Here is how it came to me - at the best price $0. (Well, to be fair I bought him lunch).
Looks to be mostly all here.
So what is it? An Ithaca Lewis model side by side, early 1903 (https://ithacagun.com/serial-numbers/)
I've had it for about a year now in the backlog. I'm getting ready to finally close out several other projects that were waiting on me to finish bluing barrels and magazine tubes. So I figured to optimize the effort I should get this thing ready to boil and at least stop the deterioration. It looks a lot worse than it actually is. A lot of loose surface rust on top of the barrels that was well-oiled years ago. The oil has since dried up making the rust appear super thick and scaly. Should clean up fine.
I'm not sure what grade the gun was originally, but there are Damascus tubes under all that crud. The ribs seem tight and the barrels still ring. The bores are bright and un-rusted, but the right one has a few small dents about 1/3 back from the muzzle. I'd be cautious with old Damascus barrels, but with no corrosion in the bores and still ringing they should be ok.
I was able to get the bottom plate off and it looks like most of the internals are there. Someone before me tried to take it apart and put some screws and bits in masking tape or baggies with labels.
The stock shows no special figuring, but has a blowout in the expected place. Shard is in two pieces, and I only have the lower (larger) piece. So that will be interesting. I'll wait till I know if I can get it running first before I decide on what to do with the wood - salvage and repair, or carve a new stock.
This one will take a while to do. I can't find a parts diagram anywhere to verify I have everything, but at least we'll know soon enough what it's beauty potential is.Information
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