1897 Project No. 2

[browningautorifle]

Looks pretty good from here...

[ssgross]

Finally got started on the Boyd's stock after my easter week recess and work trips. Spent an evening inletting the curved metal buttplate. With the widow's peak, screw holes, and toe all perfectly aligned and centered, one side sat mostly flush, the other proud by 20 thous. or so towards the top, then below the woodline at the bottom. The toe overhung the stock by 1/4" but there was plenty of excess border down there to make it work and look even around the checkering. I had to drill out and plug and redrill the holes in the stock. The holes in the buttplate were rough cast, so I had to open up the countersink a bit and clean up the screws to sit in just perfect. Might as well get rid of all the casting pocks too. That was all an evening, and grinding all the excess off the buttplate was another evening. Pat myself on the back and yell at the kids to bring me a beer!


The fit up is ok. I was happy that there is a very even but barely noticeable gap around the edges of the wrist. Not much to do right! Wrong. There is 40 thous. of room behind the trigger guard. Way too much.

Easy peasy. Use a depth micrometer to tape around the wrist nice and even and a safe edge file to set the shoulder back. Then work down the tenon until I close the gap. Should have that done another evening or too.

Over Easter weekend I had a chance to handle a 16 gauge 1897, serial late 600k's. Took some measurements of its butt and it's about the same from comb to toe as these Boyd's "replacement" stock. They must be too lazy to make another program for their CNC. The wood is unevenly proud of the metal around the wrist too, so I'll have to deal with that also.

[browningautorifle]

They must be too lazy to make another program for their CNC.

Maybe the butt they measured was about perfect and the originator really didn't know it was a 16 instead of 12. Maybe they thought the two were the same...just didn't know? Hard to say. I've found the stocks I had to get at were pretty much OK. Yours will turn out fine. You'll enjoy it more after...

[ssgross]

yes. this one is coming along. I'm more worried about the model 12 stock, which I'll get to just as soon as I move this one along.

I'm a bit jaded with Boyd's. My email exchange with them took a long time, contained a snarky answer, and they failed to respond to my request to return these. I'll set up my own duplicator before I'll buy from them again. But you're right, I'll enjoy it more after...a bit of "sweat equity"

[browningautorifle]

I'll set up my own duplicator before I'll buy from them again.

I hear you...

[ssgross]

Here it is. The finish is much more satin than the camera shows it. The walnut was lighter than I would have like, but I think I was able to darken it just enough to bring out the American in it - or at least it matches the original forend handle. It will get heavily used come turkey time, so I went ahead and waxed it.

The buttplate turned out ok. It's curved on the underside from left-right. I didn't work it down that far when I fit it, so I may bed the underside center with epoxy to spread the recoil forces towards the center.
Next up I need to blue the barrel(s). The 20" norinco barrel has some light scratches that need buffed out. The original 30" barrel needs its bore cleaned up too. The repop bayonet adapters, of which I have 1 left, do not fit the norinco barrels - barrels are too thick. So I will likely need to abandon that and just leave it as a riot gun. There is plenty of thickness for screw in chokes, so maybe. Or perhaps I'll hold off till I get my lathe set up, knock off the 15thou or so off the muzzle end, and fit that bayonet adapter...and put in screw in chokes. I like having a sling when wandering in the woods for turkies.

[browningautorifle]

Looks good...

[fjruple]

Looks great! I am always on the look out for old well handled shotguns. I also found an original Model 1897 and Model 12 12 gauge shotguns. All of the wear was from handling and rarely being shot. Either gun was of any collectors value, just a good tool to use. The Winchester 1897 i cut the barrel down to 22 inches to use as a riot gun and left the patina as is. The Winchester Model 12 was a boat paddle. Internally, the shotgun was like new but the exterior was bad. I had to replace wooden foreend and buttstock. At one point the former owner chrome plated the shotgun. I left the chrome plating but also cut the barrels down to 22 inches and now it's my "pimp" shotgun.

