Colt Model 1883 Hammerless Shotgun
High grade Colt hammerless sporting shotgun with documented factory provenance
Images
Specifications
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, Hartford, Connecticut |
| Model | Model 1883 Hammerless Double Barrel Shotgun |
| Year | c. 1887 (shipped August 31, 1887) |
| Caliber | 12 gauge |
| Configuration | Grade 1, hammerless boxlock, twin triggers, top tang safety, 30 inch Damascus barrels |
| Serial Number | 2015 |
| Markings | Colt barrel rib address, patent dates on frame, matching serial numbers on action, forend and barrels |
Historical Summary
The Colt Model 1883 was the company’s first successful hammerless shotgun and was aimed at wealthy sportsmen who wanted a modern, internal hammer double in the same class as British imports. Mechanically it is a boxlock design based on the Anson and Deeley pattern with Colt patent improvements. The internal hammers cock when the action is opened, which gives a clean profile without exposed hammers and helps prevent snagging in the field.
This particular shotgun, serial number 2015, is documented by a Colt factory archive letter. The letter confirms that it left the Hartford armory on August 31, 1887 as a single gun shipment to a customer recorded as Joseph Dodd. The gun is listed as a 12 gauge, Grade 1 configuration with 30 inch barrels and a three dollar engraving charge, which corresponds to modest border and scroll decoration rather than heavy coverage.
Colt produced only a few thousand of these hammerless doubles between about 1883 and 1895. The high price and conservative buyer tastes slowed sales. Period advertisements promoted the new safety slide, the strong extended rib and double bolt lockup and the use of modern machine tools. Later catalog pages show that prices had to be lowered in the 1890s to stay competitive, and Colt even skipped a block of serial numbers in order to make total production appear higher than it really was.
Collector Notes
Surviving Colt 1883 hammerless shotguns are not common and many were worked hard as field guns. Serial 2015 stands out because it is complete, mechanically sound and backed by a Colt archive letter that links the gun to a specific date and customer. The gun has been sympathetically restored, so it presents very well while still showing the character of an antique sporting arm rather than a newly made replica.
The barrels retain a fresh but appropriate re browned finish that shows the underlying Damascus pattern. The replacement walnut buttstock follows original Colt lines and dimensions. Internally, the action locks up tight and functions correctly. With its Damascus barrels, this shotgun should only be fired with low pressure loads intended for vintage doubles, but within that limitation it remains a practical shooter as well as a display piece.
For a collector, this shotgun illustrates Colt’s short lived push into the high end hammerless market, the marketing challenges of selling an expensive and unfamiliar design and the way careful modern restoration can tell the story from manufacture to rebirth.
Provenance
- Manufactured by Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, Hartford, Connecticut
- Shipped August 31, 1887 to a customer listed as Joseph Dodd (single gun shipment)
- Verified configuration and shipment details by Colt factory archive letter
- Modern sympathetic restoration and refitting by Mick Crowder, Classic Firearms Restorations, Lititz, PA, with final mechanical work and test firing by Tim Crowder, Iron Will Armory LLC
- Presently held in a private collection and documented as part of the Relics and Rifles historical arms research project
Detailed restoration steps and conservation notes are documented separately in the Restoration Lab section of this archive.