Wednesday, May 31, 2017

*%$#@!$&!-ing Bodgers!

The victim is a late 1890s Stephen Grant Sidelever SLE in 12 gauge.  The crimes are badly buffed barrels, a loose forend loop, inop ejectors, cardstock "shims" rubber cemented inside the right lockplate and one of the worst leather covered pads I've ever seen.  Behold.

Before:


After:

 The ribs have been stripped and relaid, all barrel engraving recut (by Geoffroy Gournet), the dings in the top rib repaired and the barrels reblacked.  All metalwork was cleaned and lubed, inletting under the right lockplate repaired and a proper leather covered Silver's pad made.
Beautifully made locks by Edwin Chilton, note the Scott style interceptor and the anti-friction roller in the tumbler that the cocking lever operates upon.



Monday, May 29, 2017

Cleaning Up an A&A No.1

Yes, it actually needed to be cleaned but this gun perfectly illustrates that nothing can be taken for granted, not even mere disassembly.  It had some lockwork issues and needed the striker noses to be reprofiled along with a broken (horn) buttplate that needed attention.  During disassembly, the left vent screw actually snapped into multiple pieces as soon as I rotated the screwdriver (it took amazing little effort).  With the head of the screw now in two pieces and the remainder of the screw still in the frame, what was routine disassembly became a bit more interesting.  Once I removed the shank of the old vent screw, I set to work making a replacement and then proceeded with the cleaning and repairs as originally planned.
Here are the photos.