doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Iver Johnson Hercules questions

Thanks for the google books link, Drew. They claim the plates are 'easily removed', so maybe I'll take a run at getting them off by myself, tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a wrestling match...

Take the screw out thread it in the opposite side and wiggle the screw the side plate should move then find an area you can use something to,psh the other plate out go slow so,you don't chip wood

Okay, thanks. There are a few gouge marks in the stock already from what looks like someone using a tool of some sort to pry them out. That's what I'm trying to avoid. Didn't have an idea how tight the plates may be. If they are pretty much a drop in piece, it shouldn't take a lot of effort. I doubt there is anything real unusual in the trigger set up, but I'll post a pic of what is in there, just the same.

A local gunshop has one of the IJ side plate 'Hercules' SxS shotguns on the rack. 12ga
The right bbl has separated from both the top and bottom ribs at the muzzle and back about 6".
A bolt w/ nut holds the side plates on instead of the factory screw. Lots of splinters missing around the sideplates in the wood.
Bright shiny bores, no dents that I saw on my quick inspection.


I almost bought it for the oddity of it. Kind of a neat SxS.
Fix up wouldn't be much of a chore.
But it's still there,,I have plenty of other stuff to do.

Well, it took a bit of wrestling, but I did get the left plate off. Rather anti-climactic. Can't see nearly as much as I hoped. Not sure how to progress from here. Screws are visible, but don't know how many are machine screws that have to come out anyways because they are drilled thru the wood, and how many are wood screws. There is a large one underneath the lever to open the action, what looks like a dowel in front of the safety, and a rather worn looking smaller screw to the rear of the safety. On the bottom, there is a large screw going into the frame at the front of the trigger guard, and a medium sized one at the back of the guard. Can't tell if there are any screws hidden from sight other that what I have listed.

Brighter pic

I think I'm about ready to put things back together and put it back in the cabinet. I have bigger doubts by the day about being able to do a proper repair on this, having no knowledge of double barrels at all. I have other shotguns to use, just thought it would be kind of neat to resurrect this one.

I'm not at all mechanical, so can't help. But I'd like to say thanks for showing us your pictures of an interesting gun in the evolution of American doubles.

Old Guy,

You mention “hidden screws”. On a English made boxlock you would first remove the trigger guard by unscrewing the woodscrew/s from the trigger guard tang.

Then lifting the tang clear of the wood and rotating it gently you will probably find the whole guard unscrews around an integral threaded stud just in front of the triggers. You may have to pull the triggers back to get sufficient clearance.

This exposes the trigger plate with machine screw/s attaching to the top tang of the action.

Removing the stock should then be straightforward.

Parabola

Thanks for the tip. I’ll check it out later today.