Remington Rider # 3 12 gauge with 38-55 insert, rifle sights

[justashooter]

I recently acquired a Remington # 3 in 12 gauge that has a wide solid rib on top of barrel and rifle sights. It has a 38-55 rifle barrel insert that is installed in the gun by sliding into the barrel from breach end and affixing a tapered nut to the threaded muzzle, which extends thru the shotgun bore by about 3/4 of an inch.

This gun seems to be an "anything that walks or flies on this continent" type combination, and must have been a factory special order. the bluing is nearly 100% and the wood is nicely finished. perhaps it is an entire professional re-finish.

The rear sight, which is dovetailed to the rib, has a hinge at rear and flips up to give ladder graduations up to 1000 yards. The front sight, also dovetailed to the rib, is an ivory bead with a see-thru hole drilled underneath. I suppose this was used in bird shooting. the buttplate is the correct R over A bakelite.

Any ideas on how common/rare a factory combination like this is, and what approximate value would be assuming a prefessional re-finish (wood has a glossy finish that may be shellac or poly, blue just seems too good to be true)? Any ideas on how to validate this gun as original condition in combo state. Serial is 711XX.

[Researcher]

This is out of my area of expertise, but the Auxiliary Rifle barrel was a regular Remington Arms Co. product up through the 1904-05 Catalogue. Here from the second 1901 Remington Arms Co. catalogue --



The rib and the sights mounted on the barrel of a No. 3 sounds like totally custom work, and would likely take examination by several Remington "experts" to tell if factory or done by an after market gunsmith.



Bring ther gun to the winter Las Vegas show at the Riviera, January 14, 15, 16, 2011. The Remington Society has a good presence there and there will be plenty of "experts" to offer opinions.

Here are the sights Remington Arms Co. catalogued --

[justashooter]

thanks for your reply. on second inspection it appears that the 1/2" wide rib is silver soldered cleanly to a plain barrel, and that the front sight is marked in very small type, "Marbles". the rear sight is rather like the "rear combination peep" shown in your third image, but it is a v notch, and the fixed v notch is at the rear, just above the hinge.

so then, this is an aftermarket set-up.