doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sorry OT, Win. '97 Diamond

Here is an old trap gun . It's a bit worn but shoots well. I'm not a big fan of restoration. Feeling a gun like this has earned its age. It also has its original unaltered butt plate. Which is getting very difficult to find on these guns. Most have been fitted with pads. I have copies of old catalogs camparing the different grades that I will scan for anyone interested. Whe I got this gun t was missing the little flathead adjustment screw on the face of the receiver. I could never get the slide to funtion. Then I replaced it with one off a parts gun. Problem solved. I thought that screw was to keep the gun tight. Does it do more or was that just a strang coincidense? Paul D
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Hammerback

Love the gun. This is what a gun should look like.

At least a shucker should look like this.

Beautiful gun. I sent you an email.

Hammerback, I believe that may be one of the rare and unusual uncheckered Trap Guns. Does your gun show no sign of sanded checkering? I have one that could be its twin with wood that is still of a dimension that would indicate that it never was checkered. Does your pictured gun have a Trap Gun marked breech bolt and matted barrel. Mine has the marked breech bolt but the barrel is plain. I feel that my gun is absolutely original, just an odd variation like yours. I think some of the earlier Trap Gun examples predated matted barrels. I would sure like to see a Cody letter documenting the "plain wood" variation. Nice gun, by the way.

Bill, my ole eyes have to use reading glasses, but I can see the faint lines of the worn checkering pattern.

Very faint outline of checkering pattern shows on grip and forend. If i were to run across a black diamond how much more are they worth than a regular grade in same condition? Bobby

Mr. Murphy;
Might be just me, but I could swear there is some traces of the checkering pattern still showing on Hamerbacks gun. Don't seem to be a "uncheckered one". Appreciate your input on our gun. Do you think it would letter??? Or should we even bother --- would sure hate to find out it is a counterfit after all these years. (And if it was, I would still treasure it just the same.) There are no markings at all on the end of the box, by the way. Hope to someday maybe find the "paperwork" for it --- she saved everything, and it is probably still down there in the old house somewhere.
And to Mr. TW in Texas ---- Thank you Sir for the nice write up. The 16 is a 28 inch modified, --- just about right for what my grandad and his buddies hunted. That being mostly pheasants and rabbits - the railroad ditches south of town used to be loaded with them. (Went back there to pick black raspberries this past summer, and the right of ways along the tracks had been sprayed with something that burned them down to bare dirt for about 30 yards on each side. Even knocked the leaves off of some of the trees that were close enough.) They also shot many, many ducks in the cornfields -- the flocks of ducks would come up from the bottoms, especially on a west wind and work the fields in the evenings, and all you had to do was lay between the rows and wait. Can't remember the last time I saw a flock of ducks working a feild, but there aren't many cornfiels that don't get fall plowed now. So... that's what he hunted. Also a round or two of trap when they had a few extra bucks later on. They all talked often of the depression and not being able to get shells durring the war, and making every shot count. That they did.
As always, hoping this finds everyone well;
Kraft

Eightbore. Yes my gun has faint checkering. It is also marked Trap Gun on the bolt and has a rolled rib. Paul Driscoll

The Cody website includes information about which blocks of Model 1897 and Model 97 serial numbers are available for research. I thought I saw a faint line on a checkering pattern on the grip but I was willing to blame it on camera trickery. My uncheckered gun has no hint of checkering, has fancy figure and black diamonds. The gun is so worn that it is not likely anyone's attempt to fake a Trap Gun. And it has a Trap Gun breech bolt. I should see whether it is among the numbers that can be documented at Cody. I did get a Brush Gun documented by Cody letter, but the letter gave no information except that it is an original Brush Gun and not a rebarrelled standard field gun. I guess it was worth it. A Trap Grade should be worth a bit more than a field gun in the same condition, quite a bit more in the higher levels of condition.

Mr. Murphy;
I dug the old gun out again and looked for the stamped diamond on the reciever and barrel extention - found nothing. However, there is a letter "C" stamped above the serial number on the reciever only. Hadn't ever noticed that before. Would you or anyone know what that means?? Will wait for your answer before checking into the Cody letter.
Looked it over again really good --- Man, the markings and stampings and the edges etc. are just so crisp and perfect --- Can't see it being a counterfit. Well if nothing else, it got another good wipe down and put back away.
Have a good one;
Kraft