I won an auction for a 16 gauge Nitro a while back, with the miserly bid of $275. The gun featured a bit of rust on the tubes:
I like the way these bottom feeder guns handle, in 16 and 20 gauge. This one has 26" tubes and somewhat unusual cylinder and modified chokes, and factory 2 3/4" chambers, perfect for a lot of my use. It weighs about 6 1/4 lbs. There had been no modifications to the gun, and it still had the original buttplate. When the gun got here, I dismantled it, for a good cleaning. Looking at the guns innards, the insane amount of case colors left, the beautiful condition of the stock wood, far right of center opening lever, the perfect screws, and perfect breech face, made me question if it had ever even been fired.
I thought about leaving it just the way it was, but, decided to have a board artisan blue the tubes and trigger guard. I don't know if said board artisan wants a bunch of work coming his way, and if he would like to, he can identify himself. His work was more than fine, and I am very satisfied with the quality and price I paid.
Back together, a few little problems came to light, problems that may have contributed to it being in such nice shape. The safety was almost impossible to get to move, and the forehand didn't want to come off, either. The safety required a tweak of the internal cam, to center it in the lever, and to have at the spring and plunger, under the cam, which, were a bit furry with rust when I got it, and in need of a good polish. The screw that holds the forehand in place was tapped just a little too deep, and would bottom against the iron, making it difficult to pull the wood off. I just backed off of it a bit. The spring is no slouch, and I doubt the screw will move under the tension of the spring.
I touched up a few spots on the wood that had finish scraped off, and just cleaned the rest of it. I did put a bit of spray lacquer on the case colored parts, and, it is a bit too shiny now, but, the next guy who gets it can strip it off if he wants, and he will still have colors to look at, anyway. I suppose it will tone down with use, also.
The gun came out of Maine, and I'm guessing someone didn't take a liking to it, and put it in a basement or closet that got damp, and forgot about it. All the screws, save the one I tweaked under the forehand iron, are in perfect north/south aligment. I wouldn't have guessed any attention to that was paid on these guns in the era this one was built, around 1936-37.
The neglect left a few tell-tail spots on the old gun, but, it looks so much better.
I'll take a few birds with it this fall.
Best,
Ted
