r/canadaguns • u/WinterOrb69 • Apr 22 '26

Misc What is this? Wife's father passed away and had this old gun.

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As the title says. My wife's father passed away and we found this in his house. There are no other markings other than the Kessler brand on the stock. It's in pretty rough shape.

103 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

46

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26

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17

u/mwmwmwmwmmdw Apr 22 '26

prices have gone up but only a few years ago you could find these for 50-100 bucks and worked well.

18

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '26

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14

u/Sufficient-Host-4212 Apr 22 '26

Let us not forget the 99 dollar mosin nagant as well

3

u/Gemione Apr 22 '26

Products -- Product Code : CMS-SKS Name : SPECIAL INTRO DEAL Info : 7.62x39mm / 5 rds / Blued Quantity : 2 Price : $199.00 Price x Quantity : $398.00

The good ole days

45

u/HankHippoppopalous Apr 22 '26

Holy crap is that a bolt action shotgun hahaha - These were given away with furniture purchases!

Kessler made guns in the early 50's, very short lived company "Kessler Arms Corp"

11

u/WinterOrb69 Apr 22 '26

You know what, it could be.

19

u/HankHippoppopalous Apr 22 '26

These guns were super common before pump action got cheap. If you needed "a cheap gun" these were about 25 bucks in 1955

19

u/HankHippoppopalous Apr 22 '26

also this should go without saying - Don't load this thing without having a gunsmith look it over.

The gun is virtually worthless, but 'cool' in its weirdness.

6

u/I-LOVE-HENRY-RIFLES Apr 22 '26

Should have stamping near the receiver that indicates what gauge and model it is. From a quick skim online it looks like one of their bolt action shotguns, maybe the Kessler 128 FR? 

3

u/HankHippoppopalous Apr 22 '26

I think you're right - it doesn't have the mag, but it looks like a 128FR

13

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26

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2

u/mwmwmwmwmmdw Apr 22 '26

A quick scan on Gunpost confirms that bolt action 12's are indeed desirable.

only 5-10 years ago these bolt actions where the opposite and owners put their noses up at them. it was great because i was able to scoop up several for dirt cheap.

3

u/mwmwmwmwmmdw Apr 22 '26

might be missing its magazine OP

2

u/Buffalofeet .22, 12ga, 30-06. 3 Classics. Apr 22 '26

Hey! I owned one of these, second gun I ever bought. Kessler 128fr, Bolt action shotgun. I believe they made them in 12ga and 16ga. Mine was 12ga. I had a good bit of fun with it, decent guns for what they are. Simple. The stock on mine split, so maybe be careful with it.

1

u/Insert_word_here Apr 22 '26

I have one of these in 16ga. Haven’t played with it much. But if I remember correctly mossberg ended up with the patents.