Daniel Boone Squirrel Gun

[Vikram]

I was looking for info on long barreled guns when I found this here.

There is nothing remarkable about this gun except for the barrels, which are a whopping 42" long!





Best-
Vikram

[inplainsight]

I loved the comments on the forum!

[BowMan]

Oh these were common during the days of the Raj.

They used these to hunt game like hare from on top of elephants in tall grass

[timmy]

It was thought that longer barrels gave tighter patterns, especially in the days before chokes, and that longer barrels gave more velocity, which they do, up to a point. That point ends long before 40 inches, however. This would depend on. The powder used, of course, but somewhere between 28" to 32" would be close.

The longer barrels would give a longer sighting radius, however. Whether that would compensate for swinging such a shoulder-held mast, would depend on the individual.

[brihacharan]

It was thought that longer barrels gave tighter patterns, especially in the days before chokes, and that longer barrels gave more velocity, which they do, up to a point. That point ends long before 40 inches, however. This would depend on. The powder used, of course, but somewhere between 28" to 32" would be close.

The longer barrels would give a longer sighting radius, however. Whether that would compensate for swinging such a shoulder-held mast, would depend on the individual.

> Wonder who was the manufacturer
> Also did it come with ejectors?
> Am sure that the shooter must be strong enough to keep the barrel up & pointed at the quarry long enough to take the shot
> BTW - The overall design & ergonomics appear classic.
Briha

[Mark]

I suspect the title is a result of influence from the P.T. Barnum School of Advertising.

With barrels that long, I suspect this gun was designed for waterfowl (ducks and geese) hunting and had chokes of full and extra-full. I suspect they sold a few more because of the name, the same as a fishing rod manufacturer might design an ultra light spinning rod, paint it white and call it "Captain Ahabs Fishing Pole". This was brought to almost an art form at one point as properly done people will read a catalog just for the clever and often subtle humor.

[BowMan]

No ones in the mood for some silly jokes...

[Grumpy]

I can`t imagine what a 16-bore shotgun has to do with Daniel Boone .... apart from the ridiculously long barrels which would be reminder of black powder muskets. Why a `squirrel gun` I have no idea ..... At the range that this is likely to have been used any squirrel shot with it would likely have been pulverised.
This would not have been an ejector. Hammer guns in the hammerless era were cheap guns and ejectors were expensive. Hammer ejector guns are rare - as are self-cocking hammer guns ...... Self-cocking hammer ejectors are even more rare. The only one that I can think of is the Abbiatico & Salvinelli Castore which is a modern gun.... A total aside and nothing whatsoever to do with a 42 inch barrelled 16-bore shotgun

[xl_target]

No ones in the mood for some silly jokes...

How can you be sure?

Mark is quite correct, American advertising, especially in the early part of the last century was quite creative.

[Grumpy]

Something else regarding that advertisement is the mention of `Twist Finish Barrels`. Does that mean that the barrels were actually steel tubes but finished to look like twist barrels ? That seems highly unlikely. There`s definitely marketing going on because twist barrels were `old hat` by 1915 so there is an attempt to talk-up the barrels whatever they are.
I love advertisements for old guns.

[Mark]

This place used to have the funniest ad writer:

http://www.sciplus.com/

Who has since retired but the people taking over seem to be following in the same footsteps. I haven't had one of their catalogs in years but this thread reminded me of them, so I looked them up. One of the items they are selling, for example, they have labelled "Caiman clips" which makes you wonder what exactly IS a "Caiman clip"? There is an electrical clip with the common term of "Alligator clip", they look like these:


Anyway, they were selling rather small alligator clips, and of course Caimans are alligators, except usually smaller hence the clever title.

[Mark]

Something else regarding that advertisement is the mention of `Twist Finish Barrels`. Does that mean that the barrels were actually steel tubes but finished to look like twist barrels ? That seems highly unlikely. There`s definitely marketing going on because twist barrels were `old hat` by 1915 so there is an attempt to talk-up the barrels whatever they are.
I love advertisements for old guns.

That might seem likely to you in the UK where marketing writers still had consciences, but for a turn of the century cheap gun I could see a `Twist Finish Barrel` being applied with a paintbrush.

[Mark]

Just did a search and found this on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1915-AD-Daniel- ... 2329a09fb0

[Grumpy]

That`s even more confusing as the top gun has `Fine Damascus Finish Barrels` ( with `modified reinforced breeches` ) ( Definitely something peculiar going on there as can be seen. ) and is $19. Labelled W.H.Harrington by the way - online research suggests that in the early 1900s this name was used on Belgian guns made by Domoulin. That it`s Belgian is highly likely ..... Not so certain that it`s Domoulin however.
The middle gun has `Fine Blued Steel Barrels`, is $21 and bears the name `Hanover Arms Co` - which is one of many names used by the Crescent Firearms Company ...... it also could be Belgian.
The third gun - the Squirrel gun` has the makers name scratched-out and was the most expensive of the bunch at $27.