doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com pre & post Fulton Smith guns (photo rich)

My Alma Mater! The campus has clearly expanded a bit (there wasn't anything like that when I was running around down there in the early 1980s). I'm glad to hear that they've preserved all that.

It's an illness (forgive me Ted!):










first year Fulton Gun (189i0)


A 1st year Fulton gun (1890) Quality 2, coming from Kodiak, Alaska of all places! I would never of had the moxy to purchase such a gun online, except that after re-doing that 1891 Quality 1 gun I knew exactly what I was looking at. Sold some old (& lately-unused) 1930s bamboo fly fishing tackle to do it. It's not a Syracuse gun (which is what I really wanted), but it's darn close. Anybody need a freshly-restored Quality 1 gun (they're dimensionally identical, even the chokes)? Hope to have it in time for Whittington.

America's Best? I guess I'm about to find out.

Fellows, Reading this thread reminded of something I read in ' Modern Shotguns and Loads' by Capt. Charles Askins(1929). He queried the major American double gun companies about the amount of handwork they put into their models, to wit, the Hunter Arms Co. stated that handwork on their models anounts to between 40 and 80 percent of the entire cost; Parker from 60% in the lower grades to as high as 90% in the higher grades; A.H. Fox said 70% for the cheaper grades up to 95% for the highest grades, such a gun being almost entirely handmade. Regarding the Smith gun, his personal opinion was that the rotary top bolt was the best fastener for a doublegun yet devised. I have never seen this information in any other publication. It makes you understand why these companies could not remain in business after WW2. Regards, Sandlapper

I wonder what the Captain would say about the quality of rotary bolt fasteners 95 years down the road when the single bolt Parkers were still tight, as tight as rotary bolt guns.

Having been away from rotary-bolt guns for a very long time now, I can tell you that the sound of a Smith closing still reminds me of a bank vault slamming shut. Other single-bite systems seem to have survived down through the years (Westley Richards comes to mind as well) but none are so "positive" (for lack of a better description). Perhaps not as refined as a Purdey double-underbite but clearly, as effective. Alex Brown's design has inarguably withstood the test of time.

This Quality 2 gun is supposed to get here by 9pm this evening (according to the USPS). Not exactly sure how that works but I'll be puttering around the place all day in anticipation.

It made it by noon, thankfully.







The differences 1 year and 1 grade level makes (1890 to 1891) eh? The shape of the bottom of the action is still nicely carried back into the wood at the head of the stock (although less-so in '91). Also, besides the square-to-rounded barrel lug and the slightly thinner cross-section on the earlier gun, the geometry of the entire action changed from Syracuse to the Fulton variant, note the position of the screw in front of the trigger guard on the '91 gun. Moreover, better wood on the Quality 2 (& with a capped grip!). A little more of the "gunmaker's art" here really makes a big difference in the overall appearance (at least for me). The post 1913 guns had none of that in the lower grades. Completely cookie-cutter towards the end of things.

This Quality 2 gun should clean up quite nicely, although it's been shot way-more than the Quality 1 gun has (one's been carried more, the other has been shot more). The tubes are quite different as well, 3-bar good Damascus (confirmed by Dr. Drew) versus the "Angularly-Laminated" steel of the '91 gun. This tubeset still weighs over 4lbs and measures 30-inches exactly, choked .022 and .027 (Mod & Imp. Mod). Thinnest point in the tubes was .035 (the average overall thickness was confirmed at being well over that, closer to 40 thou).

The things one learns from these old guns....



This buttplate and grip cap are "Gutta Percha" which is the material used for everything from golf balls & pistol grips to cameo jewellery (& even decorative wall-paneling) before the advent of Bakelite in 1909. Made from a Malaysian rubber-tree sap and baked in a mold. The Brits mostly used horn in this application (which would be preferable to me as well) but here in America we were much-more "forward-thinking" and this is what we came up with. Surprisingly durable, considering this example is a well-used 134-year old field gun.

I guess "playing with plastic" has been going on in this country for some time now, eh?