doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Riverside Arms Co. 315 project?

I am restoring a Riverside Arms Co. Model 315 in 16 Gauge. I know you may be asking yourself why? The gun has no significant historical or monetary valve, but was looking for a project and found this gun for $150. The bores are like looking into a round mirror. The action locks up tight with the top snap leaver sitting at about 5 o'clock when the barrels are closed. I will need to find a new stock as the original is beyond repair, but the fore-end is in great shape and should refinish just fine.

This is the start.

The stock is shot.
One question is that when the action is closed there is a slight misalignment between the left barrel and the receiver.


Should I try to file the receiver to align with the barrel or leave this like it is?

ANFgrouser, welcome on your FIRST posting


I would leave the barrel alone for a while and
Spend your time on the critical items
Then shoot the heck out of it
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=386371

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Manufacturers/Riverside-33461/DoubleBarrel-40376.htm

Here is a possible stock either the Riverside or the 315
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/ad/136990.htm#136990A

Mike

Welcome to the forum.

Is the gun on face, i.e. are the breech ends of both barrels in contact with the breech face? Many times when a double is fired, once, it is the right barrel which is shot. Over many years of this the recoil effects on the right side will wear the hook/pin in such a way as to skew the barrels like this. Even though it was an inexpensive gun when made, the alignment was most likely much better than it is now.

Short story, I'd look into that as a way to correct the alignment issue rather than filing the receiver, which would have to be annealed before you could do so anyway.

Good luck, SRH

re: the stock,,I'd clean up the head of the stock to remove any oil. Avoiding removal of any of the orig finish from the checkering on back,,that's looks like it's in nice shape.

Then splice in a piece of wood for the break. Make the break line a nice straight line to make matching up a piece of repair wood easier.
Makes the glue line disappear easier and the joint stronger.

Match the grain as best you can and with some artistic help from the finishing processes you can have a repair that is barely noticable if at all,,especially when you add a bit of wear and 'patina' to the area to match the rest of stock.
No need to re-stock the gun at all. Saves an awful lot of work and you learn a lot too.

I would re-bed the action while at it w/ glas compound to make sure it's secure and further cracking doesn't occur. No need for any of that to show from the outside.

As to the bbl fit,, if the bbl breech face is flat against the action face,,that's where you want it. It looks good in the pic, but that's all I have to go on.

Unless the bbls themselves slide or 'shuck' from side to side that small amt of space indicated by the rib extension, I'd just assume the bbls were probably that way from the factory on the low budget shotgun that they were. Don't take that last statement as a knock against the gun. I've had and have plenty of these!

Moving the bbls and or frame around at this point if everything is on face now will probably result in being off face when you're all done.

If the small sliver of space on the right side of the rib extension bothers you, you can soft solder a shim to the side of the rib ext and fit it to the frame for a close(r) fit. It will only be cosmetic anyway.

Mild steel shim stock mat'l is avail in packets containing various sheets in thickness from .001 right up to .035 or more in the same pack.
Use a feeler gauge to see what you need in there, back off a couple .000 for solder and clearance and clamp and sweatsolder a piece tightly to the side of the rib extension. Trim and blend it in and the small void dissappears. No stress on the shim so the soft solder is fine for application.

The over sized frame breech on the left side could then be filed down to better match the bbl contour also.
These would satisfy the cosmetic problems you're seeing without doing major work.
Putting a faux patina finish back onto the filed and polished recontoured frame breech can be done w/o any problem.

Just some thoughts for fixing up project guns like this,,

ANFgrouser,
The advice Kutter gave is pretty much what I would have said, so there is no reason to repeat it. I will say these old Stevens ( under whatever name)guns are good working guns that have well served the majority of everyday hunters for many years. The plain work and lack of finely finished surfaces are precisely what kept them going when others were dropping out of the market because the demand couldn't keep up with the cost of producing them. Said in another way, you have no reason to be ashamed of this gun.
Mike

ANFgrouser,

I'll second what was said about repairing the stock. It'll be a great project, and you'll learn lot's about stock repair. Afterwards, you'll be set to tackle the next good deal you run into with a poor stock. There's quite a bit of satisfaction after completing a project like this as well.

Regards
Ken

The gun is on face and locks up tight with no rattles or play. The stock has a couple of splits that run back to the wrist. I found an original replacement that is in great shape and plan on just replacing it. I think I will just leave the misalignment the way it is. I looked at the hinge pin. It looks like it is not square to the receive and the barrels were made to fit it that way as all 3 pieces have the same serial number.

The guns were not originally built with high standards for fit and finish, so things like this are just the nature of the beast with such guns. Some things can be corrected for better appearances and other things are better left alone due to how much trouble it would be to do the work.

As this project goes on I have thought about sending the receiver out to have it case hardened again, but cannot really justify the expense as this gun will have very has very little value when complete. I will be slow rust bluing the barrels. What are some other finishes that I could use for the receiver?

I haven't tried this stuff yet, but it would be appropriate for guns not worth sinking a lot of money into.


https://steelfxpatinas.com/shop/steel-patinas/gel-patinas/color-case-hardening-patina-kit/#reviews

Regards
Ken