Extremely Interesting Vermont Swivel Breech Shotgun

NSN, .46 Caliber CF (approximately .410 Bore), 26 3/8" barrel with an about good, lightly pitted bore.  This is a very interesting and well-made gun that has a rotating barrel that travels 180º and has a cam extractor that extends when the barrel is fully rotated.  Cocking the action is via a lever on the  right side of the receiver.  The metal has an overall dark plum-brown patina with some areas of mild surface oxidation scattered throughout, as well as some streaks of mottled dark gray along the barrel.  The gun has integral front and rear sights, and may have been rifled originally.  The wooden buttstock has a vibrant tiger-stripe grain with minor handling marks and small blemishes scattered about its somewhat dried surface, and the gun is not equipped with a trigger guard, although it seems as though a single anchor point for a fragile guard that broke off is present behind the trigger on the lower wrist tang.  That said, the lock-up is still quite firm and the action is fully functional.  No markings are present on the gun, but the previous owner stated that it was inherited from a grandfather who lived in the Brattleboro, VT area.  Interestingly, a very similar breech-loading action was patented by Richard S. Lawrence, of Robbins & Lawrence in Windsor, VT, in 1852, utilizing side-hammer percussion ignition and a barrel that only rotated 90º instead of 180º as is the case here.  Lawrence’s patent is illustrated on page 155 of "Vermont’s Gunsmiths And Gunmakers To 1900" by Harry Phillips and Terry Tyler, {2000}.  No further information has yet been uncovered regarding any possible connections between the two designs save for the close geographic proximity of Brattleboro to Windsor, but this may have been an improvement on Lawrence’s original patent designed for use with modern metallic cartridge ammunition.  This is a very well-made gun, with an intriguing swiveling breech design, and would make a splendid addition to any collection.  Antique