Earliest Tobin

[Researcher]

I was cruising GI the other day and found the lowest serial number Tobin I've seen so far, 220. This is the sixtieth Tobin I've recorded

I've not seen the hole through the top-lever before, but I have heard it mentioned.

[DarylC]

Don't know much about the Tobin but they look to be a well finished gun. I've seen the skeletal type top levers but not one like that with the hole. Seems to me to be functional. Did they make only 12's Dave?

[Researcher]

Tobin shotguns were offered in 12- and 16-gauge guns.

My Tobin articles were published in Volume Five, Issue 1, and Volume Eight, Issue 1, of The Double Gun Journal; Volume 39, Number 12, May 1994 of The Gun Report; and Volume 34, Number 3 of (the Canadian Journal of) Arms Collecting.

[Jim Cloninger]

Wow, you have a spectacular example of a Tobin shotgun, Dave! Jim

[Researcher]

Wow, you have a spectacular example of a Tobin shotgun, Dave! Jim

That one is not mine, but I do have one of that grade, the No. 55 Model Grade. The engraving pops a bit better in that picture than in the only picture I have of mine.

There are higher grades out there like Frank Tobin's gun --

or this high grade Canadian example --

[Stan Hillis]

That "Frank Tobin gun" is stunning, Dave. The barrel wedges are over the top.

I notice that both it and the "Canadian example" are single trigger guns. Were their single triggers of their own manufacture, or did they use an "aftermarket" trigger?

[Researcher]

The single triggers on those two high grade guns with the swinging lever behind the trigger are different than the single selective trigger shown in the Tobin catalogs and on other Tobin single trigger guns I've observed.

[Jim Cloninger]

Dave, yours is a beauty! Jim

[44whiskey]

yours is a beauty and looks high condition, strong colors. thanks again for ALL your contributions to this forum

[Stan Hillis]

The Tobin Positive Single Trigger!

Thank you, Dave .......once again.

[Fowlgunner]

Dave my Remington DE had a hole in the top lever.

Will

[Foxnut]

The High Grade Tobins are stunning. The engraving compares to the best out there on any American/Canadian guns of the day. I’ve only seen one high grade Tobin in the flesh at OGCA several years ago. I once owned a 16 ga. Tobin that was a lower grade model with light engraving and blacked/blued frame. Extremely well made with nicely figured wood for a lower grade gun and balanced very nicely.