doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ugly Uggie, not cocking the right hammer-FOUND IT

The bits on all of my Spanish guns (Uggies and AyA's) were indeed castings. Trigger guard tang...top lever...safety button, etc. and even the pins and screws looked to be castings. I say that because I over torqued both a top lever pin (spindle) and breech pin on two different guns, and when they broke, the metal looked cast to me, could've been crytalized from "over" hardening, but I'm not so sure about that.
I don't think the bits being made out of castings makes much of a difference anyways, the English did the same thing for eons.
I've had pretty good luck with the Spaniards that I have owned, I did have to send two rather new AyA's back to NECG for a couple things (ejectors, cracked forend iron, broken breech pin and spindle pin, new/rehardened/reshaped strikers, and mainspring replacement)
One major issue I do have with Spanish guns are the brazed barrels. Pop a rib and your f&*$ed. Virtually impossible to relay a brazed rib and make it right. I know a person who used his AyA #1 down in South America, his gun unfortunately popped a top rib (the field repair was copper wire wrapped to hold the rib down and in place) and he ended up having to get a new set of barrels from AyA, at his own cost. Ugh. I understand thats a fairly uncommon failure, but it does happen.
While I do like some Spanish guns....I can still pick out the Spanish shotgun out of a crowded gun rack, they just kinda stick out.

Dustin

If my Uggie popped a rib, I'd pitch it in the trash! Seriously, the great majority of them seem to be about like the energiser bunny-they keep going, and going...

I think I paid $410, delivered, for my used Falcon copy. The lack of pedigree is apparent, but, it goes boom well enough when I pull the trigger, and I connect when I do my part. I switch off between the Uggie and an R10 Darne for traveling and shooting clays, I only want to bring one gun along these days.

Neither has let me down yet, I have a lot more time with the Darne in use, but, I don't shoot at Digweed's volume. I think I'll be Ok with the Uggie.

Let us know how it goes, Hoof.


Best,
Ted

I had a handful of trigger guards in the rough (now down to only one) that are from one of the Spanish SxS's. I think Uggies but I'm not sure. I use(d) them for custom projects.

Anyway, they are not castings. They are stamped from sheet stock, bent to shape over a form.
The spur is welded on as is the threaded stud.
The discoloration from the weld is still on the steel.
I'd guess an induction(?) type weld as the discoloration doesn't spread far from the point of weld. My knowledge of welding is severely limited so excuse if I use the wrong terms here but you get the idea.

The area on the sides where the spur meets the bow and the inside of the bow itself is coarse belt or drum polished.
But other than that it is still in it's stamped out steel finish.

As far as these guards are concerned, no castings involved and I wouldn't want to polish out one that was if I could avoid it.

Just wondering if the original poster made out OK with his project?

Best,
Ted

The Euskadi aren't Spanish so they'd have to take the heat or the kudos for the "Spanish" guns they make.

jack

Still haven't called about the part. Have had an offer from a local gunbuilder to help me make a spring if I can't find one.
I had to completely file all the engraving off the bottom plate of the action to get rid of the rust pits, but the rest of the action looks OK.

Thanks,
CHAZ

Chaz,
I once made a spring from a bicycle pants clip http://www.amazon.com/Inline%C2%AE-Metal-Pants-Clips-Pair/dp/B001B6EKHQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1342389571&sr=8-5&keywords=bicycle+pants+clips. What I did was heat the spring red hot to aneal it, then I cut, bent and shaped it how I wanted (for a sharp bend, I'd probably have heated and bent it while it was red-hot). When I was done shaping it, I reheated it and quenched it in water to reharden it. Twenty-seven years later the spring still works (it was a pistol part). Anyhow, it's an idea, if you can think outside the box a lot of this stuff isn't hard to do by yourself.
Steve

With a boxlock, I'd try to think like I was inside the box.

jack

Finally got a chance to put it back together and it works perfectly. Thanks to Cole Haugh for the spring. I was afraid all the crap that the previous owner tried to get it to cock reliably might have damaged some other parts. Just to give you an idea of what had been done, there was bondo in the forearm, apparently to try and get the cocking arms to "throw" farther? Now I just need to finish up the blueing and I can get it back together and try it out. I posted pictures on another thread, I tried browning this action since I can't color case harden (yet) and it looked like crap polished bright.
Thanks to all for the help.
CHAZ

Cole Haugh has a nice tool made up for removing the disc set strikers. It wasn't very expensive. He has new firing pins on hand, also. The firing pins that are original to my gun don't look as nice as Cole's, but, I left 'em in place to see how long they will run. I suspect they will be there a long time.
Good to be prepared, however.
I'm finding my stock dimensions have changed a bit over the last few years, seems like I need more cast, less LOP, and I'm more sensitive to pitch then I used to be. I'm still sorting that all out on this Uggie, and when I get it right, I think I'll put a nice leather recoil pad on the gun.
Good luck with your project, it seems like most of what was wrong was due to the wrong people owning/working on it, rather than any direct fault of the gunmaker.

Best,
Ted