I have been looking for .410 double with exposed hammers for over 35 years. I have seen the ones made in Spain, but was not sure of the quality. I finally found one the other day and I bought it without hesitation. It is made in the USA by Cresent Arms (out of business). I believe it was made in the 30's or maybe the 40's. I want more info on it, but don't seem to be able to find any. I plan to take it to a gunsmith for inspection and testing before becoming the scourge of Snowshoe hares and ptarmigan afield. Anybody got any info I use or a site where I may find info. Thanks.

info Looks like one in good shape would bring about $400 tops.

Alan;

Crescent Firearms Co. was started in Norwich Con. in 1892 and was purchased by H&D Folsom, a hardware wholesaler, of New York in 1893. They made four basic models, all fairly inexpensive, and sold them to hardware chains etc. There were a least 75 different names used on them. The company was finially absorbed by Stevens, I'm unsure of the date but it was probably in the 20's or early 30's.

They are fun guns in the small gauges. I own a 12 gauge and a 28 gauge both with external hammers. I too have been looking for a 410 for some time but haven't found one yet. I had another 28 gauge but a friend wanted it more than I did and I sold it to him. I regret selling it as I now have a bunch of grand kids and would like to have it to give to one of them.

Enjoy your find.

The nicest 410 I've seen was an Italian made 4 barrel which had the same weight and balance as a 12 gage double.

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
The nicest 410 I've seen was an Italian made 4 barrel which had the same weight and balance as a 12 gage double.

Why would you want a 410 that weighs and handles like a 12g??? Surely that defeats the whole purpose of shootins a smallbore?

I found a Charles osbourne English 410 last week through Dig at vintageguns.com. 30" Barrels and 15" stock are a very rare thing in a gun that was traditionally made as a boys gun. We are out shooting driven partriidges tomorrow and I'll be throwing 12.5grammes of English #5's at the little fellas in te hope of knocking some over. If I like it I'll be keeping it and it will become my fun gun for special occasions. If not I'll be selling it on. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow and post.

Rgds,
FB

quote:

Why would you want a 410 that weighs and handles like a 12g??? Surely that defeats the whole purpose of shootins a smallbore?

Well said, Fallow Buck.

Stonecreek, after all fun is the name of the game when going smallboretastic.

I had the day's driven partridges with the Charles Osbourne. Unfortunately there was a problem with the right lock, and the barel intermittently didn't fire. I managed to shoot a couple of driven partridges with the gun for the 5 shots I got it to fire, so I was sure it would do the job, but I really can't be bothered to mess about with it so I think I'm going to pass.

I think a 28b will give me the same enjoyment with a better success rate. In addition pheasants with a 28b is no problem but the 410 might be a bit marginal in my less than professional hands.

Rgds,
FB

Fallow Buck:

Don't mean to be an interfering third party between you and Stonecreek in an interesting discussion - but I wonder if your partridge may not be less heavily feathered than our "partridge" ( A term used in our New England states to refer to a ruffed grouse) and your "pheasant" may not be our Chinese ring neck, a quite large and heavily feathered bird. Frankly, a 28 ga. would be very "marginal" for use on such a pheasant in my opinion. As I said, I apologize for butting in but I just wanted to get the terms of the discussion clear. (A 410 was my first shotgun and this old man still retains happy memories of using it)

Hi Gerry,

No interference at all, it's an open forum.

Our partridges from what I can see in pictures will be quite comparable to your Ruffed Grouse. They have a fairly thick covering of feathers.

Our Pheasants are also of the Ringneck variety, often bigger than your wild types as the reared birds tend to be a little less compact.

For Driven birds I believe that a 28bore with 18g-21g of #5's will kill any partridge in the country in the correct hands, given driven partridges rarely go over 40yds up. I also think that it will kill walked up birds well enough with the correct shot size.

As for Pheasants, I think that you have a point. The point though is not the ability of the gun to kill, but rather the difficulty of putting a small patternn in the correct place on such a bird. I know two Guys that shoot Driven pheasants, Mallard and Partridge exclusively with 3" chambered .410 Beretta's. They rarely miss and only shoot the highest of birds. My point is that in the right hands these small bores are lethal. Often the shooters limitations are misinterpreted as being the guns limitations.

I know my limitations and I'll admit that shooting a .410 is not going to give me the results I expect of myself. However I would happily address the most Pheasants with a 28b knowing that the only lmiting factor is my ability.

To give you an idea of the type of birds we shoot, if you stand next to atall building and go upto the 4th floor you are looking at a relatively lowish (but shootable)bird. from 5th-7th floor you are looking at good sporting birds and from 8th-10th floor upwards the birds can start to be called high. At that point I think the small bores are purely an experts gun.

I hope that goes some way to answering your question, and sorry if I was a bit longwinded.

Rgds,
FB

One more little item I'll throw in: my dad had a little N R Davis 410 (Made by Crescent Arms, I think) many many years ago and IIRC, they have 2 1/2" chambers. I'm not really sure anymore as it was a long, long time ago but that was one tiny little double - again, I believe it was hammerless. He did quite a bit of trading and I have no idea where it ended up. Sort of like the 20 SXS Ferlach I always thought would be mine someday.