[ssgross]

All of the wear was from handling and rarely being shot.

Been looking at 97's and 12's for a very long time before I found the ones to restore at the price I wanted. I think I've surmised that the factory finish, on the model 12 in particular, was not very good nor durable. Likely a function of the alloy and bluing method. A good slow-rust blue should be much more durable.

I've never been a shotgun guy...in fact I have only fired a shotgun once in my life - I think it was a Remington 870? I shot 5 beanbag rounds during non-lethal weapons training in the USMC. I still haven't fired one since. I'm a bit OCD - the other 1897 I cut back and made a trench gun out of, I removed material from the barrel (slots for the bayonet adapter screws), so I wanted to find a nice quiet location I could put it in sled and pull a string from a distance first. This one all is in working order, just need to finish it up.

I think I need to start a new thread for the model 12 I'm working on. I thought I had one already but can't find it. The other thing I've noticed about these, especially more of model 12's, is how utterly filthy they become internally. If something is too difficult for the average Joe to maintain properly, he likely won't. No one wants to fiddle with a million springs, screws, and pins. I particularly hate all the staked parts on model 12 - but we managed where we had to. My model 12, on the original 30" barrel, has a small bding few inches back from the muzzle that will need dealt with. Need to measure how far into the choke it is. If it's in the middle, I think I can get at it with a hardwood dowel wedged at the right spot and light taps on the outside.

Anyway's, these will be the last shotguns I ever do...unless someone wants to pay me to do it again. I appreciate their history and usability in the grand scheme of things...but really don't care for the designs.

[ssgross]

Shows how far behind I've gotten when I went to post I got the "warning, you are attempting to bump a thread that is xx old". Nonetheless, I'm trying to clear out my backlog of half finished projects in the shop before starting anything else.

The barrels and mag tubes for this project have been polished and hanging in the shop for ... well since my last post. So I spent the weekend rust bluing, cleaning screw heads, and fitting parts to build the forends. I'm very satisfied, at least with appearances.

Here they are next to the trench gun project (Finished the latter a while ago. there is a thread on it here https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=76435


The riot gun forfend is a 20" norinco replacement barrel. New when I got it sans some shelf wear. Its heavy. The extension I found was a bit beat up, as was the mag tube. Took quite a bit of work to get them fitted to work - I did it first. The 30" barrel and mag tube and original matching serial extension fit up with little to no effort - owing mainly to the fact that it was me who removed the original extension. The other bubba slightly malformed when he took it off.

Sadly, I'm not done yet. On the riot gun when I was function testing, about one in every 4 cycles would slam fire. Holding the trigger forward the problem went away, so I adjusted the trigger set screw a quarter turn and the problem went away. Then when function testing the 30" forend, every cycle was slam firing. wtf. Cycling real slow I get the trigger lock back, then as soon as I push the handle forward all the way to lock up, the hammer releases. Holding my thumb on the hammer I can feel it catch the sear - but only sometimes. Most of the time, even holding the trigger all the way forward, it won't catch. My first thought was the slide wasn't making its full range of movement. So I switched to the 20" frorend. Wouldn't ya know, despite all my success with it not 24 hours earlier, it has the same problem now. I can get the hammer to lock back maybe 1 in 10+ times, but only if I go real slow - either forend. If I hold the trigger forward, I can sometimes get it to grab the safety notch, but not always.

I'm convinced I have a worn or broken sear edge or hammer notch(es). Not surprising. There was plenty of evidence bubba messed with it before I got it. The slide-lock release plunger was missing, and replaced with a short pin that looked made from a nail - the effect was the action could be opened when in battery without depressing the release plunger. I read somewhere on the internet that many cowboy-action shooters prefer this mod. Wouldn't doubt it if bubba did a trigger job too - or got too happy slam firing, which I've read can wear the edge of the sear. Nothing to do though yet, until I clear the bench and tear it down again to have a look. Until then, it's just eye candy.