priceless or junk

[the rifleman]

hey fellas i recently aquired a old double barrel shotgun the make is a

w.richards london fine twist there is engraving on the ends of the barrel on the hammers and scroll work on the sides it has two triggers and has hammers :rolleyes: :unsure: the barrels are 35 1/2 inches long it appears to have been reblued and the stock is cracked

i do not want to sell it just curious on how much its worth :2guns: :cannon:

[djl4570]

W. Richards sounds like it could be Wesley Richards. If it's an old Damascus twist barrel it's best if you use it as a wall hanger. You can see the Damascus pattern in spiral down the length of the barrels. These were made by hammering a strip of steel into a helix to form the barrels and they are not considered strong enough for smokeless powder. It's an English shotgun so it could be one of the obsolete short shells, 2-1/2" or 2-9/16" etc.

I think Wesley Richards was in business through the 1950's, they may still be around in some form. If it is a more modern high strength steel barreled shotgun then you have a keeper. I find it odd that anyone would have something like that refinished. How do you know it was refinished?

Here's a site with a picture of the lockwork of a Wesley Richards shotgun.
http://www.armerialugli.com/sito4_en/fin-re.html

Post some pictures if you can.

[surbat6]

Check to see if the proof marks are British or Belgian. Belgian gunmakers exported a lot of shotguns with names just slightly different from the quality guns they imitated. The quality of those knock-offs varied from fair to fairly miserable, nowhere as good as the originals, and value of that kind of Belgian double is generally less than $200.