doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Iver Johnson Skeeter - On Approval

I have an Iver Johnson Skeeter 20 gauge in on approval.

It is an ejector gun and the ejectors don't work. All the visibile parts are there but I haven't taken the forearm apart.

The serial numbers match on the forearm iron, forearm wood, barrel, and action.

The Owl's head buttplate is there.

The triggers excellent. Light, crisp, and no creep. Double triggers.

Stock fits me very well.

The barrels have been reblued and I suspect they might have been hot blued. I believe they should be rust blued and am worried about the soft solder in the ribs. How can you tell for sure the difference? There is a dead spot 6" from the muzzle in the rib when I ring it.

It is tight and on face.

The lever is 1/8" to the right.

28" barrels, 2-3/4" chambers. The POIs of the two barrels are within 4" of each other at 25 yards. The barrels are marked "M" and "F" right and left respectively. It patterns tighter than that of course.

The finish on the stock is flaking off in places.

The trigger guard is an antique copper color with a black streak in it.

The beavertail forearm is slightly loose - like most of the Winchester Model 21s it is loose up towards the muzzle. That is between the muzzle end of the forearm and the barrel.

The action has been reblued and the stamped lettering is soft.

It weighs 7lbs 4oz.

I bought it to take for Argentina dove hunting. I have $1000 in it. What do yall think?



Best,

Mike

I think I would pass.
Best,
John

Pass...

Thanks John and jOe. I appreciate it.

More information.

The rib is not loose. The barrels were rust blued. The gunsmith at the FFL receiver was able to tighten the forend with little trouble but the ejectors were beyond his comfort zone.

I took some pictures and will post them tonight.

Thanks again for you advice.

Best,

Mike

Mike,
I bought an Iver Johnson 16 ga. Hercules with 28" barrels mod/full with ejectors. I paid $62.50 for it Forend didn't fit tight because loop was loose. Barrels were good but no color. Ejectors weren't working so I took gun all apart and re-solderd loop and rust blued barrels, refinished stock and still have a problem with the ejectors, know what it is, just have to figure on how to fix it.
More and more of these guns are surfacing now and the prices are high on some.

before picture:


rust blued


after


ejectors


Had the original grip cap, had a recoil pad which I replaced with an owl head butt plate.
Ejector problem is with the plate that is in-between the ejector trips. This plate has a notch on the bottom that seats onto a block and from what I can figure is that at the end of the receiver there are two dimples that catch onto that piece and when gun is broken it resets that retangular piece on to the block. Either the dimples are worn or the piece in the forend is.
I'll experiment further one day.
Gun weighs 7 lbs. 2 oz. and in checking chokes are .013 right and .031 left, not mod/full. The bore is .662 and is 2 9/16" chambers.

Mike
It's a bit of a rare bird with 28" bbls. Look around, I haven't seen a 28" 20g Skeeter before. I had a 26" 20g once.

I think it's a decent deal at $1k for what you have...if you want a 28" 20g Skeeter.

You still have plenty of "playing margin" in that price to spend for fixing the ejectors. The question is whether or not you like the gun enough to have it fixed. 7lbs 4 oz is quite a chunk of iron for a 20g unless it's primarily going to be used for targets

PS O.K. I looked. There are 2 20g 28" Skeeters on GA right now. Both are near $4k.

Not Argentina. I have one ejector Skeeter, but it is a very low mileage gun. When I add to my Skeeter collection, I would prefer that the additions be extractor guns for long term reliability. A single trigger would be less of a problem because most of them, if not all, were Millers. My 28" ejector 12 gauge has a non selective Miller that I assume to be factory.

According to the Iver Johnson catalogue I have the standard barrel length is 28-inch for the Skeeter with the option of 26-inch. Extras: Miller single trigger, selective or non-selective; Jostam Anti-Flinch recoil pad; and Lyman Ivory rear sight can be supplied at additional cost. Regular specs were a straight grip for the .410-bore and a capped full pistol grip for the 12-, 16-, 20-, and 28-gauges, but straight or capped full pistol grip to order. Also special stock dimensions at no additional cost with a 3 week lead time on double trigger guns and 5 weeks on single trigger guns.

My 410 Skeeter is the only 410 that I doubled on doves with. I still smile when I remember that one. The Miller trigger is great and ejectors work to perfection.
bill

A friend won the .410 hammerless event at the Southern Side by Side a couple of years ago with his Skeeter. I think his score was the high overall .410 score.