doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Matching Spanish 20 gauges

Yes Max the top levers have turned a plum color. I am assuming they would not have come this way? I now have the guns carefully stripped down and the finish off. I will soak them out to assure all of the oil is out. I found several cracks that will need repaired. Steam out a few dents and then finish. along with new pads. I finally took some more pictures, not great but may help to get me additinal information on my guns.
Thanks Phil


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Eibar Proof house, 20 gauge, three inch chambers, proof year code looks like 'M*1' (1967), cannot tell who made the barrels.

Here are a couple of marked up photos with the marking labeled:

Kyrie,

Thanks for all of the extra effort you went through to identify the markings on the barrel flats and water table. Can you explain, I am not sure what 12 70 stnds for since it is a 20 gauge. Thanks again.
Phil

Phillip- I think Kyrie used his gun as an example. If you look at the marks on yours, you will see "20 76" which means 20 ga, 76mm shell (nominally 3-inch)

On Kyrie's gun it reads "12 70" which means 12 ga, 70mm or nominally 2 3/4-inch chamber.

Sounds like you're having fun!

Thanks Gnomon for pointing this out to me. This will teach me to wake up in the middle of the night an respond to a posting. ( Half a sleep). It is now very clear. Yes, I am having fun. I plan on taking my time and trying to learn as I go. Wood is now very clean but will soak it out before attempting to repair the cracks.One bead on a set of barrels was busted on and the other bead on the other set was huge. Drilled and extracted the busted bead and purchased beads about half of the size for both guns. I also purchased a Miles Gilbert jig to try my hand at fitting new pads. Things moving slow but steady.

Spanish guns are a good place to have fun. Here are some things to keep in mind.

Almost all Spanish shotguns are handmade, and individuals. Parts are not interchangeable between guns. The only spare parts that exist for a gun are the parts the buyer of the gun ordered made when he ordered the gun made.

Aside from firing pins, Spanish shotguns tend to last forever. Parts are hand fitted to close tolerances, wear is minimal, and the result is very long service lives. I have one live pigeon gun that was proofed in 1947 and appears to have been used on the pigeon shooting circuit. The owner had every part that had threads staked in place to keep parts from walking during a shoot. He also had a steel butt plate installed. The gun likely has a half-million or so shells though it, and still shoots well.

Serial numbers don't necessarily indicate order of manufacture, or any relationship between guns. It's not unusual to find two guns from the same maker where the higher numbered gun was made before the lower numbered gun.

Back before DIARM, just about all the makers offered guns at every price point. Everybody offered top end guns, and workingman's guns. There were no 'top end' makers; only top end guns. This is the origin of the advice, "Buy the gun, not the name."

Coming back to Jose Luis Urbiola, here are some photos of another Urbiola 12 gauge SLE

I have ordered 4 different books that were suggested on this site. All parts were carefully placed in marked seperate bags. I have stripped the wood with a citris base stripper worked unbelievable. Have soaked for 6 hours in acetone, then transfered to a pan of Methenol. Wood had very little oil but has cracks similar to the areas cracked in the pictures you posted Kyrie. I will address slowly as I go. Will post some pictures when completed.