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I had an old Riverside double given to me in 12ga. It needs alot of work and a stock but will make a good father/son project for us. I notice that the fit and workmanship are a bit below par on this gun and want to clean up a few of the issues. The action is very proud in some areas where the barrels meet. Can the action be filed to match the contour of the barrels? Will it need to be annealed first? Will it need to be hardened after?? The plan is to coin finish the receiver after we are done fitting the action and barrels properly.

Take an old file and pass it over a surface to be removed. If the file gets shiny and the action is intact then it is hardened. At that point I strongly question the value vs cost of doing this. Why not admit it is a low cost working gun and put her back in working order.

Bill

Chances are the gun is a Riverside marked Stevens 315.
The frame should be case hardened, which would mean difficult work to get through that case hardened surface. To effectively do the work you want to do, the frame should be annealed, reworked and then re-hardened.
If you anneal the frame, you can also have the opportunity to do some other custom work and polishing if you wish.

Thanks! It is the Riverside...Stevens 315 model. All the color of the case hardening is gone. I kinda figured it would need annealed and then re-hardened. I have a friend with a machine shop that has a furnace and the ability to re-harden the frame.

Dave

This is only a thought, but it could be worth trying to work the areas you want without annealing. It just may not be as difficult as it's supposed to be. Chances are, external finish changes without fiddling with new case hardening will keep the project moving along a good bit easier. Best of luck with it.

I was considering that and will have to consult my machinist friend. If I ground the metal and filed it to fit properly without annealing those areas would no longer be hardened. Other untouched areas would be. (case hardening doesn't completely harden the metal all the way through) I think it would need annealed to re-harden the frame so I might as well go through the process of annealing, proper fitting and re-harden.
Thanks

It may be soft enough to cut w/a file as it is. Some are,, even though the original finish was a case hardening. The 'case' was non-existant on some and only colors existed.
A quick check w/a file will tell you. It'll either bite in or slide off like a piece of ice.

Even if it still original case to it and I felt like making a project out of it (the coin/gray finish being the goal as you stated),
I'd go ahead and take the fences/recoil shields down cutting right through the case.
You can hand polish thru it, it's really not that deep and 100grit cuts quick. Machine polishing is even easier of course. A belt grinder is a blessing if you are confident on one. It can ruin stuff in a blink of an eye if not.

Just do the recoil shields/fences of the frame in cutting thru any case hardening. It's the fit of the bbls to the frame/fences that is the concern.
Nothing else about the frame really needs to be altered (unless you want to go there).

Leave the sides and bottom of the action w/the case in tact but you can still polish the surfaces up and match up the look to the altered fences.

No annealing & re-heat treating necessary.
It's actually not all that much work as far as the frame is concerned.

Polish out the rest of the bbls and rust blue.
I'd probably polish and rust blue the top lever, trigger guard and forend iron to match the bbls and contrast the grayed frame.
Just some ideas.

I've done projects on guns certainly not worth the time and effort.
But sometimes you just feel like doing them anyway.
I just finished up a Meriden single bbl of all things.

Have fun with your project.

Thats seems like a great answer kutter..& way cheaper & less work, if it works ok
Let us know how it goes with the file daveWE
Whats up with the stock?
gd luck with it
franc

Thanks Kutter! The file test proved that it will cut. Good idea about the belt grinder I got alot of metal to whittle down.
The fit on this gun is really bad. It is also off face and real loose so I will need to address those issues while I got the files out. I am going to weld the hook and hand fit the barrels to the action. Will a MIG welder work for this or does it have to be a TIG welder with nickel rod?
The stock is junk, at some point someone scabbed on a stock starting about mid wrist section. The in letting around the tang is WIDE...like you can see between the tang and the wood to the floor. New stock needed
This is a good father/son project, when it is done my son will have himself a double that we did together.