Bill,eightbore wrote:Fowlgunner, isn't your pump gun a #5? Very nice regardless.
That is what it would appear to be, but there are a couple of things that make me believe it was a No.6 or at minimum a custom No.5 upgrade.
The original stock I still have is broken with one side cheek missing. The stock is a Straight stock with No. 6 checkering and a Gold initial oval. The remaining cheek has the corresponding serial number to the gun the other cheek would have had a grade stamp on it, 5 or 6.
The gun is a 20,000 serial number gun and I have observed later No.5 RRS with scroll on the right side and a single animal vignette on the left, like what the catalogs of that time period described for both the Pump and the Autoloading Guns. With the multiple animal scenes on both sides it was certainly custom. I have seen a similar gun that had three ducks and three bird dogs on point on either side that was produced with No. 6 wood and checkering, it did have a woodcock engraved just front of the top tang though.
No one will ever be for sure. But it is fun to ponder!
Will