What is the value of a 1970 Sears Roebuck 12 gauge over under full choke shotgun in perfect condition?

Answer 1

No one has ever written a scholarly study of Sears Roebuck shotguns, and I doubt if anyone ever will. The Standard Catalog doesn't even mention them, Gun Trader's Guide lists about 6 models (not including any o/u doubles). If you know a model number, there are cross-reference lists that may tell who actually manufactured it. For value, find the cheapest new o/u at Walmart and figure 1/2 to 2/3 of it's list price. Some shotguns were made for Sears Roebuck under contract with Winchester. A superposed made in 1970 would probably have been made overseas, as American craftsmanship had priced itself out of the market but for the very rich. If it's Japanese made, Miroku or others, you've got a gem. (Check proof marks for kanji, etc.) If it's Spanish made, it's a pig in a poke; some really good guns come from there, but their Metallurgy was suspect in the postwar period in the more economic varieties. If Italian made, another possible gem. Unlikely that the Turks were exporting o/u's in the 70s, though they make some good ones, and Russia was still Commie back then, so Sears Roebuck would probably have not been trading with them, though two barrel shotguns (side by side and o/u) were the only permissable firearm for tens of thousands of Igors in the Street. And they made a lot of them. Hunting was still a recognized activity under the commissars. An acquaintence of mine who took a duck hunting trip to the famed marshes of Mother Russia in the post-Munich days almost had his own guns taken away by German airport police during a stopover; disassembled double guns checked through by wealthy Americans evidently rang their anti-Arab alarms. He never could get over the irony that once behind the (fast rusting) Iron Curtain, nobody gave him a second glance crossing Red Square with a shotgun case in his hands. Kind of like it used to be in Amuricuh....