Baker Gun Co. Batavia Special 12 gauge Double Side by Side 2 3/4 inch 28 in Mod & Full 1917 Final Year Production Moonshiner Territory Domicile

From its home domicile here in West Tennessee comes this solid old specimen of the Baker Arms Batavia Special Side by Side shotgun. Manufacturer was the Baker Gun and Forging Company of Batavia, New York. From its relatively high 162000 range serial number it was manufactured in 1917, the final year of production for the Batavia Special. Construction is entirely fluid steel metal, not Damascus; attest the right barrel’s marking Homo Tensile Steel. Buttstock and forend are original walnut. Barrels are 26 inches, cut from their original 30 or 32 inches, with .721 Cylinder and Cylinder muzzle diameter, a sharp departure from the left barrel’s Choke Bored stamping. Chambering is 12 gauge, 2 5/16 or 2 3/4 inch shells only. Sight system is period brass bead front, with serrated surface rib. Mechanism is double trigger internal hammers, with lever breech release and with sliding safety. Triggers are double type. Stock drop is 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches, with no right hand cast, so this shotgun is Southpaw friendly. Length of pull is 14 1/4 inches from the forward trigger face to the end of the composite butt plate. Overall length is 42 3/8 inches. Weight empty is 7 pounds, centered at the breech pivot pin. Finish is brown and blue patina metal and retouched oil type stock finish. Note the old replacement steel hex nut well laid into the forend. Surface detractions are extensive, but normal and even aging with no cracks or significant external pitting. Barrels have moderate internal pitting from the chambers’ forcing cones and forward for 12 inches or so, but smooth with no pits for the final 10-12 inches up to the muzzle. We rate this shotgun as good condition, but photos ought to suffice for our distinguished shoppers to judge finish grade for themselves. Breech mechanism, safety, triggers, and lockup are all solid with no slack or play. Chambers are good, bore pitting is confined to the midsection just forward of the chambers. Many shotguns like this wound up with their barrels shortened. In the Mississippi Delta, that procedure was usually for quail hunting. This Baker, however, was domiciled in hill country where there were no long fields, only long hollows with abundant home distilleries in operation until the early 1970s. The purpose to the shortening was not to make a wider pattern for flying birds, but to make a man sized pattern for buckshot that would carry 60 yards or so from the cover of a thicket. This shotgun, then, is quite likely a moonshiner gun. It is attractive, serviceable, and historic. We’re offering it for only $ 459.00. C&R Eligible.