Hercules shotgun info

[skeeter@ccia.com]

I just found a shotgun for free..the only thing on it is the name Hercules on the side and under the barrel is only the seriel number. On the side it says barrel and lug forged in one piece. Those are the only marking I can find on it. I know it is not a 12g. I am thinking maybe a 16 but why would it not say that someplace? I also think Monkey ward sold them back in the 40's....Maybe someone knows a secrete as to where the guage is marked or something? ....thanks.

[multibeard]

I inherited my dads 16 ga wards hercules single barrel. I gave it to my youngest son so I can not look for markings on it. If it is 16 a 12 ga won't fit and a 20 ga goes down the barrel it has to be a 16. I doubt that they made a 28 ga.

My brother also had one but lost the fore arm in his military career travels. His son had my dads fore arm for quite a while but I do not know if he got new metal for the forearm machined out or not. It seems like the forearm had a hole in the metal with a couple of pieces of sping wire that slipped over a pin to hold it on.

I will get ahold of my son with dads hercules and have him look at it for markings