doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com J. Manton

This is an old WELL WORN 10 ga that belonged to a family friends
Grandfather. They brought it over for me to look at.
The Locks are marked J. Manton and the barrel rib is engraved Fine Damascus Steel and it has London Proof marks on the barrels.
Is this really from the fabled Jos. Manton shop?

Looks like a bad use of his name.

Stallones, the problem was, I am told, that by the time percussion guns were at the fore Manton had gone bust too many times, was in poor health and was selling stuff with his name just to try to settle debts etc, I think guns were going out from other sources as well. Certainly the later Manton stuff is nothing like the earlier stuff with reference to quality, I am sure there a couple of chaps on here who can tell you. Are there any date stamps on the flats ? best, Mike Bailey

Stallones, the problem was, I am told, that by the time percussion guns were at the fore Manton had gone bust too many times, was in poor health and was selling stuff with his name just to try to settle debts etc, I think guns were going out from other sources as well. Certainly the later Manton stuff is nothing like the earlier stuff with reference to quality, I am sure there a couple of chaps on here who can tell you. Are there any date stamps on the flats ? best, Mike Bailey

No date stamps,but the gun is medium high quality, with very nice locks, not quite Jno. Stanton quality,but still nice and tight.I have one near identical made by Wm Moore that I believe worked for Manton, so maybe he made it while at Manton.

There's a nice Belgium Manton hammer gun on here...

http://www.griffinhowe.com/usedgun-sg.cfm

I suspect that what your friends gun is.

Stallones, oddly I had a Wm, Moore with a side lever. If I remember correctly it gave an address on the top rib as Oxford Street, London which was never a true Wm. Moore address; clearly a forgery. It had Birmingham proof marks, which may also have been forged. I de-activated it to proof house standards so that it could be sold as a wall piece. This particular gun was of very poor quality and not safe for use. A lot of the better known Gunmakers in Britain had their works forged. Sometimes if not sure they need to be looked at by an expert on the Maker.

Not saying that there was anything wrong with your Moore; I have a little beauty by him in 20 bore. But that Manton above doesn't look to me as being right somehow. Lagopus.....

I'll say it...there's something fishy about that Manton.

lagopus
My William Moore has William Moore and Co. Engraved on the locks and on the top rib. Also has London- Fine Twist and is a very well made gun with serial number 50 on the action and bbls.Early gun with 11 ga bbls and cyl/cyl

Stallones: I'm kind of with Mike, Joe & Lagopus on that one. It just doesn't look up to John or Joe Manton's level of finish. The Belgian proof marks are another givaway. If you like it & it shoots and handles well, who cares?

Best Regards, George