Here is Tom's post with pictures.
This gun was a Gunbroker purchase 5-6 years ago. The posted photos were poor and the seller, a New England antique shop, stated the gun did not work. I figured someone had likely removed the hammer springs, as Ive encountered that issue with SAC guns before; so I thought Id take a chance at the $400 listing price. As it turns out, there were no other bidders. When the gun was received I was extremely pleased with what I saw; stock finishes were at least 95%, there was zero wear to the butt plate, grip and forend checkering panels, zero rust, mint bores, perfectly aligned and untouched screw slots (except for a missing tang screw), the barrels retained 85-90% original Damascus finish, and the gun still featured about 30% original case color. And in addition to those desirable traits, it had been ordered with a capped pistol grip; a $2 option according to period catalogs (standard was a round knob grip). Features and serial number dated this gun to 1900, and as a First Model. It was an extractor model (so $52 suggested retail with grip cap option); and the flattened breech ball treatment, as opposed to the standard rounded breech balls, denoted this SAC as a light weight gun. The butt stock was basically plain grained English with a few dark mineral streaks; and when I removed the butt plate to look for a stash of gold coins, I found it had been factory drilled with two 7/8 holes to either attain a certain weight or balance point, or both. Interestingly, both holes had been plugged with a piece of maple dowel; and in one of those pieces was the missing tang screw; so the gun was now totally complete and original, and had suffered no aftermarket mods. With its short 26 barrels, light weight, and open chokes I figured this SAC was originally ordered as someones grouse gun; but whether it had been or not, the gun was simply never used. Ive not yet fired this gun so have no idea how it performs; but thats only because circumstances havent yet permitted.
When collecting SAC guns one will encounter very few examples of the Grade 3, but the company would go the second mile to insure a Grade 3 customer was happy, The only original SAC hang tag of which Im aware is from a Grade 3, and apparently the customer was very persnickety about the way his gun was to pattern using a variety of shot sizes; for on that tag were hand written the 40 yard patterns/pellet counts produced from each barrel with all three shot sizes. Another interesting Grade 3 SAC fact is that the company made a special run of Grade 3s with Krupp barrels and Ive owned one example and seen one other. All the SAC catalogs Ive ever found only show the Grade 3 gun as being available with Improved Damascus barrels.
