Help IDing a iver johnson single shot SG

[chillincody]

Hello everyone

Im here hoping that some one can help me Id this shotgun I have , the only markings I can see on it are

Receiver is marked with Iver johnson arms .........fit...(im guessing is fitchburg. mass )

under trigger guard it says 1781B ? any way to date the gun based on this?


barrel says on top 12 gauge full mod choke ( I think )
and its a little less than 26 in barrel



So what do you guys say
Is it worth anything ?
how old do you say it is?
And what model is it ?
I went to el cajon gun exchange and they said id was a winchester model 37 ( because the butt plate said winchester ) and charged me to tell me totally wrong info well thanks for reading and hope you can help

[chillincody]

so no one has any info?? Where are the sg gurus at?

[ouch1]

There is not alot of info out there on the interwebz on these old skatterguns. But I have a funny feeling someone is looking through some books for info for you.

-ouch1

[chillincody]

There is not alot of info out there on the interwebz on these old skatterguns. But I have a funny feeling someone is looking through some books for info for you.

-ouch1

Yeah Ive been looking online for a while cant find any helpful info which is why I posted this thread You know its a tough ? when calgunners are looking in books lol

[sephy]

That's an Iver Johnson Champion. You are correct about Fitchburg, Mass.

Here are some links to some on gunbroker, some with detailed pictures of the receiver markings:

1
2
3
4

Some information on the gun and serials:

Link to above discussion

Later they switched to the serial in all letters LINK

From the information I gathered from those two people, I figure that your shotgun, being the "B" in Fitchburg, is from 1925 (just my guess).

The values you see on Gunbroker are pretty accurate. There are a lot of them out there. They are great little guns though and a lot of people have learned to shoot with them.

[chillincody]

That's an Iver Johnson Champion. You are correct about Fitchburg, Mass.

Here are some links to some on gunbroker, some with detailed pictures of the receiver markings:

1
2
3
4

Some information on the gun and serials:


Link to above discussion

Later they switched to the serial in all letters LINK

From the information I gathered from those two people, I figure that your shotgun, being the "B" in Fitchburg, is from 1925 (just my guess).

The values you see on Gunbroker are pretty accurate. There are a lot of them out there. They are great little guns though and a lot of people have learned to shoot with them.

Awesome man thanks that is the info I was looking for I owe you a beer didnt think it was that old and didnt know that H&R now owns iver johnson . but now I know

[BigDogatPlay]

Been off the board for a few days.

Gun is definitely a Champion. I own examples in 16 and in.410. Both of my guns have a much narrower, less hand filling fore end than the OPs and mine have a slight Schnabel under cut at the front of the fore end.

The number behind the trigger guard ending in B is the serial number. If you pop the fore end off the serial number, more than likely without the B, should be stamped into the wood and it should - hopefully - match the serial number behind the trigger guard.

The 16 I have is a full choked 30 inch barrel with a solid rib and is ejector only. Grip and fore end are tastefully but modestly checkered. I learned to shoot trap with this gun in my late teens and it has a number of 25 straights to it's credit. I rarely shoot it anymore because 16 gauge ammo is hard to find and I don't reload for it but the bore is bright with zero corrosion and it's ready to go.

Have fun with yours.

[HatersLOVEme : )]

I have one of those chambered in 410 that was sold by Montgomery Wards under their Hercules line name but from my research its a Iver Johnson Champion just re badged / made specifically for Wards your lucky yours is stamped / numbered mine doesn't have any identification markings on it that I could see it was a pain in the butt to find info on it even more so since I think someone had shortened the barrel to 18" make it a truck / snake gun so I didn't even barrel length to go on . Nice quality single shot no really worth a whole lot but many of a shooter cut their teeth / learned on this very type of shotgun ( I have even heard of Guys getting them machined / bored out for 3" magnum loads ) thanks for sharing

[chillincody]

I have one of those chambered in 410 that was sold by Montgomery Wards under their Hercules line name but from my research its a Iver Johnson Champion just re badged / made specifically for Wards your lucky yours is stamped / numbered mine doesn't have any identification markings on it that I could see it was a pain in the butt to find info on it even more so since I think someone had shortened the barrel to 18" make it a truck / snake gun so I didn't even barrel length to go on . Nice quality single shot no really worth a whole lot but many of a shooter cut their teeth / learned on this very type of shotgun ( I have even heard of Guys getting them machined / bored out for 3" magnum loads ) thanks for sharing

I didnt know it even had markings until i stripped it down to bare metal and with the use of a mag glass I was barely able to make out a few markings . And would it even need to be bored out to use the 3 in mag rounds ? I was always told it could use 2 3/4 or 3 in shot shells is there a diffrence ??

[BigDogatPlay]

Three inch shells = no, in that gun. 2 3/4 inch only.

The longer the shell, the more shot it will hold. While velocity of comparable loads between 2 3/4 inch and three inch remains the same, more weight of charge = more powder required to achieve the same velocity. Many modern guns are made to accept three inch shells and will also accept 2 3/4. A 2 3/4 chamber more often than not will not accept a three inch length shell, and for an older gun that was made decades before the three inch shell was first created, I would not do any kind of chamber conversion.

[chillincody]

thanks big dog that makes sense