Need help with ID'ing this shotgun!

AROutdoorSoldier · October 21, 2010, 08:39 PM

I need help with this please! This shot gun has stumped me for a little while now. I am hoping y'all can help me with ID this thing. It breaks down at the barrel/reciever joint. The barrel has National Fire Arms Co. with a star on either side of the stamping. The barrel is 29" long. It is a 12ga, which is stamped on the top of the barrel just in front of the headspacing ring.

Any help would be awsome!

Chris_B · October 21, 2010, 08:49 PM

Do you know anyone with a...camera?

AROutdoorSoldier · October 22, 2010, 02:15 AM

Well I will post some pictures when I can figure out how to insert pictures into the text. Thanks for everyones patience!

Jim Watson · October 22, 2010, 07:23 AM

This sounds like a common single barrel break action shotgun.
Is it?
If so, it is one of a multitude of inexpensive guns manufactured by the Crescent Arms Co from 1888-1931. The National Firearms Co guns were sold by May Hardware in Washington DC of all places, and by Moskowitz & Hurback of Philadelphia.
If it is a pump action repeater, it was made for them by Marlin.

James K · October 22, 2010, 02:03 PM

National was one of the Crescent brands. Since Crescent spanned the transition era from black to smokeless powder, that gun may not be safe with any smokeless powder shell, and may not be safe to fire, period.

In addition to the quality of the barrels, and whether solid steel or Damascus, older shotguns were made for 2 1/2" or 2 9/16" shells, so longer modern shells are dangerous in those short chambers.

Value? As a shooter, I would say none, because I recommend against firing it. As a collectible, very little; they are common guns, were never high quality to begin with and usually have not held up well. Maybe $75-100 or so as a decorator.

Jim

Chris_B · October 22, 2010, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Well I will post some pictures when I can figure out how to insert pictures into the text. Thanks for everyones patience!

It's actually easy; I can provide instructions

AROutdoorSoldier · October 23, 2010, 01:42 AM

Quote:

National was one of the Crescent brands. Since Crescent spanned the transition era from black to smokeless powder, that gun may not be safe with any smokeless powder shell, and may not be safe to fire, period.

In addition to the quality of the barrels, and whether solid steel or Damascus, older shotguns were made for 2 1/2" or 2 9/16" shells, so longer modern shells are dangerous in those short chambers.

Value? As a shooter, I would say none, because I recommend against firing it. As a collectible, very little; they are common guns, were never high quality to begin with and usually have not held up well. Maybe $75-100 or so as a decorator.

This sounds like a common single barrel break action shotgun.
Is it?
If so, it is one of a multitude of inexpensive guns manufactured by the Crescent Arms Co from 1888-1931. The National Firearms Co guns were sold by May Hardware in Washington DC of all places, and by Moskowitz & Hurback of Philadelphia.
If it is a pump action repeater, it was made for them by Marlin.

Chris-
Any help you can give me would be great. I see these great pictures inserted with the text all the time. It is also easier to describe something when they have a picture with the text to look at @ the same time.

I am always amazed by the depth of knowledge and ease with which it is shared on this site.

Thanks Jim-
What you described sounds like what I have, but what I have is a pump action. By break action you mean it can be broken into the reciever group and the barrel group? Mine is a pump action with an exposed hammer.

Thanks, ED

Chris_B · October 23, 2010, 06:09 AM

The first thing you'll need is a place to 'host' your photos.

I like photobucket, overall:

http://photobucket.com/

In the upper right corner of that page is a box, with 'username' and other info. At the bottom of that box is the sign-up button. Click 'Sign Up!' and create an account. It's free

The thing I dislike about photobucket is the layout doesn't stay the same. By that I mean that depending on what you do on the site, the buttons for using the features of the site aren't always in the same place, and it can appear confusing. But if you bookmark it, you can always simply return to the main page, and once you're logged in for your visit, clicking your bookmark for the home page will bring you back to the main screen, but you'll still be logged in

So if you get 'lost' on the site, all you need to do is click your bookmark for the main page, and then click 'my home' on the blue bar at the top of the main page

Once you're at 'my home', there is a big green button labeled 'Upload Images and Videos'

Clicking that will prompt a new window to open. The window allows you to browse your PC for the photo you want to put in your photobucket account. I usually put the photos I want to upload on my desktop for the sake of ease, but you can browse to any folder on your PC via that window

You select the photo, and it will be uploaded. Then you save the image on the screen that asks if you want to. This is how you 'host' a photo online, and then The Firing Line will recognize the photograph

Each photo in your photobucket album will show a 'thumbnail' or preview image of the photo. Clicking it will show the whole photo.

