J.O.Mayne, London, Muzzle Loading shotgun?

[Vairochana]

Gday all,
I am looking at buying this muzzleloading shotgun, I have never heard of the make before, however I know it is pre-1900.
It is in Australia at present.
Does anyone know about this make?

Cheers
WS

J.O.Mayne, London:

 

[Vairochana]

Anyone?
Bueller?
Is this in the wrong section?

 

[dave_person]

Hi Widow's son,
I would love to help more but I cannot find much info on the maker. J. O. Mayne does not show up on my list of London gunmakers working before 1850. The gun was probably made in the 1860s or later. After looking for info on the internet, it seems a fair number of his guns are on sale in NZ and Australia. I wonder if he specialized in inexpensive guns for export. Certainly the gun you are looking at is well made but must have been an inexpensive product of the London gun trade.

dave

 

[Vairochana]

Thanks mate,
I have seen a few on the local sites, mainly SXSs.
I agree I think that these are late 1800s and meant as "trade" or farm guns.
I haven't been able to find anything about the manufacturer tho and am open to any leads.

WS

 

[fluggies4]

I couldn't find anything in my references either.
It looks like the hammer has been replaced, however...it doesn't seem to fit correctly as it is too small.

 

[Jason Lewis]

Anyone?
Bueller?
Is this in the wrong section?

i love it! :rotf:

 

[matt denison]

"..open to any leads"

I can't help with the manufacturer either but I will say that it looks like a nice gun in good condition for its age. There is enough wear to show that it was used which is better than the alternative which would indicate that it wasn't reliable or otherwise was left in the cabinet. The hardware says "made for the trade" to me. These farm guns or I call them hardware store guns were made quite well for the prices asked at the time.

As mentioned the hammer doesn't look original to the gun but that is easy to fix or if it works OK then ignore it. Do you plan to shoot it or hang it on a wall for decoration?

If the price is reasonable then I say go ahead and buy it.

L.Dog

 

[Happydog]

It looks a lot like the one I just bought. Are there any markings on the barrel. The lock on the one I have is "Bell."

 

[Vairochana]

Gday,
Thanks for the replies,
I will be trying to get hold of it in a week or so (gonna become a new dad in between )
Ideally this will be used fairly regularly in our Farmgun (modified sporting clays) comp.
I have a modern repro based on a zouave (in another thread) but it would be good to use an original from time to time.
I didn't even pick up on the hammer, if it works I wont change anything, otherwise I might have a chat to Forbes (in Oz) and get a bigger one.
WS