doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 117 yr old sporting clays gun

Doc, I believe you already have these pics from the Parker BBS.
Colt model 1883, serial #5132, manu 1890.

Mike, my Colt has 30" tubes, .735/.734 bores and is choked .025/.011 (Left/rt). It has 14" lop, 1 3/4" dac and 2 5/8" dah.

Not the top one Frank-beautiful! And griz just sent me a great pic of his Edmond's refinished c. 1886 10g. We'll get them both added and thanks!

Having damascus barrels like this, who would want steel fluid barrels? Simply gorgeous. Colt's in this condition are as scarce as hen's teeth.

Frank, I'll give you some clues from the "Dark Side" of competition shooting. In hot weather, never shoot in only one layer of T-Shirts. Shoot with a T-Shirt over a T-Shirt no matter how hot it is. The movement between layers keeps your shoulder from absorbing the friction of recoil on a sweaty shoulder. OH!, hot you say? Change the shirts as they get wet into a new pair of dry shirts. Your comfort level will change to "cooler" and the friction against the shoulder will cease. I shoot 200 bird per day skeet shoots with as many as eight T-Shirts if I can't dry the first four by the afternoon flight. If the two layers of T-Shirts is too much for you, cut the inner shirt off below the elbow so just the shoulder is helping you out. Let me know how it works. I've been using this system for years and it eliminates blisters and abrasion at the "pit". Alternative is to wear a PAST strap vest like everyone should wear in Argentina. Unfortunately, they don't have the "look" for skeet or sporting clays. Bill Murphy

Some people like to shoot their guns w/o special reloads or custommo. We also like our eyes and appendages intact. That's what those barrels looked like when they were made, give us back that patina of age!

if the barrels are sound and enough thickness, dont need "special reloads or custom ammo"...light loads work fine without fear of loss of limbs...BTW...devrep.. I like the looks of the damascsus pattern without the patina. I have been searching for a qualty Colt for years and havent found anything as nice as yours..great damascus pattern...great gun..youre lucky that you found her.
Bill

As to the "patina of age", I left the receiver as I found it, old and grey with some slight freckling, I like it. However, the barrels were not an option at they were "dead". There were also 8 or 9 dings in the barrels. I had Kirk Merringtom relay the ribs and lift the dents and had Dale E. reblack them. The buttstock was also beat to hell with a long gouge down one side and about a million dings so I cleaned it up some but left the checking alone (there are still a lot of dings in the checked areas. I'm happy with the result and sure that the "patina" will return someday (I may be dead by then). I found this colt in an old shop in Portland Oregon last December and feel that I at least put it back in service.

So by "reblacking" the barrels you were able to restore the pattern? And these had a brown patina with only the trained eye able to spot the pattern of damascus before? If so I may have to have my 1883 Colt also restored. Neat.