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I've been offered the remains of a George T. Abbey double rifle. It is very dirty, horrendously restocked and missing a hammer, at least. It appears to have hexagonal bores a la Whitworth. It might be an interesting restoration project; or it might just be a relic!

Any information or photos would be appreciated.
Check out this discussion.

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...true#Post202547

Abbey was importing Scott and / or Purdey actions for a time. He was born in England, 1823. He worked in Utica, New York with his brother Robert. By 1840 he is in Chicago where he worked for better than 20 years. Gunmakers of Illinois by Curtis Johnson, VOL I has a nice article about him with plenty of pictures. His work varied a great deal from excellent to field guns.

Pete
Abbey is a fine name with a few patents, too. It's hard to say if it's restorable without pics, but a double rifle would make it most interesting.
Have now separated the metal and stock completely and I'm beginning to think these barrels may have lost their stock & locks many, many years ago. The locks it came with are obviously of inferior quality to what Abbey seems to have produced and are not marked.

I'm guessing that at some point long ago, someone decided they wanted a shotgun and had these barrels replaced. The plugs have obviously been out several times, one nipple hole is larger etc.

Or would Abbey have provided rifle and shotgun barrels for a single stock & locks, and this set of barrels somehow got separated or the gun was lost and only these remained?

The bores are about .405, but there is still too much fouling for any accuracy in measurement.

The barrels weigh 9 lbs 4oz alone.

Nipples are out and the barrels soaking in penetrant prior removing the plugs and determining what the state of the bores really is. The lugs on the breech plugs are ovoid enough that a wrench is likely not going to work. Will probably place a large six point socket over each one and pour in lead or babbit between the lug and the inside wall of the socket, after heating the breech enough to drive the moisture out of the steel in that area.
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