Thanks David, yeah I did see later that the No. 1 gun pix was a featherweight (the 2nd screw on the lock-plate is pretty obvious). Mea Culpa! I got caught-up in writing all the rest of it.
The breechball differences are pretty significant as well, but the bottoms of the actions are the most visual clue (at least for me). The ribs are interesting to me as well. "Large and Convex" about covers it, and I associate it almost exclusively with Smith guns (I don't believe I've ever seen anything quite like it on other standard doubles). As far as the Laminated Steel tubes go, they're clearly listed in the early advertising for the Fulton guns but mine is the only one I've ever run across that has them, most do seem to have 2 and 3-bar Damascus. Syracuse hammerless production was really limited (way less than I would have guessed) and it really becomes a numbers game after 1913 (when you compare production from before that time to the big numbers after). My "transitional" Quality 1 gun was easily the least-produced, arguably "graded" gun, with only 3-years of production (if you ignore the very-early 3-barrel stuff) and it's no wonder I've never run-across one before. I also now see that the Quality 1 guns (with the Fulton-designed flat-bottomed actions) continued until 1895-6. As you suggest, I probably should pony-up for Mr. Stubbendieck's latest publication to further clarify my understanding of these things. My focus here was on the lower-grade guns, but I know that there were some confusing product options in the middle grades as well.
Last edited by Lloyd3; 03/16/24 11:23 AM.
