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The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 11:32 pm
by AeroDillo MkII
This showed up in the mail today. It's a Wards-Western Field Model 35, a late production knockoff of the Browning-designed Stevens Model 520; it's missing a little off the front and a lot off the back, and it's chambered in that weirdo intermediate 16-gauge that nobody seems to want anymore...but for under $200, why not. Besides, those old double-hump shotguns have a certain appeal.

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Weirdly, this will be my third $200 +/- project this year. Something about a mistreated and neglected two-bill gun that gets me in a fixing state of mind.

In that case it'll likely be an eventual reblue to remove some of the pits and scratches the last refinish didn't quite cover, a general smoothing out of what remains of the stock, and maybe some feeble efforts at checkering. I expect to put more into this than it's worth. On the other hand...can't take the money with you, and I could be snorting it, I guess.

Ugly and cheap, maybe. Still got a certain swashbuckling air, though. Just the thing for repelling boarders on your zeppelin or knocking over convenience stores in south Oklahoma.

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 11:13 am
by n11pilot
That looks like an interesting project. Even though some has been cut off the front it still looks long, if you don't mind what is the overall length of the weapon. Is it difficult to obtain 16 GA ammo?

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 1:26 pm
by AeroDillo MkII
Not as bad as I thought, though the options are somewhat less than you'd get with 12-gauge. The store price for sixteen is around a buck higher than twelve and about on par for twenty. Overall length is 28 ¾" with a barrel length of 18 ¼". I suspect the apparent length is a trick of the eye, being as the first move of everybody at the shop to see it was to reach for a tape measure.

Other than some touchup work it'll stay mostly as it is now as it makes a passable imitation of a similar model owned by Clyde Barrow.

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:08 am
by AeroDillo MkII
Another $200 boondoggle.

This one crossed the bench earlier this year. A customer came in with a couple of pieces he wanted cleaned for an upcoming gun show. Among the potential sales was a single-shot monster that probably weighed all of fifteen pounds, most of that in 28" of a 1¼" octagon barrel. The furniture was crap, the barrel was scaled over with rust in a couple of places, and none of the original finish remained.

The last vestiges of visible markings on the tang gave a patent date of 1866. Later digging suggested that this was an original Remington Rolling Block action (probably commercial) mated to a 1960s-vintage Numrich Arms rebuild kit, complete with cheesy markings and the ubiquitous terrible buckhorn sights that became mandatory sometime in the late '30s.


Before:

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After reshaping the forend for schnabel, re-fit both pieces of original furniture, apply stains and finishes, splice in a repair at the heel of the buttstock and reshape what was left of the cheap-o buttplate, reshape the comb, make a poor attempt at duplicating a color-casehardened finish on the receiver and buttplate, rust blue major components, caustic blue screws and smaller pieces, lighten the nose enough the barrel for a half-round profile, cut a wedding-band transition, and re-contour the shelf where the receiver and barrel meet. This was probably two or three weeks' work, done thirty and forty-five minutes at a time on slow days and after hours.


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Ignore the mystery orb in the after picture..

More pictures:

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At this point the only remaining pieces are replacement sights. While setting up for dedicated long-range seems to be popular with these, Montana Vintage Arms makes a duplicate of a period Remington adjustable that have been whispering to me for a while now.

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:27 am
by n11pilot
As always great work, Dillo. What is it chambered in and do you intend to shoot it once the rebuild is complete?

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:34 pm
by AeroDillo MkII
No idea what the original chambering was. The rebuild kit barrel is .45-70.

Considering it's a century and a half from new, I imagine I'll stick with cowboy loads on the odd occasion it goes to the range.

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:46 pm
by n11pilot
That is probably wise, Dillo. The .45-70 is not exactly a mild round.

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:28 pm
by Cousi
The only complaint I could possibly have is that the case-hardening didn't turn out as well as the rest of it. That's purely nit-picking though; the finished product looks awesome. Very well done.

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:10 pm
by AeroDillo MkII
Cousi wrote:
Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:28 pm
The only complaint I could possibly have is that the case-hardening didn't turn out as well as the rest of it. That's purely nit-picking though; the finished product looks awesome. Very well done.
That's my major hangup with the end result. It'll pass the ten-foot foot rule and falls apart pretty quick after that.


Then again, considering I was being cheap and the experiment cost me nothing, I figured it was worth a shot. As it stands there's a guy a couple of counties over who supposed does proper oven color-case work, so if I get to feeling spendy anytime soon I may break it down and send him the relevant pieces.

Re: The Never-Ending Shop Projects thread (redux/Director's Cut)

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 6:39 pm
by Cousi
I hope you don't misunderstand; the results look pretty dam good. Miles away beyond what I could have done. It looks like some sort of tarnished brass or something as it is, which is not a bad thing. I just can imagine the look you were going for and picture how that would look. Don't be in a rush to fix it, but if/when you do you'll have to post pics or Pilot and I might have to get our happy asses down to Texas to engage in a proper thrashing.