doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Guns Being Repaired/Restored?

Most of us own anywhere from 1/2 dozen to two dozen(+) shotguns, with many of them being 50 to 100 years old. They sometime need repairs, and we sometime send one of to be refinished, restored, etc.

It seems that I almost always have at least one shotgun "away" being repaired, restocked, or restored by a gunsmith. At this time three are temporarily gone. My A-5 is having its forearm repaired, my Sterlingworth is having a buttstock crack repaired, and a Remington 1894 that I bought a year ago is being completely restored. The latter job is scheduled to take about 12 months. Hopefully the others will only be three months, or so. I also have an older Remington 11-48 disassembled on my basement workbench, for a DIY stock refinishing.

Fortunately I do have more than enough other working shotguns on hand to meet any shoting needs.

One friend's Citori is spending the summer in Texas at Briley's being fitted with sub-caliber tubes. Another friend's grandfather's Remington 1900 is in the same gunsmith's safe as my 1894, also being restored.

I was just wondering....do many of you find yourselves in a similar situation? How many of your shotguns are usually "out for repair?" On average, what is the duration of most of these absences? Which one took the longest time?

Jerry Goldstein
St. Louis, MO

Robert Lefever had my D M Lefever Single Barrel Trap for over a year, He finally admitted that nothing had been done to it, so I had him return it,, A very big let down from a companyThat Ihad held i high esteem.. MDC

The situation you describe forced me to learn to do as much work on my guns as I could myself, without having to send them out. To be sure, there's still work that I send out, but I can do very good rust bluing, have relaid several loose ribs (something like a 2 to 4 inch loose area, not the entire rib), made firing pins and some springs, made screws, and I think I can do very good wood finishing. I cannot checker, nor would I ever attempt case coloring work. I have learned to disassemble actions and polish them prior to sending away for case coloring however, and now am not afraid to get inside an action to see what might be broken if something isn't working right. A nice working relationship with a good doublegun smith is a nice thing to have, maybe even multiple relationships. Mike Orlen has done good chamber and barrel work for me in a timely manner. I am not a fan of Briley's for anything except their standard choke work, others continue to think they are the Holy Grail of gunsmiths, however. Part of the fun of collecting and shooting the old ones is the anticipation of getting it back from your gunsmith.

Two years ago I broke 4 Lefevers in one week which went to the gunsmith. It took him about a month to get the guns back to me. I enjoyed redoing a G grade, I did the sanding and wood finishing but had the annealing, case harding, barrel work, and checking were done by several different individuals. I was very pleased on how the gun came out. It was a thrill to asemble it when all the parts came back.
Currently, I have one at an engraver and the rest are working. I did buy a Beretta Auto to shoot clays. It is not as fun as the S/S but it is better for clay shooting.
I have had guns at two local gun smith's in the past for over 2 years with nothing done to them. In fact one was reassembled wrong.
jas

I try to have only one gun out at a time so I don't get distracted by other issues or guns. Currently I've got two that need attention. One is a hammer gun that needs attention on the right hammer, and it also needs to have some engraving restored. The other is a restocking job.

Both guns are usable, and I've been working on getting the hammergun taken care of, but something always seems to get in its way. So, it gets put on hold.

The longest I've waited for a job was for a restocking that took just under one year and four months. It was a long wait, but it was well worth it!

There are members who go through more rounds in a week than I do in five years of gunning. Maybe 10 years. The older guns weren't made for it. They were made for hunters like me. So there's your answer: some never have a gun out for repairs and some always have guns out.

I have a W C Scott SLE at Doug Manns for some forearm work.I would much prefer that he take his time which I'm sure he'll do rather than rush it thru as I have other guns I can use in the meantime. I have other guns being worked on at the moment but they're not shotguns. I do a great deal of my own maintenance and repair however, I know my limitations and have no qualms about sending something to an expert when necessary.
Jim

I do all my own repairs , but then I only shoot hammer guns. A very good friend is a gunsmith and will help when needed. Guess I'm lucky in that respect. paul

Hm, In the past 10 years I have sent three guns out for choke work including to Briley for screw in installation, and Mike Orlen for choke and stock bending. Latests one was out for couple weeks, twice, until he found the burr on the trigger which prevented second barrel from firing. (This was a new fairly expensive shotgun). So I guess I am less than average on gun work.

This is part of the vingae gun game.

I have added several "modern" hammer and hammerless guns with 2 3/4" chambers so i have things that do not brake- at least not as often- and can shoot easily available ammo.

Besides- we need to keep the smiths working.

al