I'm trying to find out what I can about an old H&R single shot 12 guage.

The only patent date is Feb 27, 1900 and s/n is A395XXX. Dad claims that HIS grandfather had it for 65 years before giving it to him about 35 years ago.

This is a great family gun but I know nothing about it and can find next to nothing about H&R history, not even a definite model (I believe it's a Topper).

If anybody knows about these old scatterguns any info would be appreciated.

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Fast is fine;accurate is final

Harrington & Richardson morphed into New England Firearms (lost a lawsuit I think) and back into Harrington & Richardson, 1871 fairly recently. IIRC, Marlin bought them within the last couple of years.

An internet search should bring you company info and a way to contact them.

Topper was the name of a least one of their shotgun lines, don't know when it started. Borders books might be able to point you at any histories of the company.

From my search so far I've found out that records just don't exist anymore, mainly because it's a minor name. H&R 1871 is an entirely new company, no affiliation with our gun.

In short, a DOB is probably not going to happen. It's worth a try though.

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Fast is fine;accurate is final

H&R 1871/New England Firearms was bought by Marlin a few years ago and now they are all owned by Remington. I am not sure of your exact model. Most of them will say on the barrel if it is a Pardner or Topper. I am not sure on one that old. Your gun was made in 1940. That is what the A in the serial number tells me. These are excelent guns and I have a few of them. I have the shotguns in 12, 16, 20, 28, and .410. I bought my 12 ga 14 years ago when I was 18 and I have around 15,000 rounds thru it and it is still going strong. I have a few of the rifles also and they are great shooters. My favorites are my .357 that I reamed out to shoot the .357 maximum, my .44 mag, and my .45-70. It sounds like you have a nice old shotgun there. I hope I helped you out.


snakeman

Thanks for the info.

I had a chance to look the gun over again, and now I have even more questions. The s/n is also on the barrel, but it doesn't have the "A". Looking at the frame again, the "A" looks like it's different tooling than the numbers. I'll stick with 1940 for now, but it's more than a little strange.

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Fast is fine;accurate is final

Is there any way you can post some pics for me to see?


snakeman

I got some answers on my grandfathers Model 1908 shotgun on Numrich Arms forum several years ago. I do not know if site still exists.

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Roger

I'll work on those pics.

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Fast is fine;accurate is final