Craft Gunmaking, No compromises, No corners cut, EVER

Saturday, September 16, 2017

William Evans SLE Crossover

This Evans crossover gun is one of a true pair (yes, the client owns both) and had a broken right mainspring and stirrup.  A crossover gun is a gun that is made to shoot using the eye opposite from the side that the gun is shouldered.  Usually they are encountered configured for a shooter that is right-handed but left eye dominant, as is the case here.  Below are photos of the fabrication of the needed parts.

The forged 1095 stock from which the mainspring will be made.

 The finished mainspring, and the broken original

Here you can see the bend in the lockplate.  The extreme cast-off that is characteristic of a crossover gun actually starts at the breeches, so the lockplates (and the internals) are bent accordingly.

Making the stirrup (or swivel, if you're a stickler for the English parlance)
It is machined from a piece of O1 and the pins of the replacement part are actually round, unlike the hand filed original.

A few shots of the assembled gun


2 comments:

  1. Dewey, stirrups have always intrigued me! They struck me as being a real PITA to make, due to their size. The fact that they are hard enough to withstand the abuse absorbed by the little pins is also amazing! Well done!

    ReplyDelete