The other old gun

I had mentioned below in "The Old Gun" that I had gotten two old shotguns from Uncle Steve. I showed you the nice Remington 1900 that had held up surprising well over the last century. I did not show you the "other gun."

It is a "Vulcan Arms" double barrel of the same general appearance as the Remington. After some internet research I found that Vulcan Arms is the name of a regional distributor in Philadelphia for the Crescent Firearms Company. Apparently the gun is about the same age as the Remington 1900.

If it were in pristine condition, the old fella would be worth $200. Of course, it is actually in rather horrendous condition so it is worth nothing. I'm not even sure there is much sentimental value since it appears to have been shot infrequently. While the outside of the barrels are rusty, the bore doesn't show the same signs of use, in terms of pitting, that exists in the Remington.

I am debating whether to try to refinish the gun.

Arguments against doing so abound.

As mentioned above, the gun has no monetary and questionable sentimental value. I will see if I can find any tales of this gun when I go visit the extended family in June but as of right now, there are no good, "Priest shot him in the a**" stories to warm the heart.

The barrel is bent. This strikes me as a pain in the butt to deal with, potentially requiring the assistance of a gunsmith.

The action does not look as nice as the one on the Remington. There are actually coiled springs incorporated in the design. Rusty coiled springs at that. If they turn out to be important to the boomstick going bang, I may have a difficult time bringing the gun back into service.

There's probably a good reason the stock is no longer on this gun. There is an inherent structural problem with side by side doubles. Shooting the gun imparts off center forces into the stock that tend to try to split the stock down the middle. A bolt was inserted in the Remington to help prevent that from happening but I worry that the stock design for the Vulcan Arms gun is even less robust. It would stink to refinish and actually make a new stock only to have it shatter in my hands. And that would probably hurt. Could it be that the bankruptcy of Crescent Firearms Co. is one of the reasons life expectancy has gone up since the 1900's? Along with antibiotics of course.

The arguments in the affirmative are shorter but still pack a punch.

The gun is worthless. What better way to get better at refinishing than to work on a gun with no value? There is no letdown if the project is unsuccessful.

The inside of the barrels are in good shape. Once that pesky dent is removed, the gun is probably safer to shoot than the Remington, at least as far as the barrel exploding is concerned.

I will need to get better with woodworking to fashion a replacement stock for this gun. This is good opportunity to learn some woodworking skills.

Umm...

I think I'll leave it in the closet for now.

Did I mention Jeff has Great Great Grandfather's gun? That would James Hart, from the first generation of American born Harts.