Gun shop parts mess

[Bruce_in_Oz]

A few years back, a friend of mine decided to have a change of pace and bought a gun shop in a large rural town.

This place had been in business for decades and it appeared that the owner / gunsmith never threw ANYTHING out, or was entirely consistent in organising parts by maker / model, let alone labeling really odd stuff. Some of the parts I found in boxes marked "Winchester" still have me baffled.

I spent several weeks trawling through boxes and trays, identifying a LOT of "easy" stuff like Lee Enfield, Mauser and Winchester parts, but there was, and still is, a bucket of "random stuff" that defied us, despite a fair bit of trawling through the web and a LOT of old books and catalogues.

Every so often, he would put one that had several of us stumped, in a box on the counter, and offer a free cup of freshly-brewed "shop" coffee for its identification. A few customers have had a good mug or two. There must have been a LOT of shotguns of dubious heritage around that district.

The good thing about springs is that, be they flat, "V" or coil, as long as they are not rusty, they can often be "repurposed" to fit something else. Old, "rotten" barrels can be wound in to replace a "good" one on a firearm destined to be a "wall hanger" and so forth.