to a registry for these guns. I thought I would post a few pics and info here and see what I can find out people who would be more knowledgeable of these guns.
I am trying to post a pic of the gun, it will take a minute as I cannot find the IMAGE button at bottom of the screen that it says should be there in the FAQ thread...

[img]http://www.hosting.photobucket.com/...;height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill[/img]

[img]http://www.hosting.photobucket.com/...;height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill[/img]

[img]http://www.hosting.photobucket.com/...;height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill[/img]

[img]http://www.hosting.photobucket.com/...;height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill[/img]

Here are some links to the photos, unless someone can explain how to have them posted here....
Any questions or other specific photos you would like, I can answer or take and post more. Thanks everyone!

Could possibly be Alexander Thomson & Son, 95 Princes St., Edinburgh.
Your gun appears to be a back-action, lever-over-guard (Jones underlever).

The marks on the underside of the barrel might help date it as would
knowing how the forend attaches to the barrels.

For Patio
WELCOME on your first postings
Mike
p.s. good reading
https://doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=294384

Thanks Skeettx for posting the pics. I will try to make them work for me....still the learning curve going on. Read the linked forum posts, I have found the info to the gunsmith but am still unaware to the age of the gun. Trying to figure out approximate year(s) it was/would have been made.

Steve Helsley - here is a link to the pic of where the forend attaches to the barrel. There are no markings to be found on the metal itself. Am I not looking in the proper place? It looks like there was some finishing piece possibly removed, or fell off the end of the wood to leave the shape that his now there?
and apparently I need to find a different photo sharing site, as I do not have the correct plan to post pics using Photobucket

[img]http://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...;height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill[/img]

If I recall correctly, Diggory Hadoke had a 12 bore hammer Thompson that made regular trips to Africa with him. He gave up trying to find out more about it.
It was a nicely made box lock NE I believe, and not worth so much he would regret if it ended up lost, stolen or damaged.

Best,
Ted

By clicking on your link, the picture came up and I copied this at the top of the picutre

http://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...;height=278&fit=bounds&crop=fill

Harvest the front part of the string until jpg

Add

img]http://hosting.photobucket.com/images/rr173/patiophoto/20210214_190350.jpg[/img]

add a [ to the front of this string and the picture will show up when you submit

Mike

That gun has nice lines.

If the barrels are sound, I would be happy to use it.

It’s not particularly ornate, but I think with a little cleaning/polishing, it would be very pleasing.

Clapper - The gun was a workhorse for the family for many years. I have no doubt it was cleaned, just don't know how well and how many years ago. As far as polished....not sure that was something they did on the farm back then. lol

I was also wondering if there could be any downside to giving it a real good cleaning? As far as the barrels are concerned, they look like they have seen better days. The insides are slightly marred from use over the many years, but at some point I will be taking it to a proper gunsmith to check it out before thinking of firing it. I think that would be prudent.

skeettx - I will follow that recipe for posting the next picture. Thanks.

Use the search function on this site, you will see some dramatic script and clean results.

I’d start just by giving it a gentle washing with spic and span on the wood.

You really are trying to clean the barrels just like you would a normal shotgun, to identify if there’s any substantial pitting or anything inside the tube. That would render them unsafe to use. If after a typical shotgun barrel cleaning,they look nice inside, having somebody check the wall thickness, and you’ll be good to go with appropriate loads.

No power tools.

So I had some time and after checking out some videos on how-to....I managed to take apart the gun without damaging anything. There was some questions regarding proof markings that are under the barrel. I have some pics that I will try to upload again and I hope it works.




So if anyone on here could give me some info on the gun it would be appreciated. A friend's brother, I find out, is into old guns. He figures it is from 1855-1875 possibly. I am unaware of what all the marks mean or say.

Welcome Pat. I'll repost Diggory Hadoke's chart on London and Birmingham proof marks (your gun) which might help - it looks like it has Birmingham proof marks from 1855-1868 - defer to other opinions; and the 13 and 14 on the barrels might be the bore -take a picture of the barrel flats:

Thanks for the post Argo44. Incidently my friend's brother did forward a link to Vintage Gun that had this exact table in it. The article is here...

http://www.vintageguns.co.uk.magazine/514-2

I took a picture of the flat part of the underside at he base of the barrels. Is this the barrel flats? There is no markings on the flats, but there is a "J.F." on the top of one of the first piece that holds the lock in place. The article at vintage guns said that earlier models of guns had the proof on tube instead of the flat part. Here is a picture of the flat of the barrels.

The action part of the gun also had proof markings on it. It has the proof that is under the Birmingham House , the one with the crown, crossed arrows and the V under it.
I was unaware of there being proofs on this part of the gun. Here is a pic of it...


If anyone has more info to add on this it would be accepted with thanks.
Incidently I measured the inner diameter of the tubes and they are almost identical. Would the 13 and the 14 be showing the gauge? What would the reason for these numbers be? As well as all the other numbers stamped on the underside of the barrels?