doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com God save old guns from hammers and punches.

At a local gun show I came across two double guns. A rare thing these days. Both were hammer guns and both appeared to be in very good condition. But both upon inspection had suffered from hacks using hammers and punches to tighten them.

The first had the forend hanger punched ten times to try to tighten the forend. Problem was that this was not where the wear was and the punching only made the forend hard to get off an on not tighter once on. Now the wood is loose from the metal and both are still loose on the barrels. A decent repair would have taken an hour now it will take three to fix the repair and the problem.

The second gun was punched on the hook and pin. Why both I will never know. This caused the pin to rotate and you can see it on the action sides. This also caused the gun to open like it had gravel in it. Not done there they punched the dolls head and the receiver. What a mess. Nothing will save this one.

Sad to see a decent gun survive a hundred years only to get hammered to death in ten minutes by an idiot.

The bodgers are a sorry bunch - at least this one wasn't smart enough to try to cover his tracks.

One has to be on the lookout for the cunning ones. I've seen too many bowed bolts and spindles, squeezed action bars, JB Weld and such to last me a lifetime. Things that aren't obvious in the sellers' light of a gun show.

This is why I refuse to do a condition report without a complete strip down. If the seller won't agree to that, he can keep it. I will not have a client in for a nasty surprise.

Careful, you boys are talking about your buddies.

I'd be more concerned about the guns where the stock has been polished to death. You know the shysters have been on that one.

Just because someone is in a similar line of business to me, does not make him one of my "buddies".

No one than I know, and consider a friend, does or accepts the kind of things the OP described.

I suppose the repairs might have been done on a bench in some barn 80 years ago. Maybe not.
More than likely, it shot loose, and the repair cost quoted sent them back to the barn. $20.00 shotguns have slowly blossomed into $350.00 scrappers. A little rub-a-dub, and voila! You have a rare collectible.
I see hundreds of polished scrap guns a year. Somebody polishes them I presume to make a buck moving them on.

I'd take 50 honest junkers for 1 polished scrap gun.

That the brotherhood of gun peddlers make a market in polished junk with hidden problems bugs me. Sort of smacks of dishonesty.

Kentucky Jon can choose to work on it, or not. At least he can see what was done.

hammers and punches in skilled hands can be economical and durable fixes for loose gun problems...to condemn the use of ancient hand tools for loose gun repair is sorta unrealistic. often peening and punching is the only cost effective solution to fixing minor gun problems...and please be aware that i do not speak from my own experience or skill level...

watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXbrmmiSngw

Nobody is condemning the use of ancient hand tools in the act of repairing a loose gun. Those are my primary choice for tools.

It is the manner with which they are wielded, particularly in regard to fashioning a durable repair, that is the problem.

Ed your "repair" is no real repair. Just a jack leg way to make a minor problem worse. Better to cut a beer can into a shim. At least then you get to drink the beer and it will put most off face guns fairly close to being back on face. Your "repair" is like the old transmission repair of adding sawdust to a failing transmission. Might last a few days but makes a real repair almost impossible.

may i repeat, " hammers and punches in skilled hands....

Please define "skilled" for us.