Andrew Burgess is one of those gun designers from American history whose name has been forgotten, despite his many significant contributions. When Colt and Winchester were threatening to attack each others' markets, it was Andrew Burgess that Colt hired to design them a lever action rifle (the two companies ultimately made a gentlemen's agreement to stay within their own specialties). Burgess actually began his career as a photographer, apprenticed to the famous Mathew Brady. In this role he traveled abroad to witness the Franco-Prussian War, and traveled throughout the South documenting Reconstruction after the Civil War. Today he is credited with having taken the photograph of Abraham Lincoln that adorns our 5-dollar bill, in fact.

For all that, though, it is firearms where Burgess truly made his mark. One of the most interesting and distinctive guns he designed was a pump-action folding shotgun in the 1890s. The pump action as we know it today uses the front grip to slide back and forth to operate the bolt, but in Burgess' day that idea had been patented by Christopher Spencer (yes, the same man who designed the iconic Civil War lever action Spencer rifle) and Sylvester Roper. So Burgess had to find a different way to design his shotgun.

What he chose to do was to use the rear grip and trigger as his pump handle. A sleeve wrapped around the wrist of the stock, and the shooter would pull this back to open the action and then push it back into place to load a new shell. Burgess had tried to challenge Roper's patent in court, but failed (where Winchester would later succeed through a technicality, allowing them to use the now-standard slide mechanism in their 1893 and 1897 models).

One of the original ads for the Burgess Folding Shotgun.

Because Burgess' slide design was all located behind the chamber of the gun, it allowed him to make the most interested version of the gun: a folding variant. Using a spring-loaded locking lever and a clever hinge, the Burgess Folding Shotgun could be folded in half at the chamber and made into a very compact and concealable package, despite being a full-size 12 gauge shotgun with a 20" barrel and a 5-round tube magazine. In fact, Burgess even sold a belt holster to go along with the gun!

The Burgess folded, and with the action open and closed.

One of the more significant purchases for Burgess folding shotguns was secured with the aid of just such a holster. Burgess salesman Charlie Dammon – an impressive exhibition shooter in the day – made an appointment with the New York City Police Board President. Who might this person be in 1895? None other than Theodore Roosevelt, future United States President and all-around badass. After exchanging a few greetings, Dammon thoroughly startled Roosevelt by whipping out the gun, snapping it shut, and blasting a full magazine of blanks into the ceiling of the office. Roosevelt, always one to be enthusiastic about weapons technology, promptly ordered one hundred of the guns for use in the New York State Penal System (these were eventually sold at auction in Canada around 1920).

Burgess' shotguns were manufactured and sold from 1894 until 1899 by the Burgess Gun Company in Buffalo, New York. During this time Burgess made both folding shotguns and a non-folding takedown sporting version of the gun with 28″ and 30″ barrels. In addition, a very small number of pump-action rifles using the same mechanism (although not folding) were made in .30-30 and .45-70 calibers. The shotguns are fairly rare today, with folding models particularly hard to find – and the rifles are extremely scarce. In 1899, Burgess decided to retire, and sold his company and factory to the Winchester company. They promptly repurposed what tooling and machinery they could, scrapped the rest, and shut down the factory. Winchester (and other companies at the time) had a habit of buying and closing down potential competitors as a way to maintain market dominance.

The draw on the Burgess when holstered.

In those few years when it was being manufactured, though, the Burgess folder became a popular choice for security and law enforcement folks. It was really the first purpose-built combat shotgun, combining conceivability and fast handling with a large magazine and rapid repeating action. Burgess' exhibition shooters would regularly perform feats such as breaking six clays thrown simultaneously, or firing rapidly enough to have all six empty hulls in the air simultaneously – feats which were simply not practical with the Spencer pump shotguns or the Winchester 1893. Even today, it remains a practical fighting shotgun (to the extent surviving examples can be found). It would be found in the hands of more than a few famous Old West gunmen, including Pat Garrett.

However, the Burgess shotguns are little-known today, with their more commercially successful contemporary Winchester 1897 competitors being far more common. Perhaps someone will decide to start manufacturing reproductions so we can all enjoy shooting them once again?

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Technical Specs

Caliber: 12ga (.30-30 and .45-70 in very rare rifle examples)

Action: Pump, exposed hammer

Barrel length: 20″ (28″ and 30″ for sporting versions)

Overall length: approx. 40″ (folding version)

Weight, unloaded: approx. 6lb (2.7kg)

Magazine capacity: 6 (2.5″ shells)

Patents

US Patent 521,202 (A. Burgess, "Folding Gun", June 12, 1894)

US Patent 524,800 (A. Burgess, "Folding Magazine Gun", August 21, 1894)

Ian McCollum is the founder of ForgottenWeapons.com, a website and YouTube channel dedicated preserving the history of rare and obscure guns from around the world.

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