doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Questions on a Crescent

Crescents are interesting to me. Good barrels, low cost, with a myriad of names on them. I like them best in the condition nearly like they came out of the store. This 20 gauge was named Wyco, for Wyeth Hardware a company in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Fun researching the sporting goods and hardware stores that tradenamed Crescents; Daryl's "The Wyco" was by Wyeth Hdw., St. Joseph

Drew, those are great letterheads. I wonder if letters are used anym0re

I saw this posted several days ago, but didn't have time to reply. Frankly, I'm surprised that no one else questioned the wisdom of this.

I have little doubt that you could fire a lot of 12,000 psi modern nitro loads through sound Crescent barrels without damaging them. But you really need to think about the entire gun. And this is not to hate on Crescents or their many variants, or any other cheaper so-called Hardware Store gun. It is merely stating fact based evidence. If you spend a lot of time at gun shows and shops, you will soon see that for every closet-queen in nearly unfired condition, you will see hundreds more that are loose, broken, and otherwise beat to death. Many more of them are now sold in pieces and parts because they were deemed beyond repair, and not worth fixing. I see a lot of Crescent barrels being sold on Ebay etc., presumably because the rest of the gun was junked. The production numbers for a lot of these cheaper doubles were much higher than their better counterparts, but the attrition rate is also much higher. So considering that 28 gauge Crescents are fairly scarce, you should consider keeping both pressures and velocity on the lower side if you want it to last.

Even the best guns will wear out or fail with lots of use and abuse, but some guns simply stand the test of time better than others. This is largely because some were better designed, better built, and constructed of better materials. The Hardware Store guns get lower grades in all three areas. If you Hot-Rod any of them with inappropriate loads, something is going to fail, sooner than later. Remember, a million dollar Indy car engine is expected to last only about 10,000 miles. But many don't make it that long, because despite the very best materials, they are pushed to extreme limits. Formula One car engines last about 1/10 as long before rebuilding, for the same reason. And 1970's Chevy Vegas are seen less often than 1930's Model A Fords, because they were junk when they were brand new.