A Classy Coach

[Sharps40]

Arrived....found one a bit short but a good price. Fox B. 12g. Single Trigger. Late 50s early 60s. Non recoil operated action....i.e. second barrel fires with second pull, recoil not needed. Perfect for a house/coach/snake gun......double strike capable with out smacking the butt to activate the second sear. GoodWife picked it for her house cleaning, lawn sweeping tool.

2 3/4" chambers. Now reamed with a 1 3/8" forcing cone. I have to polish yet and the pics are blurred...but its smooth and I'll get better pics in the sunlight tomorrow. About an hours work to ream both forcing cones and roughly clean up the barrel muzzles. They should finish out at about 19 5/8" which will match up with the front edge of one of the vented rib posts for a clean look.

The bluing is about 95% and still on the hinge pin lug and on the extractors. The bores are perfect.

The original color case remains very nice all over.

Perfect 5 oclock position of the top snap on this near zero wear and tear weapon.

She picked a good one!

I spose we'll find her some 410 and 9mm inserts for lots of practice on clays and cans.

 

[Sharps40]

Simple plans for this one. Clean up and inspect. Polish the forcing cones/bores. Clean up the muzzles. Tweak the stock for a perfect fit for a Grand Lady. A super soft slip on recoil pad. A Blackhawk sling with xtra shells on home made sling mounts. A high visibility front bead. Perhaps refinish the wood as there are a number of dings and chipped away finish. The stock has been finished at least once so, will have to be careful not to take too much more off in the prep work thereby getting the wood below the metal.

 

[Sharps40]

More barrel work tonight. About another hours worth, in case folks is wanting some time hacks for the work.

A piloted facing cutter. The bores are tighter than cylinder....a .729" bushing was a no go and had to be turned down several thousands to fit. So, I'll have to measure it later and maybe its enough this one will have an IC choke in each barrel. Who knows, might even pattern good.

Spinning slow and with light pressure and lots of oil, the first barrel is taken back to 19.75" length.

Same on the second barrel......note the high spots, tips in the middle and the vent rib is not cut.....they will be dressed with files and all the sharp edges deburred with small swiss files.

After initial dressing and breaking the edges. Time to clean the gap and put in a filler.....likely an expoy. The ribs/barrels are brazed, not soldered.....I could solder the hole shut but, might still spoil the bluing so, epoxy it'll be.

Right forcing cone and chamber gets its initial polish with 400g and oil....

Left too....

A light clean up and another beauty shot....

 

[Sharps40]

About 2 hours work tonight. Easy stuff.....

Hand made front sling swivel mount. Left over under lug from a TC Muzzleloading Rifle Build. Jig it up in the scope drill jig for three equally spaced #29 holes and drill it.

Counter bore the outer holes to sink the 6x48 screws in flush....the center hole will be tapped 8x32 I believe for an Uncle Mikes sling swivel mount and then it'll be soldered into the threaded hole for strength and to keep it from turning.

Also, the swivel mount base serves as the jig for center drilling the bottom rib and then tapping the holes in the rib 6x48. Far apart to spread the load. After bluing, the base will be epoxied and screwed to the rib.

Lastly, the new made rib is contoured top, bottom and sides by hand for good fit and a nice shape.....

Shortening the stock to 12.25".....with a soft 1" slip on recoil pad or a 1 to 1.24" rubber pad, it'll be perfect length for Goodwife and me too......or leave it short (sans slip on pad) for a handy truck/trunk/close work gun.

Anyway, first drill the holes for the buttplate screws extra deep, only one will be in the right spot when shortened, usually the top one, but I drill both so I can decide on best positioning of the original buttpad for grinding to a perfect fit on the newly shortened wood.

The line is 12" from the trigger toe, with the rubber buttpad, the LOP will be 12.25", about right for youngsters/short folks. With a 1" or 1.25" pad, the LOP will be about right for all but giants.

Don't wear yerself out tryin to level and align a stock for trimming...its way too easy...put the butt on the fence, wrap the wrist in a good layer of duct tap, set the miter, set the blade height and slowly and evenly cut away all the wood leaving a kiss of black line showing.

Durn near perfect on the firstist cut

Now, kiss it on a fine belt and make it right on perfect.

 

[Sharps40]

Top screw gives me best alignment for grinding the buttplate back down, lower hole no longer aligns so I drill a new lower hole and will have to plug the unused one with oak dowel later. Yes, Phillips head buttplate screws are factory correctness.

Leaving my duct tape on to prevent gouges, I rough in the buttplate shape on the big bench sander and finish up close with the jitter bug. I'll remove the tape to fully refinish the stock later.

A healthy wad of balled up 0000 steel wool is driven about 1" down the freshly cleaned out space tween the barrels.....this is done with epoxy fill or solder, keeps stuff from runnin all the way down to the clean out holes at the back end!

Good old JB weld, the original, not the quik set, is mixed up. Lots will go in that 1" hole there, mebby a 2" long strip of each color to fill it and have a bit left over. Fill, tamp with a small toothpick to get the air bubbles out, fill, tamp, fill, tamp, etc. Tape keeps the epoxy out of the bores and off the rib and nice bluing. Stand it upright at room temp for about 6 hours to set, 15 to 24 till ya shoot it.

