Tips for buying a second hand o-u?

[Achilles-13 3]

Hi all

 

I was wondering if anyone has any tips on what to look for when buying a second hand o-u shotgun? My rfd has a couple of nice fabarms for sale that he claims are from a deceased older gentleman who hunted with them.

I checked the following : clean barrels, no cracks in the wood ( a couple of,small dings/ scratches but nothing mayor), opening and closing feels solid, front end is quite stiff to take off (rfd said it is because it was likely seldomly taken off) , no pitting or rust inside or out, a slight dent in the top rib… He says it is a steel action, (any way to identify that? Since the models were all produced in both steel and alloy equivalents). Fits me perfectly and it is 20 gauge wich I would love to try out. It is a older model though but could not find any typical problems related to older model fabarms?

 

the other is a mint condition 12 gauge b2 notte, very nice rifle but would prefer the 20 gauge. 
 

rfd recommended the 12 gauge because it is slightly heavier and the weight would reduce some of the recoil (would 200 grams really make a difference?)

I like the fabarms as they are slightly lighter and I hope they would give me less trouble (old elbow injury that keeps popping up now and again…)

 

Thank you for your time

 

kind regards

[scarecrow243 24]

a lighter gun will kick more with heavy cartridges  a tight fore end could mean the gun has been tightened