Iver Johnson Champion 12 gauge has joined the accumulation .....

[wm]

Picked up today at a flea market for $20. Was told it did not function, maybe a broken firing pin. Offered $15 for the shotgun and the half box of shells it was sitting with. Deal made, I brought it home, broke it down and cleaned it The firing pin looked fine beyond a good bit of dryed grease and crud. Cleaned and reassembled I took it to the range before dinner and boom. Shoots just fine. Put a dozen shells through it and patterened it …… nice pattern, even and centered on the sights or maybe just a pinch high. I guess I'll strip the stock down, steam out the worst of the dents and BLO and beeswax the stock and forearm. It looks like its earned its living as a hunting or farm gun made in the 1930s .... I respect that.

Not sure what the future holds for this old fowler beyond that. I'll probably have to scrounge around my parts drawer and find some sling swivels and mount a sling. Maybe I'll see how it shoots buckshot just so I know if it would be worth using on deer.

It might just end up someday in the gun cabinet at the cabin we hope to buy in a year or three. I figure on leaving a half dozen firearms there just so I don't have to cart them back and forth. A scatter gun, a little single shot 22lr rifle, Heritage 22 revolver, beater 38 spl of some sort (I have a 5 shot Rossi with a 5inch barrel from the early 60s disassembled on my work bench that's missing a couple of parts), and muzzleloader or two. Just a some meats and potato guns to satisfy and unforeseen impulse

Wm

[765x53]

I wish I still had my Mom's old Champion. It didn't kick at all compared to my buddy's newer Stevens.

[gamekeeper]

I once had a Iver Johnson Champion .410. It was the nicest .410 I ever owned, wished I'd never sold it.
I love single shot shotguns...

[AmBraCol]

Picked one up from a yard sale for the same price years ago. Come to think of it - that was over 20 years ago. You got a great deal. The one I picked up needed the spring that actuates the locking mechanism. Took it to a gun smith for repair. It took him ages to do so. Finally gave the ticket to my brother and told him when it was ready to pick it up and it was his. It, however, is a 16 gauge. They are a lovely piece of ordnance, quite elegant and effective.

[Bill in Oregon]

I hold onto to my late father's old Winchester Model 37 in 16 gauge. He bought it new with paper route money about 1939. Think it cost him $7 or $8. His first gun.
At one point, I thought about collecting .410 singles just for the sheer fun of it.

[Marvin S]

Here’s a hardware store version in .410 bore . Mechanical excellent shape no alterations except for a coat of varnish with no sanding evident.
WITTE’S SPECIAL ST. LOUIS MO

[gamekeeper]

I love hunting with a single shot, it always brings back memories of my youth, my elder brother had a Webley 100 3" 32" barrel, I believe the Webley was a copy of the Winchester 37, I had a single shot .410 hammerless folder made in Birmingham.
Now I have a Cooey s/b .410, a Stevens 94 in 16 gauge and have just bought a BSA (made in Italy) 12 gauge folder to join my rather limited accumulation....
My SxS and O/U rarely see much use, I just prefer single barrel shotguns and I'm still looking for a Ithaca 66 in 20 gauge.
I still regret selling the Iver Johnson Champion though......

[Marvin S]

My first was an H&R .410 single so I think this one fills its place. I got three cotton tails with the Iver Johnson first time out years ago

[wm]

Well the Iver Johnson has left the accumulation...… I traded with a young man I work with who has great ambition to hunt and almost no budget to do it. I sold him an old set of Rocky Cornstalkers boots my sons out grew, two hunting coats, two sets of long underwear that must have shrunk as they don't fit me anymore ( ), a pair of Italian Navy deck hand insulated overalls, 6 sets of wool socks, a Uncle Henry 'Sharp Finger' knife, navy watch cap, the shot gun, and 200 rounds of various 12 gauge shells.

That was a very satisfying end to a short term project!


Wm

[Bill in Oregon]

Good for you wm. Hope you have made a lifelong convert.

[wm]

Yeah I traded him for some hours of labor later this summer. My spouse and I are going to get out of town for a few weeks and I'm going to have Dan come over and mow the lawn here and at my Mothers. Beyond that I'm going to have him help fix the front porch and maybe install some out side security lighting. He and his wife just bought a fixer upper house so he can 'practice' fixing stuff here.

darn good return on my $15 investment IMO.

Wm

[Mike Armstrong]

I once did an editing job for a college prof and discovered he didn't have any actual US money to pay me for the work. BUT (Mike's big butt) he DID have an Iver Johnson "Champion" .410 that had some of the nicest case coloring I've ever seen on any gun plus a pristine stock and bore, and a decent pre-64 Model 94 .30-30 carbine. Sold the '94 for cash to keep my wife happy but kept the .410, and have used it ever since. It's a little too light for a bird gun (no follow thru swing weight in the barrel like my 28" Winchester "Steelbilt" .410) but there was never a handsomer cottontail/diamondback killer made, and you can carry it in one hand all day. Perfect for a day's "armed stroll" (my wife's term for woods wandering)! I always carry a couple of the Winchester 3" self-defense 000 buckshot loads just in case there REALLY IS a Bigfoot, too....

How did they make guns that nice for the prices they charged?

[t.r.]

Grandad's old Champion in 16 gauge has been parked in my cabinet for years but it still shoots straight. Excellent 25 yard patterns with buckshot!

TR