I have a " Hardware store " shotgun, made of fluid steel, or cold roll steel, as we would characterize it now, that belonged to my grandfather. It was apparently made for the trade and sold out of a hardware store in Chicago that eventually went bankrupt in the Great Depression. Its a side by side, 12 ga, but with the shorter European chambers. Apparently, my grandfather bought it, probably used, to go duck hunting with his brothers in Michigan. My Uncles and mother didn't recall him every bringing any ducks home, so they suspect it was just an excuse to spend time with his family, and maybe do a little drinking. When I got the gun in the 1970's, someone had taken off most of the finish with emery cloth, removing some nice line scroll work around the breech in the process. I was able to find the information about the hardware store, and talked to several collectors, who told me there was little to no collector's value in these guns. They were either shooters, or wall hangers. The action is mechanically sound, although the firing pins had been peened down and I removed them and ground off the mushroom edges to make the pins float again in the action. There was an 8 inch long scratch in the right barrel from the muzzle, back, and the barrels were choked, Full and Full. The barrels are paper thin at the muzzle, and there was no way I was going to fire that gun with that scratch going through the choke. So, after much consideration, I sawed off the barrels at 22 inches, put a new front site on it from Brownell's, used some liquid steel to make what I thought then would be a temporary " fix " to the gap at the muzzle between the barrels where the upper and lower ribs were now exposed. The choke is gone, but it makes a dandy gun at Skeet, and I shot a 24 one day with the thing! The barrels are not regulated, and one barrel shoots substantially to the side of point of aim. I may use a file to move that pattern to center, but I am more concerned by the monstrous trigger pulls that now exist. If I could find someone competent to make some new springs for the gun, I would do that first.
I share this story because I went through the same dilemna that you now have with your gun. The only difference is I found out where my gun was made, or at least sold. It appears to be from Belgian origins, BTW. It was given a false damascus finish originally, and that is gone, except under the sliver forearm. Oscar Gaddy relieved the throat for me, so it will handle modern 2 3/4 inch shells better, but I still use very light, PB loads in the gun, and treat it with respect. I have killed dove with it, so it has at least been to the fields again after all these years. The gun dates to the early 1900's at the latest, and may have bene made in the 1890's. My grandfather was using it in the 1910's to the best recollection of family members, who are all but about gone. I am glad I have the gun, and even more glad that I have been able to shoot it. The only way I could have saved the gun as it was would have been to not shoot it ever again. I am glad I made this choice, but would understand someone else making a different decision. I have left the barrel with its new," original" patina, begun after my grandfather or some other moron removed the " rust " from the barrels with emery clothe. My grandfather came from a poor fruit farm family, and was a working guy all his life, first as a real teamster driving a wagon pulled by horses, and then as a fireman and engineer on the railroad. I don't think a gun has to be from a famous maker to be respected and cared for. This old gun has a story, and it is staying in the family. That is good enough.
