Posted by Researcher on February 17, 2008, 12:40 pm, in reply to "hunter special 12ga"
The Hunter Special was only built for a short time. Officially from 1937 to 1945, but likely few were built during WW-II. The Hunter Special was essentially a Fulton boxlock action fitted with the L.C. Smith rotary bolt and a bit nicer stock. In Houchins' book they list 5,814 in 12-gauge, 1,777 in 16-gauge and 1,285 in 20-gauge. They don't mention the Hunter Special, or the Fultons for that matter, in .410-bore, but they both were built in that bore size.
For some reason, in the mid-1930s, both Hunter Arms Co. and Ithaca Gun Co. thought there was a niche between there economy gun, Fulton or Lefever Nitro Special, and their main brand Field Grades. Hunter Arms did better, selling over three and a half times more Hunter Specials then Ithaca sold of their Lefever A-Grade, even though the Lefever A-Grade was offered with a variety of options including ejectors, single trigger, beavertail, recoil pad, ivory sights, and Skeet boring. Alexander T. Brown's rotary bolt apparently carried the day. In 1939 the Hunter Special had a list price of $33.50 while the Lefever A-Grade had a list price of $37.75. On the same price lists a Field Grade L.C. Smith was $45.00 and a Field Grade NID Ithaca was $45.25.