One more shot of the roughed in Front Sling Swivel Mount.

Beauty Shots! 19 3/4 barrel and just shy of 35" overall without the Gooy Soft Limb Saver I'm pickin up at WallHell tomorrow. Dunno the weight, light I think. Got just 5 5/8" left in the draw bolt hole for a recoil reduce iffin we need one.

Careful wit that thing, ye'll shoot yer knee off.

 

[Sharps40]

Another hour and a scooch......barrel is mostly done, all that's left is to blue the swivel mount and polish the bore full length with 600g. After which, I'll refinish the buttstock and it'll get a set of Wolf springs when I clean the action. For now, had it to the range and what a shooter it is! Not too harsh, even with the solid rubber buttplate, it'll be a pussycat with the Limbsaver Air slip on pad. GoodWife looked it over after the range and todays work, she loves it, I think once the new springs are in and its easier to open and operate, it'll be her favorite. She's out sling shopping right now.

The cardboard targets are about 12" by 16"

Three barrels of Wolf 00 Buck (felt wad, hard kicker!) at 15 yards. Not a bad pattern and I am happy with it. Recoil is almost too much but it doesn't smash my face. The real surprise was the Ficcochi 00 Buck (collapsing wad, mild kicker) - man, its AWESOME!

Here is 4 barrels of Ficcochi 00 Buck, at 15 yards. Even the plastic wads look to be harmful! Much tighter and the kick is actually less than my 1 1/8 oz 2 3/4 dram handloads of 7.5 shot. This will likely be the main ammo and with the patterning, its gonna make this into a back yard deer shottie too.

A small Limbsaver Air slip on over the hard rubber buttplate. Havn't shot it with this in place yet but it should really tame any gun down. LOP is 13" with this on and a fine fit for me and GoodWife. Anxious to get back to the range and see if it takes the sting out of the hard kicking Wolf Ammo.

Do the long forcing cones reduce recoil? Judgin from how the Win 1300 riot gun kicked today with the hard Wolf ammo, I'd have to say yes.....a little. I think, from patterning both guns with both Wolf and Ficcochi 00 Buck, the main advantage of the long forcing cone is better patterning of the buckshot. It will be interesting to go break some clays with both guns now, just to see how far they will shoot with the Cylinder/Improved Cylinder bores.

I marked and center drilled (5/32") a rear sling screw hole and counterbored the mouth to keep the stock from splintering when the screw was run in.

The front sling mount screw was 10-32 not 8-32 as I thought. So, I redrilled the center hole and tapped it. Then soldered the sling mount in place with some flux and lead free solder. It shouldn't turn out, ever!

I cleaned up the front sling mount with 120 and 220 and also removed the bluing on the rib between the mounting holes with 120g. Removing the bluing will help the epoxy bedding between mount and bottom rib to bite stronger.

The new front mount installed and bedded. Should be strong as needed for many years to come. And, removeable, heat to ouch temp, back out screws and tap it loose with a rawhide mallet......doubt I'll ever remove it.

 

[Sharps40]

Center drilled and tapped the top rib for a 6x48 screw. Can use a bead or about anything if I like that way for a front sight.

Ran in a Weaver head screw so I have a bit of under cut that I can make use of with a snap on front sight.

Heated a file handle in the torch so I could put a button on the over length light pipe, keeps the pipe from sliding out and make room for the snap on sight to slip under the lip of the weaver headed screw. Keeps em in place when they kick.

Snapped on the front sight, and slid it up under the lip of the screw. Nice and secure, yet removeable should we decide to get a bead or a Meprolite later.

Left the original mid bead in place, it does not get in the way and actually might help when shooting clays.

Almost done. Ohh, pretty......

 

[roylt]

So was the front sight stock or added? If added how? I didn't follow. You drilled a screw to hold the front but after that you lost me.

 

[Sharps40]

Added. There was no front sight as the barrels were shortened. All that was left was the mid bead. Snap on front sight for now, an aftermarket. Later, depending on GoodWife's mood, could get a spark or a meprolite or even a simple bead. 6x48 is a common sight thread pitch and the largest/strongest for a rough duty sight.

The weaver head screw is beveled on its underside. When placed in a theaded hole without countersink, it has a nice lip. The snap on sight relies on a bead to keep it from sliding forward under recoil. A bead works but sometimes snap on sights pop off a standard bead. The lip under the weaver head screw allows the v notch of the snap on to slide under the screw head.....i.e. it can't move forward and won't pop off either.

Mid bead is retained. Essentially functioning as a back up sight in the unlikely event the front sight is lost or broken.

 

[roylt]

Looks so smooth like you have the same width as the rib so I thought you fit it on the rib or something.

 

[sceva]

I always liked those; nice solid guns. About the only thing I find "off" with them are those cross point / phillips screws they used.

 

[Sharps40]

A bit of last minute work before heading out to hunt.

Barrel muzzles are smoothed, the filler is cleaned up and the bright ends, after deburring inside and outside, are colored with simple cold blue. Tomorrow I'll scrub the end down with rough terry, get all the qtip fibers off the end and blue them once more. Right now they are heavily oiled and look a bit rough, they aren't though.

