So, I picked up an old double barreled 12 gauge sidelever hammer gun at the Upper Marlboro show this weekend for cheap.
Then I started trying to find out what I had bought....
It is an FA Loomis IXL15 with twist barrels, it is tight and on face with good wood and checkering, the bores are good and shootable. It needs an ebony forend tip replaced and a crack at the toe fixed.
I thought it was a neat Belgian clunker but it is an English gun from Birmingham probably built for export. It was a cheap gun when new. Loomis was a trade name of Joseph Bourne & Company.
Now the cool part, apparently a western stagecoach robber named Black Bart used the same gun as mine. His is in the Gene Autry Museum. http://www.flickr.com/photos/angry_idol/6041281631/
Mine is 44 serial numbers away from his. No I am not cutting the barrels short to match.
Then I started trying to find out what I had bought....
It is an FA Loomis IXL15 with twist barrels, it is tight and on face with good wood and checkering, the bores are good and shootable. It needs an ebony forend tip replaced and a crack at the toe fixed.
I thought it was a neat Belgian clunker but it is an English gun from Birmingham probably built for export. It was a cheap gun when new. Loomis was a trade name of Joseph Bourne & Company.
Now the cool part, apparently a western stagecoach robber named Black Bart used the same gun as mine. His is in the Gene Autry Museum. http://www.flickr.com/photos/angry_idol/6041281631/
Mine is 44 serial numbers away from his. No I am not cutting the barrels short to match.
