Notice of Price Increase

I've resisted it for as long as I possibly could but I can no longer do so.

  Effective January 1, 2026, the labor rate will be 125.00 dollars per hour.  All work that comes in after that date will be billed at the new rate.

Issues with an A&A No.2

 Here's an AyA No.2 with a few problems.  The first of these are cracks at the stock horns, the second is a broken striker, the cause of which will be covered in that segment of the post and, finally, a faulty ejector mechanism, caused by half-assed "gunsmithing".  Let's dive right in...

The cracks at the head/horns that made their way to the rear of the lockplates...

The stock and forend were stripped and de-oiled in preparation for repairs and refinishing.  After repairing the cracks, the pull length was adjusted to the client's specification.  A new buttplate and screws were also made to match his other AyA's original black plastic buttplate.  The stock and forend were then refinished and the checkering recut.

With the wood finished, I turned my attention to the ejector mechanism.  As you can see in the photos, the right-side ejector tumbler had been welded, in an attempt to build up the trip surface. 

Beside being crudely done, the weld "repair" would have a very short lifespan (as is obvious from the below photo), so a new tumbler was made from 01.  After disassembly, I discovered that the dipshit had also welded on the right-side ejector mainspring, rendering it useless as well.  A new spring was made from 1095.

Cutting the root radius...

The finished new parts, alongside the damaged originals...

Upon inspection of the broken striker, I discovered that both pieces of it were bent.  Further inspection revealed that the bore of the striker bushing was not concentric with the striker bore in the frame.  This was undoubtedly the root cause of the failed striker.  It also made me wonder if the other striker assembly suffered the same malady.  It did.  The left striker, though not yet failed, was clearly bent, purposely, to accommodate the misalignment and eccentricity of the striker bores.  The hazard inherent in this situation cannot be overstated.  Imagine closing a live round on a striker that is stuck fast in the extended position.  This necessitated making not only both strikers, but their respective bushings as well.

The bushings were made first (of O1).  Their bores were made undersized and line-reamed in place, concentric to the bores in the frame, using a shop-made D-reamer.  The new bushings are then finished flush with the breechface and drilled for the vent screws (which retain the bushing).  After making the new strikers (also O1) and verifying their freedom of movement, the parts are heat treated and finished.  New springs are made and installed as well.

Drilling the drive pin holes...

Reaming the bores in the bushing...

All finished...

Why Doing it Right is Always Less Expensive

 There are many words that one could use to describe the gunsmithing "industry" (not really an industry at all).  Words like witchcraft, ignorance, hubris, craftsmanship (ha!, just kidding) but the most fitting might just be... incompetence.  

I know of no other line of work where, so often, actual science is simply ignored, if not disbelieved outright.

Physics, chemistry, materials science, basic arithmetic, these apparently hold no sway at the bench of the "gunsmith", who believes that his knowledge is actually that.

One of the most common misconceptions among these practitioners (and also among many end-users) is that a loose rib can be correctly repaired without a complete strip and relay.  This is not so.  The reasons why are described in detail elsewhere on this blog.  That being the case, I won't reiterate it here but I will show yet another example of why anyone that says otherwise should be viewed with suspicion regarding their abilities.

In the case of the end-user (the customer), this belief can be forgiven because he or she can't realistically be expected to know about such things.  In the case of anyone calling themself a gunsmith, it is wholly unforgivable. 

Here is what was once a Westley Richards Hand Detachable in 16 gauge, with 30 inch barrels.  It was the victim of exactly the kind of  partial "repair" against which I have railed for as long as I can remember.  What is worse, is that the perpetrator should have known better, given their reputation.  They are now out of business, so maybe their reputation wasn't so deserved.

Doing it right, the first time, is always not only cheaper, the results will also last a lot longer.

Un-!@#$*&%-ing a Piotti BLE

 Yet another fine example of a beautifully made gun damaged by so-called "professionals".  As always, I won't mention any names (you'd know them and probably wouldn't believe me anyway).

It came in with: a failed ejector spring, a failed mainspring, sears that would not hold the hammers cocked, damaged screws and some of the worst stock modification and finishing I'd ever seen.  The failed springs were no one's fault but that can't be said for the rest of the damage.

The right-side hammer pivot screw was damaged.  Since this damage would hinder the hammer's proper  movement, it was the first item that needed to be corrected.  I made (from O1), fitted and engraved the new screw, then heat-treated and finished it to match the frame.  With this done, I could move on to correcting the situation with the sears, which we will come to presently.

Now, on to the sears.  Unfortunately, there are still those that believe that all steels can be welded.  Also unfortunately, they're still wrong.  It seems that the gun had been the victim of someone's idea of "trigger pull tuning" at some point, and this did not go quite as planned.  Someone else's idea of a fix was to weld up the sear noses, which, unsurprisingly failed.  To wit:

The correct solution?  New sears, made from O1 and properly heat treated.

Now that the hammers and sears are interacting correctly, I can move on to making springs.  I've more than adequately documented in these pages how a spring is made, so I will not do so here.

The right-side mainspring...

The left-side ejector spring...

The triggerplate screws were so overtorqued, their slots no longer aligned when tightened (overtightening stretches the threaded shank of the screw).  The fix?  You guessed it, new screws.  I made these from 1018 and case hardened, then polished them after I engraved the heads.  1018 engraves much easier than the O1 that I used for the hammer pivot, which was necessary in that instance.

That left the stock and forend to take care of.  I took no photos of the heinous machinations that had been visited upon the wood but, the work to correct it was extensive and, obviously necessitated refinishing the butt and forend in their entirety.  The checkering was recut after finishing.  The customer also requested a leather-covered recoil pad, in black pigskin.