doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Kirk Merrington Double Gun Smith A+++

My humble French MAC 16 gauge SxS is now repaired with a new firing pin in the right hammer thanks to members of this forum recommending the services of Kirk Merrington. I was in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and far away from my Illinois home on an extended detail when I purchased the MAC. In the course of test firing the shotgun at the time of purchasing the gun from my friend, I managed to break the firing pin. Members of this forum were quick to come to my aide with the recommendation of Kirk (http://www.kirkmerrington.net/).

Yesterday I fired the MAC for the first time since the broken pin. Kirk not only replaced the pin (he faced off the hammer, drilled it and set a new pin into the hammer), in the process he cleaned and lubricated the action and without making any mention to me of any additional work he had done, he had obviously devoted more attention to the shotgun than I was told because he managed to eliminate any trace of hammer drag (which had been very pronounced prior to his working on the shotgun)!

Kirk lives in the remote Texas Hill Country and the scenic and winding drive to Kerrville, Texas was very pleasant. Kirk had allowed me to ship the action to him and he was kind enough to ensure that I have my gun repaired in time to pick it up on my visit home. Now that is what I call customer service! Kirk is a delightful craftsman. As I learned from him, he is English born and an English trained gunsmith. He and his two hunting dogs (a Brittany and Chocolate Lab pup), met me at the door of his shop. Kirk greeted me with a smile, warm handshake and an hour of engaging conversation with he and his wife Kirsten. I could have visited with them all day, but they had work to do and I had a long trip ahead of me.

I was immediately impressed by the surgical neatness of his shop and bench and I was a bit surprised to see Kirk’s wife, Kirsten working at a lathe in the back room.

Kirk with the MAC-



Kirsten at the lathe-

Kirk is one of the best. He won't leave anything undone, unless you ask him to. When the gun comes back, it is ready to go.
Best,
Ted

Somebody tell me I am wrong about this, please!! The sign on the lathe says Central Machinery. I have a catalog that came in the mail a few days ago from Harbor Freight. That's their name brand on the inexpensive Chinese tools they sell. Other tools I have seen from Harbor Freight look like cheap junk, and the prices on the Central Machinery lathes and tools in the catalog are absolutely the cheapest I have seen anywhere. That would make me tend to put them in the same cheap junk category. I am very surprised a 'smith of Mr. Merrington's repute would use such machinery. What am I missing here. I purposely avoided Harbor Freight when I bought my lathe, ended up spending about $1,000 more for a machine the same size as theirs but supposed to be much better made and capable of holding much finer tolerances. Maybe he only uses this thing for rough work, such as the exterior barrel turning she appears to be doing on his machine.

Miller??? Chuck H ???? What am I missing here?

Maybe it's the Indian not the arrow.

Kirk is the ace of spades in my book. If it must be done right the first time, I send it to him.

"Harbor Freight" is usually referred to as "Horrible Freight" in the metal-working hobbist's groups. What you usually get is a machine roughly assembled from crudely made parts. They can be made right if the owner has the time, talent and patience to go thru the machine and correct all the problems.

However, some of their stuff(not machine tools!)is an incredible bargain.

OB

Chief,

I am guessing here but think you are dealing with a Company name that at one time was US based, but was purchased (name only) and is currently doing business offshore.
The lathe in the photo sure does not look like a H.F. product.
.
Central Machinery Co of Lexington, North Carolina, was a manufacture of metal-forming machinery .
In the 1970's ? Central purchased a company by the name of Wysong & Miles, Greensboro NC which was founded about the turn of the century) W&M at one time made heavy woodworking machinery. I have a large W&C wood mortiser.
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/product-compint-0000112037-page.html


Regards
T.C.

I don't know, Birdog, maybe while you were up on the roof (why are you up there??) you didn't see all those Harbor Freight catalogs. I thought they went out to everyone. The lathe in the picture sure looks like the current ad photos in the catalog. I was really trying to be a bit nice in my initial post, I really have to agree with OB above. Everything I have heard about Harbor Freight tools is "horrible". This isn't metal "forming" machinery as I think of that term. It's a metal lathe that allows you to turn an object while a tool bit works it. Again, the lathe in the photo above looks to be the same or very similar machine they currently advertise. That's why I was so surprised to see it in Merrington's shop.

You can make the China made lathes and milling machines into a decent machine if you know how. The basic design and castings are fine it is the fit and finish that leaves a lot to be desired. There are several bbs and chat groups that each deal with the mini lathes, bench lathes or lilling machines. They can and will share enough knowledge to get your crude machine refinished into a decent machine.

Your other option is to buy a old lathe and rebuild it from the ways up. Well to be honest from grinding the ways up. Not hard to drop $5,000.00 or a whole lot more into a 9 or 10" lathe if you rebuild it right. Logan factory rebuilds are a great deal but can set you back more than a high grade Parker. Then you need attachments and about a years playing around until you could make a decent aprentience, in a machine shop 50 years ago.

Never heard anything but the best report about Merrington work. Nice to know some things stay the same.

I had great fun with the 16ga on a round of trap today thanks to Kirk's great work, the gun performed flawlessly (as for my performance, well practice makes perfect).

Doug

Here are some more photos of Kirk and his shop:

My shotgun on the bench:



Other Customers’ shotguns in various stages of repair:





Test firing my shotgun using primed cases before sending me on my way ("fire in the hole"):