Attention Greener collectors! This W. Wellington gun, with 61 Loveday St Birmingham address on the rib, was likely made by William Wellington
Greener at that same address. Nicely cased, with several vintage Dixon 10 bore reloading tools, this is in fact a special package!
The 30-3/4" barrels appear of steel construction, but may be Damascus or twist, with a reblack job having been performed sometime in the past. There is no evidence we see of dents or deep pits and the set rings true, indicating tight ribs. We measured minimum wall thickness at 0.035", which is pretty robust! Bores measure 0.760" with no (cylinder) choke restrictions. These measurements, in conjunction with the "11" stamp ahead of the flats, suggests this was an eleven bore gun! As the nominal 10 gauge bore would be 0.775" this would likely hone-out nicely. Barrel work would also likely rid the bores of light roughness, especially ahead of the chambers. There is plenty of metal to spare on these tubes! The barrel set appears to have had its forend loop resoldered at some point. The barrels are tight on face with the fore end installed, but exhibit slight looseness with the foreend removed. This will require some work on the pin, hook or the underbites.
Case colors are faded, leaving the action with a nice, aged patina. The non-rebounding locks have strong mainsprings and positive clicks on both half and full-cock positions. We find the deep, percussion style fences particularly appealing, as well as the classic, tough looks of the Jones Underlever locking mechanism.
The walnut stock has very nice grain and figure and slight cast off for a right handed shooter. Length of pull is 14-1/4" from the front trigger over the peaked steel buttplate. Drops are 1-7/8" at the comb and 2-7/8" at the heel. There appears to be an old crack repair through the wrist, but it was nicely done. There are wood reinforcing strips inletted on either side of the tang, and the checkering was recut and blended to match.
So there you have it! Add some snap caps, a cleaning rod, shot, powder and 10 gauge shells and this old gun should prove lots of fun in the field!
