doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Help with C.G. Bonehill Ejectors (Westley style)

Hey everyone,

Some of the Canadian members may have already seen this gun (Canvasback and ChrisDawe I am looking at you) as I am "Sharps" on CGN.

Anywho, it's a C.G. Bonehill in 12 gauge. The gun is between 1904-1921 based on proofs, but there are no visible serial numbers on the outside. When I took the forend iron out of the wood it is stamped B1077 on the ejector box.

This leads me to my question;
This gun ejects both barrels, they are properly timed and everything so no worries there. The problem is the left barrel is very weak, only causing a snap cap to "hop" about 2 inches in the chamber, whereas the other launches a snap cap about 3 feet out.

I am thinking this is just a tired spring but I wanted to make sure with the experts on here before I proceed any further. They appear to be every so slightly modified Westley Richards style ejectors and not the weird older Bonehill ones. I am thinking since this is a higher grade gun they did that...?

If it is just a spring, what is the best course of action for replacement? There is a good video on Youtube from MidwayUSA about these ejectors.They also have a good video about replacing an ejector spring on a Remington 1900. Should I just follow these?

Thanks and best,
Fox

[img:left][/img]

[img:left][/img]

[img:left][/img]

[img:left][/img]

If the weak spring isn't cracked, could it be re-shaped and heat treated to save making a new one ?

I really don't know. How would you go about doing that?

I've heard it can be done, I managed to rescue a weak plate spring once so assumed it could be done with an intact vee spring. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on tempering will tell us.

Make sure the ejector rod moves freely in the barrel 1st . When you cock the ejectors by hand does the weak one cock easier?

Jack Rowe's Midway video on spring making could be used as a guide. I learned how to make springs by viewing it. If you want to try it yourself. But, you may want someone else to do it. I use a high output burner, which normally heats my boiling/steaming tanks. It's much more difficult using a propane or welding torch, but it would depend on the size. The bigger the better, so you can heat evenly.

I speculate that the spring would first have to be brought to red heat, spreaded slightly, then quenched. Important that it is "cherry red", not higher so as not to burn carbon out. Then, the spring would need to be tempered. I coat springs with ATF, heat until the oil "flashes off", then quench. Many others temper differently using things like a lead bath. The temp of a lead bath is controlled better, and is a more precise method of tempering. Springs are tricky and require practice, so you might consider having it done by a professional. You probably don't want to chance breaking it, due to improper tempering.

For me, if I break one, out come the files and the spring steel and I make another one, which is fairly time consuming. Luckily, I'm to the point I seldom have them break.

Regards
Ken

Are the two springs interchangeable or are they Side specific. If they are interchangeable then swap them & see if the one which doesn't eject strongly swaps sides. You would then know for certain it was the spring rather than some other problem.

Sorry, no advice on spring making although I think Miller had a great thought.

I'm really just here so say when I read the thread headline in the index I was thinking "What's with all the Bonehill's lately?" lol

Good luck.

Fox,
It seems that Bonehill did not put the serial # of the gun on the outside as many other makers did. My Bonehill SLE only has the serial # stamped on the water table and the barrel flats. Interesting too is that the choke designations are stamped on the barrels ahead of the flats. The right tube is stamped "modified" and the left tube is stamped "full".

Just thought of something which may help, if all is well with the rest of the mechanism and the spring can be re tempered, an old gunsmith told me to blaze the spring twice before trying it, his view was that it's better to fit a weak spring which would just bend if it's not hard enough rather than try one that's too brittle and may well snap. A weak one can be bent back to shape and hardened again where as a broken one has to be made from scratch.
I've only made one vee spring and it worked fine after two blazings , I'm definitely not an expert and while writing this it struck me that it's probably a job for someone who knows the task inside out.
Probably not much help but I thought I'd mention it.