To insert an image here, hover your mouse cursor over the thumbnail of the photo you wish to add to a message. A series of options will appear. Copy and paste the whole mess of characters next to the last choice, called "IMG Code". Copy the code from photobucket, and paste it into a message here on the forums. If I did this here it would insert a photo so I will purposefully mess that up by substituting the number '1' for the first 'I', so you can see what an example of the whole code looks like:

[1MG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v441/Chuck_Older/coltholster.jpg[/IMG]

That's the 'path' that the hosted image is coming from online- the web address of photobucket, the name of the album (Chuck Older was and is my aviation hero so I used his name for my album name), then the photo name. Doing it 'the right way' results in this:

if you need copy and paste help (not everyone knows how and I wasn't born with the knowledge myself), That's easy too and I can show you quickly, or another member can, I'm sure

Now you're dangerous- you can post a huge photo that will be so large it will be un-viewable all at once on your monitor! But windows has a program that will resize an image for you, and photobucket will actually do that for you too

In photobucket, click on a thumbnail. The photo will appear. Hover your mouse cursor over the photo, and you'll see a series of options appear at the top of the photo. One will be 'resize', and placing the mouse cursor on the word 'resize' will bring up still more options- presets for resizing, as well as 'more options'

October 21, 2010, 08:39 PM	#1
AROutdoorSoldier Member Join Date: September 16, 2010 Location: North Idaho, CDA! Posts: 31	Need help with ID'ing this shotgun! I need help with this please! This shot gun has stumped me for a little while now. I am hoping y'all can help me with ID this thing. It breaks down at the barrel/reciever joint. The barrel has National Fire Arms Co. with a star on either side of the stamping. The barrel is 29" long. It is a 12ga, which is stamped on the top of the barrel just in front of the headspacing ring. Any help would be awsome! __________________ Anyways that's my two and a half cents. Ed

October 22, 2010, 02:15 AM	#3
AROutdoorSoldier Member Join Date: September 16, 2010 Location: North Idaho, CDA! Posts: 31	Can't get pictures to insert Well I will post some pictures when I can figure out how to insert pictures into the text. Thanks for everyones patience! __________________ Anyways that's my two and a half cents. Ed

October 23, 2010, 06:09 AM	#8
Chris_B Senior Member Join Date: February 9, 2007 Posts: 3,101	The first thing you'll need is a place to 'host' your photos. I like photobucket, overall: http://photobucket.com/ In the upper right corner of that page is a box, with 'username' and other info. At the bottom of that box is the sign-up button. Click 'Sign Up!' and create an account. It's free The thing I dislike about photobucket is the layout doesn't stay the same. By that I mean that depending on what you do on the site, the buttons for using the features of the site aren't always in the same place, and it can appear confusing. But if you bookmark it, you can always simply return to the main page, and once you're logged in for your visit, clicking your bookmark for the home page will bring you back to the main screen, but you'll still be logged in So if you get 'lost' on the site, all you need to do is click your bookmark for the main page, and then click 'my home' on the blue bar at the top of the main page Once you're at 'my home', there is a big green button labeled 'Upload Images and Videos' Clicking that will prompt a new window to open. The window allows you to browse your PC for the photo you want to put in your photobucket account. I usually put the photos I want to upload on my desktop for the sake of ease, but you can browse to any folder on your PC via that window You select the photo, and it will be uploaded. Then you save the image on the screen that asks if you want to. This is how you 'host' a photo online, and then The Firing Line will recognize the photograph Each photo in your photobucket album will show a 'thumbnail' or preview image of the photo. Clicking it will show the whole photo. To insert an image here, hover your mouse cursor over the thumbnail of the photo you wish to add to a message. A series of options will appear. Copy and paste the whole mess of characters next to the last choice, called "IMG Code". Copy the code from photobucket, and paste it into a message here on the forums. If I did this here it would insert a photo so I will purposefully mess that up by substituting the number '1' for the first 'I', so you can see what an example of the whole code looks like: [1MG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v441/Chuck_Older/coltholster.jpg[/IMG] That's the 'path' that the hosted image is coming from online- the web address of photobucket, the name of the album (Chuck Older was and is my aviation hero so I used his name for my album name), then the photo name. Doing it 'the right way' results in this: if you need copy and paste help (not everyone knows how and I wasn't born with the knowledge myself), That's easy too and I can show you quickly, or another member can, I'm sure Now you're dangerous- you can post a huge photo that will be so large it will be un-viewable all at once on your monitor! But windows has a program that will resize an image for you, and photobucket will actually do that for you too In photobucket, click on a thumbnail. The photo will appear. Hover your mouse cursor over the photo, and you'll see a series of options appear at the top of the photo. One will be 'resize', and placing the mouse cursor on the word 'resize' will bring up still more options- presets for resizing, as well as 'more options' Last edited by Chris_B; October 23, 2010 at 06:32 AM.

October 21, 2010, 08:49 PM	#2
Chris_B Senior Member Join Date: February 9, 2007 Posts: 3,101	Do you know anyone with a...camera?

October 22, 2010, 07:23 AM	#4
Jim Watson Senior Member Join Date: October 25, 2001 Location: Alabama Posts: 18,541	This sounds like a common single barrel break action shotgun. Is it? If so, it is one of a multitude of inexpensive guns manufactured by the Crescent Arms Co from 1888-1931. The National Firearms Co guns were sold by May Hardware in Washington DC of all places, and by Moskowitz & Hurback of Philadelphia. If it is a pump action repeater, it was made for them by Marlin.

October 22, 2010, 02:03 PM	#5
James K Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 17, 1999 Posts: 24,383	National was one of the Crescent brands. Since Crescent spanned the transition era from black to smokeless powder, that gun may not be safe with any smokeless powder shell, and may not be safe to fire, period. In addition to the quality of the barrels, and whether solid steel or Damascus, older shotguns were made for 2 1/2" or 2 9/16" shells, so longer modern shells are dangerous in those short chambers. Value? As a shooter, I would say none, because I recommend against firing it. As a collectible, very little; they are common guns, were never high quality to begin with and usually have not held up well. Maybe $75-100 or so as a decorator. Jim