The buttstock was given a once over with worn 120g to remove the old lacquer. Its porous walnut and none of the sanding scratches show since sanding is with the grain. Careful around the action inletting, its been scrubbed down once before and I don't want to get the wood below the metal parts. Here, a seal coat of urethane is rubbed in by hand and left to dry. Follow up will be with fine sand paper and then to build up 3 to 5 more coats for hand rubbing.

Always sand carefully around checkering and borders. Only very slight clean up will be needed on the boarders after completing the stock finish.

The buttstock is in natural color. The forend still in its orange lacquer finish.....the forend will wind up being refinished too. Better match and both rubbed back to a satin finish as opposed to the factory gloss.

 

[Sharps40]

I always liked those; nice solid guns. About the only thing I fins "off" with them are those cross point / phillips screws they used.

Nothing wrong with Phillips screws. Been on many a solid gun since the 50s. They work well, don't get chewed up as easily either......stronger head too, less likely to break off the rim years down the road when screws get sticky. Easier to drill out too.

 

[Sharps40]

Time for interior cleaning, inspection and new Reduced Power Wolf Spring Kit (2 hammer, one sear and one top snap.)

Installation of the spring kit made breaking the barrels easier and allows the lighter barrels to lay open better for extraction and reloading. I'm pleased.

Not a bad job when the action is in a vice or clamped down and a pointed pin punch is used as a slave pin to hold hammers against the main springs.

All the internals were great condition....very little wear. So, only the large coil springs were replaced.

Firing pins, springs and retention/hammer block screws are perfect.....cleaned and reinstalled. The retention screws are cinched down tight to keep them from backing out in the future. An occasional cause of miss fires on these old ones.

Firing pins/springs and screws reinstalled and checked for function.

Top snap rod is reinstalled with the new Wolf Reduced power spring.

New and slightly longer reduced power Wolf mainsprings are installed on the plungers.

Plunger and mainspring assemblies are dropped into place at the bottom corners of the action.

Working three handed, the left mainspring is compressed by the hammer and a screwdriver on a convenient groove in the back of the hammer. A slightly pointed allen wrench is run in to slave the hammer and the cocking lever with its spring into place.

The action is then simply clamped to the bench, the right hammer dropped into place, maneuvered with the same screwdriver and the slave pin driven home thru it capturing all three cocking and firing components. After which, the clamp is removed, the hammer pin started right to left and smartly driven home while holding some tension on the allen wrench from the left side.....slick as a whistle. I check the hammer for function and firing pin strike manually. They work fine.

Sear levers are reinstalled with a Wolf Reduced power sear spring. The return spring on the cocking lever go's over the foot of the sear spring, not under it (you can't see the cocking lever helper spring in this photo). The retention pin is slid into place right to left and seated with a brass drift and hammer.

To the right rear is the inertial block that keeps the trigger from releasing in recoil and accidently firing the second barrel at the same time. It only functions to block the trigger up during recoil of the right barrel...i.e. you can snap off both barrels empty without having to strike the butt between barrels.

The trigger and safety components are reinstalled. The silver wing is the left barrel lever that is blocked by the right hammer till that barrel is fired....i.e. the wing prevents the left sear lever from movement until the right barrel is fired. When the trigger is released, the wing moves forward so the second pull of the trigger can lift the left sear lever firing the left barrel. A nifty and simple mechanism.

 

[Sharps40]

All in but the shootin!

 

[Sharps40]

The Shot-Lock ready access vaults.....originally purchased for rapid access to the Win 1300 Defenders are found to be well suited to the Classy Coach.

The recoil shields just fit and with the blocks repositioned inside, the fit is snug, triggers covered and the weapon can not be withdrawn from the vault.

On this gun, the Beaver Tail forend just touches the wall and makes for just the slightest snug fit of the door on closure. I'll simply cut a 1/8" backer for the vault and mount it between wall and Shot-Lock. Fumble free opening and closing and storage can be in ready condition. Now to find a sling and ammo carrier.

 

[Sharps40]

Until I get around to making GoodWife a nice lace on leather shell carrier.......the sling she wanted and a temp install of an Allen shell carrier.

The butt end of the sling sees removal of the screw on sling attachment and replacement with a QD swivel mount so its still easy to break down and stow in a short bag.

For now, an Allen shell carrier is slipped on. A hole melted in the bottom of the webbing to slip over the sling swivel stud and the Limb Saver Air is slipped back into place. I think when I do up a leather shell carrier, I'll make it so it laps over the lip of the Limb Saver to hide its edges.

Anxiously waiting the rain to stop so we can sling it and try it at the range. If it runs thru Monday, NC will set a new record with a continuous 12 days of rain.

Back on duty, safe from the kiddies but ready with Fiocchi Nicole Plated 00 Buck, two in the pipe and 5 in reserve.

 

[Sharps40]

the barrels are 19 3/4" long....

 

[hdxr750]

You do Great work.

 

[Sharps40]

Thanks. Wish they'd figger that out in the classified section! Really weird day there. Really weird.