I have a Colt 1883, 10 Ga., double purchased here from John Mann back in 2004. I have posted previously about the gun and the restoration done especially the fine job of re-blacking the barrels by Dale Edwards and a goose hunting trip on the Yellowstone in Montana where it held its own with the 3 1/2 inch Benelli's especially when the temperatures dropped to -25 and they froze up(ha).
The gun is stamped "AT & SF RR" (Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad) stamped in four different places...on water table, on barrel flat near breech, inside forend wood (in the wood), and on the bottom of the frame on right side in front of trigger guard.
In light of what I have read about all the fake shotguns stamped "Wells Fargo", ever since the purchase I have scoured the internet trying to determine if the stamps were genuine or if railroads ever even stamped their guns in such a manner, all to no avail.
Recently the Antiques Roadshow was in our town and I took the gun to them to see if their appraisers could shed any light on the gun.
The roadshow appraiser said the AT&SF RR stamps were genuine and railroad guns were in fact stamped this way. He valued the gun at $1500 if it were not stamped. With the railroad stamps $2500-$3000. His rationale for the railroad stamps being real was that they were stamped in the appropriate places, were small, simple, and discreet, and were not accompanied by decals or other marks indicating railroad ownership.
So until further evidence is forthcoming I am going to imagine that this old Colt spent part of its life riding around in the baggage car of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.
I post this in case others run into or own a railroad stamped gun since it is the only information on them I have been able to find in eight years of searching.
