Great Gandpa's Fowler - What Have I here?

[MrBuhl]

Hi all, first off - so happy to have found this site. Tons of great info and friendly conversations on here, much appreciated these days.

Secondly, I have this old s/s Fowler that was given to me by my father, and it was his grandfather's shotgun. I'll start with the finish, which was painted black at some point (like with a brush painted). My seventeen year old self thought it would be a great idea to strip and sand (yes sandpaper) it off as much as possible, I know, I know. We live and learn.

Anyway, I don't expect that it's much more than a wall-hanger, nor do I think it has value beyond my interest in it as an heirloom of the family, but I would love to know more about it if anyone here has thoughts about where it comes from and relative age or any other items of note?

The lock appears to say Mortimer on it. That's the only discernable detail I've found.

Many thanks!

 

[rich pierce]

Looks like an English shotgun from 1840-1870. Looks good and solid. Nice family heirloom.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Other than the crack in the stock which could be fixed the gun really does not look in that bad of shape, as to the paint was your grandfather perhaps a duck hunter, that may have been the reason it was painted to help with rust from wet hunting (just a guess) I think other than original condition (paint) it looks nice. Do check to see if it's loaded before doing anything else. And the condition of the bores should be checked out, if in good shape I would think this gun could be fired with light loads. Good deal there enjoy it.

 

[user 48679]

Welcome to the forum ! !

What a great gun to have in your family !

AFAIK, there were at least two British gunmakers, T. Mortimer & W.H. Mortimer, both doing business in London at two different address' in the early 1800's.

If you google the name, you should be able to find out more (and it's fun looking).

I really like the design & fitting of your gun.

It would have Damascus/twist barrels, so if you'd like to shoot it, you should have it checked for safety by a competent gunsmith familiar with double shotguns (not some AR parts-changer calling themselves a gunsmith) - and only use light black powder loads due to it's age.

 

[MrBuhl]

Hey thanks all for the answers! I never dreamed it might actually be able to be fired. Guess it's time to pony up for a better bore light to see what's what. One of the triggers/hammers won't set, and there are spare nipples in the box under the stock - I guess I'll set about finding someone to take er to and see how it checks out.

 

[bpd303]

I have restored many of old muzzleloaders in way worse shape than your pictures show. If you tell us where in the world you are, you might be surprised how many members are near enough to lend a hand and advice.

The first thing to do is to check to see if it's loaded or not. To do that slip the ram rod down the bore till it stops, note where the muzzle is with a piece of tape on the rod. Then lay the ram rod along each barrel with the tape mark at the muzzle and note where the end of the rod is at the breech. It should be real close to the nipples, if it's an inch or more from them it probably has a load in it.

Of course the barrels may be plugged with almost anything, around here mud dobber nests are common in old guns, if you have an air compressor or canned air to clean computers try and spray air in the nipple holes to see if anything blows out the muzzle.

 

[deerstalkert]

there were three generations of Mortimers gunmakers in England. their work was and is so well thought of that Pedersoli copied one of their rifles . You have a very fine shotgun well worth restoring. lesser grades sell in the 1700-2700 dollar range.

 

[MrBuhl]

Thank you so much @bpd303, I had no idea it would be worth much beyond being an heirloom. I'm in VA, outside of the Washington DC area out near Dulles Airport. If anyone knows of a competent smith who they would trust with a proper restoration, I would love to look into that. @deerstalkert I checked with the ramrod (which appears to have been shortened - maybe it broke and my GG Grandfather repaired it?) - but even with that I come up well short of the nipples - an inch to inch and a half. I will assume it's loaded moving forward as I always have (just because I didn't know).