doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Amazed at machining on Sauer Sidelock hammergun

I just diassembled my 1902 J.P. Sauer hammergun, so I can try to have the broken wrist repaired.
I was amazed at how perfect the machining is, especially where the front of the actual lock plates dropped into the receiver, I had never noticed how the plate dropped into the machined hole in the receiver, the work is that well done.
This action seems tiny to me for a 16 gauge. Is it? It is the only one I've ever seen, so this might not be anything special to someone with more old Sauer experience.
I took a few photo's to send to a friend. I will post them here if anyone cares to look. Excuse the quality, I just took them under a lamp, didn't go to any trouble.

Very nice action. I noticed a possible slip with a sharp screwdriver(the bandaid and blood splattered fingers) be carful. How far are you from Uniontown.
Rich

Rich,
Probably an hour or so. I am about 5 miles from Fort Ligonier. Screwdriver through the finger came from a frozen discharge line on a waste water pump. The screw head twisted right off, the screwdriver dug right in to my finger.

I have one of those old Sauers, also 16X67 with 75 cm barrels. Mine weighs a bit less than 6 1/4 lbs. It is one of my very favorite shotguns. First time I took it hunting, every pheasant that flew died -- made dogs very happy -- find pheasant, point pheasant, retreive pheasant.

Niklas

Niclas,
Same here. The slim english grip stock fits me perfectly. The open chokes over my pointing dogs work so well on pheasant, none has ever gotten away. Mine is under 6 pounds with twenty eight and 3/16ths" barrels.
The best thing of all is the triggers. They break like glass at about 2.5 pounds. They area also twisted perfectly for a right handed shooter.
I only use the RST 7/8ths ounce loads in my Sauer. What do you use in yours?

RGS022,

Mine is a 16x9.3 cape gun, circa 1912, 6 3/4lbs and with almost identical engraving to yours. The answer to your question concerning receiver size is yes they are quite dainty in width but not length. As per "Lock, Stock and Barrel", hammerguns allow for a very narrow action bar. I have another 16ga. that is 5 1/2lbs and it is approximately .2" wider. Wonderful guns.

Well, nice gun but I don't see a lot of machining.

RGS022,
Mine has a "open" pistol grip, not straight english grip, and has usual tight chokes in both barrels. On that first pheasant hunt with it I used some 1970s Fiocchi 16X65s with 28 grams (1,0 oz) of #6 lead alloy shot at 1300 fps in right barrel because they pattern more openly in all my 16s and Remington black game loads with 1,0 oz of #6 at 1220 fps in left barrel. These Remington 16 gauge loads have 67 mm hulls.

Only problem I had was that on longish shots -- roughly 40 yards -- #6 shot from those Remington loads did not penetrate deeply enough to give clean kills on going away shots, even with up to 10 pellets hitting bird. Pheasants dropped nicely but, were not dead. Next time I will use Cu-plated #5 lead alloy or #5 Bi-Sn alloy shot -- both penetrate deeply into vitals on going away mallards.

Niklas

Nice action!!



oooowwwwwww!!! I rip'd up my left shoulder last winter pulling a grinder pump - a lot of birds lived this fall as I was a slooooooow swinger........

Course, you had your gloves on ;).......

Gary

Gary,
I wish I had my gloves on. I also wish it had not been a pipe in my home. I ruptured 5 discs in my lower back in May. I only got out 2 short hunts this year. Unfortuneately, on the first trip, on the first point, the first rooster, the first shot, the stock on this gun broke in half at the wrist. My GSP brought the bird to hand, but I didn't really care right then.

Dude, I don't feel so bad about my fall......

well, get that stock fixed and be ready to hit the bush next fall with your pup!!!

Gary

Gary,
Getting the stock fixed is a priority. It has already been repaired once, so this time may be tricky. There is no missing wood, so it should be a hard to detect fix. Getting my 3 pointing dogs the work they need is my big problem. These dogs normally hunt every Saturday and Sunday from Sept thu April. Plus they hunt 7 days a week for 5 weeks every year, scattered around in 3-4 states. This year, due to my back injury, they have only had 2 days in the field for a maximum of 2 hours a trip. This has been since May 15 3008. Seeing that all 3 are housedogs, there is a lot of pent up energy here.
I am beginning anoher round of injections in my spine on Friday. God willing, I will be able to run my dogs this weekend, at my club. I might be unable to shoot, but I can probably find someone willing to do that for me. That will allow me a chance to get some pictures, that I normally miss out on taking.

Look inside, my JPS looks like a high end watch and A CHE Parker I repaired was closer to a Ruger casting

Bill

Bill,
The lock internals have some old hardened grease in spots. The lock parts have a finish that is fine enough, it looks like chrome.
Today I took the stock pieces to my workbench to begin removing the Accraglass from the area that had been glued previously. Every part on the gun is marked with the serial number, or the last three digits only. Inside the head of the stock, the contact surfaces are protected with what looks like a black glass compound. It is original since it has the last three digits of the serial number stamped on it with the same tiny stamps as all of the other parts. I was unaware that this was done on a stock at that early a date. Was glassing the stock contact points common at the turn of the century?

RGSo22, I have looked at this post a couple of times and I just cannot see the wonderfulness of the machining. Do you have photos of the "inside" of the gun ? It's a nice, petite gun, but the engraving is not top drawer. What is it about the machining , or do you mean a gun like this is built by machine, rather than by hand ? 'hope you take this in the spirit intended.

Daryl,
I never thought the engraving was anything but low end. The machining I was so taken with, was probably better described as fit-up. The lockplates puzzled me, due to the way they fit up. I had never expected them to remove the way thet actually did. The fit of the round extension at the front of the actual lock fit so perfectly into the front of the action that there was no seam visible.
Perhaps I should have said that for an average grade side lock from that era there is much more fit up work on this action than any of the same era sidelocks I've had in the past.
The locks are disassembled right now, and I haven't taken any photos. No problems. I didn't explain myself very well. I never thought the piece was more than what it is. The extra fitting on this action just impressed me for the grade gun that it is.