Posted by Brian McMahon on December 3, 2018, 9:32 am
I am looking at a 16 gauge field gun that comes with 2 sets of barrels. one set is 28 inch the other set 26 inch. Do barrels #s have to be the same as reciever? meaning all #s match. One has ivory bead one has steel bead. Any thoughts?
Brian, all serial numbers should match if originally made for the gun. Most times the barrels were made later but the serial number would still be the same. Best way to find out would be to request a letter on the gun, this might tell if the gun was ordered with an extra set of barrels. An extra set of Field Grade barrels would cost half the price of the gun.
If the factory fitted both sets they should both have the same serial number as the frame. I have two 2 barrel sets. One is a grade 2E that was originally built as a 2 barrel set, and he second set of barrels is listed in the ledger on the line below the gun. The barrels are also stamped with the numbers 1 and 2, as are the fore arms. The other gun was built as a single gun in 1909 and sent back for the second set of barrels in 1927. That gun has the second set of barrels listed between the lines with the original gun in the ledger. The original barrel and fore end have only the serial number, but he 2nd set has the serial number and is stamped with the number 2 as well. I fitted a second, loose set of barrels to a 16 gauge I own, and the fitting of the barrels was very easy, requiring only a few strokes of an India stone across the breech end to make a perfect fit to the frame, but fitting the original fore end to the new barrels took a lot of work and time.