doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com MF ROBUST ?

I came across Robust being sold as a parts gun for very little money from the pics I could only see some serious stock damage.

Well I bought it and the condition was very good except for the stock and I was able to graft the bottom half of an old stock on to make it useable.

The serial number is 7712xx, about 50% of the case colour remains, bluing isn't bad, not bright more matt finish, even the case colour remains intact on the breech face.

Interestingly it does not have the stepped barrel. It is marked 1250 Bar proof with double crowns over PT, 70mm chambers and chrome bores. Lockup is a single underlug, a hook through and another bite on the barrel extension, extractors. It has the sunken rib and only a partial bottom rib just back to the button release forend.

I'm thinking about shooting 2 3/4" number 4 and 5 steel shot through it out here on the salt marshes.

Any thoughts or info about it, can anyone date it?



Thanks

oskar

I'll post some pics in a day or two righ now it is spread apart across the bench.

Oskar, the Robust started being made approx 1912 and almost 1 million were produced before Manufrance stopped production in the eighties.

Serial #159xxx was built in 1937. Serial numbers go up to 9xx,xxx, believed to be sequentially. 771,2xx would have been produced relatively late. Given the reference date for gun #159xxx, it seems that production quantities ramped up significantly after WWII.

That's about all I can add at the moment.

Did you happen to get it from the guys in Missouri?
Regards
Ken

Yes I did, any problems there?

No, just curious. I've recently bought several guns from them. It appears that they got'em from Century. It looks like Century has been liquidating old inventory and these guys bought a bunch of'em. Great deals, not often found.

Regards
Ken

One can find excellent doubles for little money. Today there was 26" Antonio Zoli 'Silver Hawk' BLNE with cocking indicators. That was extra lusso (about 6.5lb) 3" 12ga gun with magnum proofs, chrome-lined barrels IC/Mod very dense well figured walnut plus nice checkering for only $499. The condition was little used w/o external blemishes. It would make very fine nasty weather marsh gun.
While above gun isn't as suitable for upland steel loads it would probably hold up if with right choke combo.

1250 bar proof would remove any issues with pressure from factory steel loads. That proof, the 2 3/4" chambers, and the non-stepped barrels all indicate that you have a gun that was likely made well past WWII.

Might be some concern with steel if the chokes are tight, which they often are on those Robusts.

Yes I agree, just checked and they are .019 and .036.

I only paid $140. for the Robust and have zip in the repair as the doner stock for the repair wood already has donated to a couple of projects.

As purchased.

A former co-worker of mine had a Robust 16ga with non stepped barrels. It was a 16ga as well with a retractable sling & as I recall had the swamped rib. I only saw it one time & don't remember a lot of detail but if it was mono-blocked they hid the joint. Was a very light wt gun but have no idea what proofs it carried. He already had it when I first met him in 1972 & spoke of it as being one of the "Older" Robust's than some which were then currently on the market. Those as I recall had the mono-blocked barrels with the step. I do not know of course just how much older this one was. I do know he was extremely proud of it & considered it a very good gun as did another co-worker who dealt in some high grade guns.

There's a photo of a then-imported Robust in Zutz's "The Double Shotgun" (mine's the 1985 edition). Doesn't have the stepped barrels. Not sure when that change took place, and it's certainly possible that they started with non-stepped barrels when the guns first appeared, then switched to stepped, then back to non-stepped.