Sharps40
Buckeye
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2014
- Messages
- 1,018
Picked up the subject shotgun from a Pal. Age wise, its likely 1925 to 1933ish time frame.
Striker fired, reblued and with good bores. Safe to fire and fully functional. A gift for my youngest granddaughter....now both have .410s in their lifetime battery.
Some light work to do now before the hunting season.
Removing the forend reveled a bit of lateral play in the barrels to action, that would be wear on the hinge pin and or pivot point. Additionally, both barrels sat down in contact with the water table and there was vertical play, wear in the bight.
Time to use a simple and repeatable method to tighten both vertical and horizontal play, putting the barrels fully back on face, i.e. rejoining the barrels to the action.
No heat or solder needed, the gun has been reblued and I don't want to either heat discolor the barrels, undo the relay of the ribs or scar the action by replacing the hinge pin.
So, checking the action, a big tell of play before even opening the gun is the 7 o'clock position of the top snap. It should be 6 o'clock or 4 to 5 o'clock when the barrels are joined to the action.
The pivot point is cleaned, deburred and degreased. A shim is cut and thinned from a 32 HR Magnum case.....
2.5 thousands thick paper took out all the slop but was not enough to move the lever to 4, 5 or 6 o'clock. So, I thinned the shim to 6 thousands thick.
The pivot point and shim are coated in 3M Black Max, the drill rod in oil, the works is clamped and allowed to set for 20 minutes.
Upon clean up, the shim fully covers the bearing points of the hinge pivot point. And, it'll stay there till it wears out or till I heat it to ouch temp with a soldering iron tip to break the bond.
After greasing all contact points with RIG, the first snap shut is about 4 O'clock. Perfect. It'll wear in some more with use and then settle in for proper lock up for many thousands of rounds. All slop is removed, the barrels are no longer touching the water table, the barrel breaches are fully on face and the bite of the top snap is in the desirable right side position. Perfect.
Striker fired, reblued and with good bores. Safe to fire and fully functional. A gift for my youngest granddaughter....now both have .410s in their lifetime battery.
Some light work to do now before the hunting season.
Removing the forend reveled a bit of lateral play in the barrels to action, that would be wear on the hinge pin and or pivot point. Additionally, both barrels sat down in contact with the water table and there was vertical play, wear in the bight.
Time to use a simple and repeatable method to tighten both vertical and horizontal play, putting the barrels fully back on face, i.e. rejoining the barrels to the action.
No heat or solder needed, the gun has been reblued and I don't want to either heat discolor the barrels, undo the relay of the ribs or scar the action by replacing the hinge pin.
So, checking the action, a big tell of play before even opening the gun is the 7 o'clock position of the top snap. It should be 6 o'clock or 4 to 5 o'clock when the barrels are joined to the action.
The pivot point is cleaned, deburred and degreased. A shim is cut and thinned from a 32 HR Magnum case.....
2.5 thousands thick paper took out all the slop but was not enough to move the lever to 4, 5 or 6 o'clock. So, I thinned the shim to 6 thousands thick.
The pivot point and shim are coated in 3M Black Max, the drill rod in oil, the works is clamped and allowed to set for 20 minutes.
Upon clean up, the shim fully covers the bearing points of the hinge pivot point. And, it'll stay there till it wears out or till I heat it to ouch temp with a soldering iron tip to break the bond.
After greasing all contact points with RIG, the first snap shut is about 4 O'clock. Perfect. It'll wear in some more with use and then settle in for proper lock up for many thousands of rounds. All slop is removed, the barrels are no longer touching the water table, the barrel breaches are fully on face and the bite of the top snap is in the desirable right side position. Perfect.