revelation shotgun

oldram64 · January 28, 2007, 03:52 PM

I have acquired a .410 shotgun marked Revelation. Mod#330B, ser.#307642. It has been fired but is in otherwise excellent condition. I was told this gun was originally purchased at a Western Auto store. Could this be a private label from one of the major manufacturers? Does it have any collectible value? I appreciate any info you can supply. Thank you.

rem33 · January 28, 2007, 05:12 PM

Mossberg 183T is what my cross reference shows.

RJay · January 29, 2007, 10:37 AM

There are millions of Store brand or Trade name guns. Some times the name is property of the retailer such as Revelation for
Western Auto, Western Field for montgomery Wards. and J C Higgins for Sears, however some of the manufactures used a private label for a cheaper or more inexpensive version of a firearm such as Glenfield or Springfield for Savage/Stevens. These guns were manufactured for the various stores by major manufactures such as Mossberg, Savage/Stevens, Winchester and and High Standard as well as many import guns from Spain, Italy and Germany. During the period of 1900 to 1940 if a small retailer ordered as few as 15 firearms they could have any name they so desired roll marked. Hence Joe Smith's hardware could have his shotguns marked " Joe Smiths Arms Company" impressed the hell out of the locals. For modern guns there are good cross references available such as the one on e-gunparts.com . For the older firearms , sometimes it's by guess and by golly. Now for some bad news, Store brand guns are cheaper versions of the original gun and will be valued at around 15% to 20% less. A Sears model 53 which is a Winchester Model 70 is valued 20% less than a Model 70 marked Winchester.

James K · January 30, 2007, 10:41 PM

The cheapening rarely affected the functional areas, but often made the brand name gun look cheap. After all, the retailer was looking at his bottom line and the maker didn't want to turn out anything too good that would be real competition for his own product.

So what was a black fore-end cap on the "real" gun became a daub of black paint on the store gun; a checkered walnut stock on the "name" product became uncheckered birch on the trade gun; a fine polish and deep even bluing became a sand blasted and quick dip blue on the trade gun, and so on.

Jim

oldram64 · February 3, 2007, 07:56 AM

How true on the description. Birch stock, no checkering on this shotgun. I guess the only thing it's got going for it is that it is in excellent shape. Local "gun guy" offered $100 for it. Probably a good deal?

January 28, 2007, 03:52 PM	#1
oldram64 Junior Member Join Date: January 28, 2007 Posts: 2	revelation shotgun I have acquired a .410 shotgun marked Revelation. Mod#330B, ser.#307642. It has been fired but is in otherwise excellent condition. I was told this gun was originally purchased at a Western Auto store. Could this be a private label from one of the major manufacturers? Does it have any collectible value? I appreciate any info you can supply. Thank you.

January 28, 2007, 05:12 PM	#2
rem33 Junior member Join Date: March 31, 2006 Posts: 1,528	Mossberg 183T is what my cross reference shows.

January 29, 2007, 10:37 AM	#3
RJay Senior Member Join Date: November 2, 2005 Location: Arizona Posts: 1,936	There are millions of Store brand or Trade name guns. Some times the name is property of the retailer such as Revelation for Western Auto, Western Field for montgomery Wards. and J C Higgins for Sears, however some of the manufactures used a private label for a cheaper or more inexpensive version of a firearm such as Glenfield or Springfield for Savage/Stevens. These guns were manufactured for the various stores by major manufactures such as Mossberg, Savage/Stevens, Winchester and and High Standard as well as many import guns from Spain, Italy and Germany. During the period of 1900 to 1940 if a small retailer ordered as few as 15 firearms they could have any name they so desired roll marked. Hence Joe Smith's hardware could have his shotguns marked " Joe Smiths Arms Company" impressed the hell out of the locals. For modern guns there are good cross references available such as the one on e-gunparts.com . For the older firearms , sometimes it's by guess and by golly. Now for some bad news, Store brand guns are cheaper versions of the original gun and will be valued at around 15% to 20% less. A Sears model 53 which is a Winchester Model 70 is valued 20% less than a Model 70 marked Winchester.

January 30, 2007, 10:41 PM	#4
James K Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 17, 1999 Posts: 24,383	The cheapening rarely affected the functional areas, but often made the brand name gun look cheap. After all, the retailer was looking at his bottom line and the maker didn't want to turn out anything too good that would be real competition for his own product. So what was a black fore-end cap on the "real" gun became a daub of black paint on the store gun; a checkered walnut stock on the "name" product became uncheckered birch on the trade gun; a fine polish and deep even bluing became a sand blasted and quick dip blue on the trade gun, and so on. Jim

February 3, 2007, 07:56 AM	#5
oldram64 Junior Member Join Date: January 28, 2007 Posts: 2	How true on the description. Birch stock, no checkering on this shotgun. I guess the only thing it's got going for it is that it is in excellent shape. Local "gun guy" offered $100 for it. Probably a good deal?