doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Inset Screw on Boss action?

Here are two pictures of a Boss & Co "Self-Opener" (NOT "Assisted-Opener"), supposedly one of the post-war guns finished from pre-war stock.



My question is whether anyone knows if the inset screws would have been original to the gun. I am no expert, but I have looked at numerous Boss actions and can't recall seeing one with an inset screw as in this example. Come to think of it, I haven't seen one with two little screws in the base of the fore-end, either. Perhaps this is peculiar to the rarer self-opening mechanism. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Odd. I don't think I've seen that on any other Boss -- regular or self opener. An it doesn't have anything to do with the self-opening mechanism. The Boss system works off of a V-spring mounted under the cocking rod.

Those pins look pretty messed up and the insets are shoddy. Doesn't look like Boss-level work.

All the Boss self-openers I've seen (maybe a dozen or so) had has those screws in the forend. They're locking in inserts which are filleted into the forend iron to take up wear that's a by product of the self-opening system.

I've also seen those screws/inserts on a few non-self openers. I think they were '50s guns.

Here are some true Boss self openers for reference:

Little ratty, but real:

https://stevebarnettfineguns.com/boss-shotguns-for-sale/best-sxs-16-gauge

This one's awesome. One of the very best:





OWD

Those action screws are recently blued and don't match the 'patina' of the gun. But, I'm guessing you already knew that....hence the question. Nothing wrong with the set screws and likely utilitarian......but original, unlikely. Pretty gun though.

Thanks for the thoughts, gentlemen. On the subject gun, I suppose the next logical question is, "why were the screws re-blued and the set screw clumsily added?" I suppose one would need to unscrew everything and take a look inside to know for sure. Presumably, the re-blued screws would not stay set without the obvious surgery. Puzzling.

Maybe the customer requested it. My Hussey had that screw on the trigger guard I believe.

I have never seen set screws on a Boss, but if they were by Boss, you can be 100% certain the screw head would have been EXACTLY in line with the centre line, not offset by about 20 degrees as here.

Definitively an afterthought....

Two different types of keeper screws too. Does the top lever have one ?