Imperial arms Shotgun

[Maxthompson]

Fellas, A friend just gave me an imperial arms, 12 guage double barreled Shotgun wth a broken stock. No help at Numrich's. It is Belgium made, no serial no.


Any Ideas?

Mike

[Bret4207]

The catalog houses, Sear, Monkey Wards, all the farm suppliers, Woolworths etc. used to import those type shotguns. I have a "Wm. Parkhurst" with no stock. Stumbled onto another "Wm.. Parkhurst" with no locks. The 2 will become one someday.

As for quality, it's hard to say. If it's damascus, real damascus and not a damascus finish, there's a chance it's not even safe with blackpowder. The fear is moisture would have creeped between the layers of steel through the years and rusted the welds. If it's fluid steel it may be safe with low power loads. Best to have a competent gunsmith take a gander at it. If it's in decent shape it may make a fine shooter. Most of those old stocks had a bit more drop than now and heavy loads really kick. On the other hand they tend to be stocked well for small game rather than crossing birds.

[Buckshot]

.............A good indicator of the shotgun's quality is to remove a lock and inspect the innards. You will know after looking. In those days parts were made from solid. They may have had some machine forming but final fitting was by hand. Belgium made shotguns from 20 years either side of the previous turn of the century can run from really abysmal to the really wonderfull.

My great grandfather had a double bbl 12 ga marked Wm Moore. This was before the internet and I was not in the mood to spend what was wanted for shotgun books to research it. Even then I could tell it might not have been the best quality, due to tiny detail things. THen on day I happened to see an 'accent' framed photo of a shotgun with powderhorn and a couple phesants hanging by a rustic wall.

The shotgun was prominently shown and danged if it wasn't marked "Wm Moore". However it was very easy to see the difference in quality between the one in the photo and the one I had in hand. The Belgium gunmaking fraternity/consortium/whatever, would produce anything and mark it with any name you'd like. Sometimes the name would be just off a bit. Like that WM Moore might have been marked Wm Moor, or More .

.................Buckshot

[KCSO]

I get queried a lot on these old doubles as everyone has Grandpa's gun and most of them are broke, probably from clubbing jack rabbits. Dixie made a generic stock for these in side lock and back action, but, they were shaped blanks and were un inlet. Inletting a double gun and doing it right is about as tricky and difficult a job as you will ever do and it takes just as much work to do a Belgian wall hanger as a fine Parker. The last one I did was done from a bandsawed blank and I would have had to charge $300 to come out on the job. Your best bet if you want to hang it up is to keep looking for another old one at the right price. IF yo are a handy woodworker give Dixie a try, or see what Boyd's has in the sale bin. As to shooting Damascus, IF the barrels are sound they can be fired with BLACK powder ONLY! I took my lessons on grading barrels from V M Starr and I still Proof every barrel I send out as a shooter.

What most folks today don't realize is that Damascus or twist barrels were made for a reason. The twisting and welding drives out slag inclusions and makes a stronger barrel than lap welding or boring the cheap steel that was used from 1750 to about 1870. Hence Twist gained a reputation for making a strong barrel and was prefered up until smokless was well along. The only problem with twist is that it is more subject to rust through and when it rusts through it usually starts on the inside of the tubes UNDER where the ribs were soldered on. The very act of soldering the barrels together could cause failure if the worker didn't get ALL the flux or solder paste out of the cavity. Guess how often that happened in Belgium when they were cranking thses guns out for $8.00 each. I have handled and fired some high quality english and German doubles that were twist and were chambered and proofed for smokless powder, but I have yet to see a Belgian gun so made. If you find an ELG mark anywhere on the gun it will be Belgian and wil at best be a Black Powder gun, or more likely a wall hanger.