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Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1377 Location: Denver, Colorado

I don't believe that you can see the hammers and springs in a boxlock action without taking the bottom plate off. Once you determine what you have (and don't) with this gun, I would suggest going onto the Doublegun BBS with your questions. Lots of folks there with the very practical English gun knowledge that you will likely need to get this project completed.

That's no knock on the good folks here, it's just that the doublegun folks are deeply interested in English guns (almost exclusively) and have lots of institutional knowledge on the subject.

My, what a lovely gun. Shouldn't be a problem finding sears that could be made to fit that standard A&D boxlock action. As for the stock, well....

With the striker(hammer) pin in place it would be an assumption that the hammers are in place. If you look at the back of the frame you will be able to see if they are there. I had a gun from that maker for a few days. Found out that the frame was cracked at the rear of the water table. Sent it back and the "dealer" relisted it right away.

Regards, Gordon

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

As noted above, if this gun is in good, working shape, it's a $4-5k gun.
Concur on putting it up for discussion on doublegun as there are a lot of experts, including some Brits, who can offer a lot of good (and some not-so) advice.
A couple more names to add to the experts already listed above:
Mark's Born-again Birdguns, out Wisconsin way, is one of the better restorers out there and he's sort-of in your neighborhood.
DES/TSD, one of the post-ers here ("TSD" stands for "The Stock Doctor") has earned that name. He's done some magnificent work.

I would not do any work on it myself unless I was a real expert. This gun is too nice to be a basement project. As noted above this is a $4-5k gun when nice an in working shape -you'll spend a good chunk of that getting it back to operating shape (shaping and filing action parts gets Expensive) but, if it's done by experts you'll know (a) it was done right, (b) with the right materials, (c) will work when it's supposed to and, most importantly (d) will not fire when it's not supposed to. But, if you have experts do it, you'll break even dollars and cents-wise when it's all said and done.

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

Mr Merrington has done excellent work for me. Sleeving a Parker PH and rejointing a VH and his advice was invaluable.

Joined: 20 Jul 2014 Posts: 12 Location: Waukesha, WI

Thanks for the great input everyone, exactly what I was looking for.

I'm still waiting on the gun but will be sure to post some more pictures once I have it in.

Joined: 27 Oct 2005 Posts: 51 Location: Versailles

Anything new on this project?

Joined: 20 Jul 2014 Posts: 12 Location: Waukesha, WI

Some updates, No picture yet.

I got the gun late last week, there were some shipping hold-ups as the seller put the wrong address on the package, but that happens, and it was all sorted out in the end.

My first reaction once I had the gun in hand was "WOW is this thing light", almost delicately light weight. Listing it as 5.5 lbs is probably not an exaggeration, I'll have to throw it on the scale. By far the lightest shotgun I own.

Condition wise, the gun is in fair condition. Very little rust, although there is some small speckling on the outside of the barrels, but that cleaned up pretty well with oil and a rag. The Barrels have been reblued at some point in their life, but its a very nicely done even blue. The bores are mirrors, no dents, dings, bulges or bends evident. The barrels have also been put back on face at some point in its life and it has a dovetailed repair on the barrel side of the hinge.

Ejectors work.

The repair on the stock is fairly ugly, however, it is really well lined up (checkering is aligned underneath the epoxy) and has been internally "pinned" with what appears to be a steel or aluminum rod.

It looks like this gun was brought back into shooting condition by a competent smith at some point in the past, however, it looks like it was not the same smith that attempted the stock repair.

I'll try getting some pictures up sooner rather than later.

And beyond the above, I am still investigating my options for getting the sears fabricated and the stock repaired.

Thanks for the interest!

Any further updates or pics on this project? I'd love to see how it is going or if finished, how it turned out.

I'm considering doing something similar with a lovely old J. Blanch & Sons 16 gauge hammer gun.

thanks,

KB

I prefer the look and feel of the straight stock also. Here are a couple of my favorite straight stocked Browning. I have also thought about converting a round knobbed A5 on a belt sander into a swan neck like the one below.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2346 Location: West MI

Yeah, some pics (porn) would be nice.

Morningstar, nice job with that 520, kinda makes me jealous and mad that that I passed on one a couple gun shows ago, Doh!!

Joined: 20 Jul 2014 Posts: 12 Location: Waukesha, WI

[img]http://s724.photobucket.com/user/gregwoswald/media/IMAG1026_zpsa7fad68c.jpg.html [/img]

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There should be two images of the stock above assuming I managed to embed them correctly.

I don't have too many updates at this point. As usual, I haven't had a ton of time for the project. Pheasant season started, so I was busy hunting on the weekends, then it was nearing deer season, so I was busy casting bullets for my new-to-me winchester. However, winter is setting in, the 7 month old is happy sleeping through the night, and I think I will have a chance to start in on this project a bit more.

The two pictures above are the only ones I have on my phone. I'll have to upload the ones I have on the DSLR. This has the potential to be a sweet little gun and I'll be working my way through figuring out the best way to get it back together again.

Geppetto
I graduated High School in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Years later when I went back to visit family I shot at
and have many skeet medals from Waukesha Gun Club
What fun
Shocked

Mike
p.s. never shot skeet until I entered the Air Force

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Joined: 20 Jul 2014 Posts: 12 Location: Waukesha, WI

Well Quick update,

I decided that I after substantial reading and studying that I am going to try and make a set of sears for the gun. I don't have to do anything to the gun itself, so worst case i'll be out $10.00 worth of stock if it doesn't work.

So I measured up the hole and ordered some drill rod for the pin and a piece of 4140 stock to work from. I made some measurements and cut out two blanks. Last night I spent about an hour with an assortment of files and got some shaping done.

Because I don't have a sear to work off of, I am just generally duplicating the various sears I've seen online in various A&D boxlocks.

I figure I'll give it a shot, but if I can't achieve 100% reliability, then I'll scrap my parts and break out the checkbook. I have no problems spending 10 or 20 hours of my time trying this a couple times. Its a hobby, not a job.

I shot a couple photos...we will see if I get them posted correctly this time.

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