doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Non ejector to ejector barrel 16 ga.

I had seen where someone had posted about making a non-ejector barrel to an ejector barrel. I did do using my shop tools, radial drill press and a 16" drill press. I am just a hobbyist gun smith who likes to work on my own L.C. Smiths. This one is for a 16 ga. Field Grade that had a Hunter One Trigger and ejectors but the barrels were cut on the original gun.
hope you enjoy them, I had fun doing it and would do it again.
The hardest thing I have done so far is to take a stock that was not for a Hunter One Trigger and make it for a HOT. You think there is not much wood on a side lock shotgun, well there is even less once you remove the wood between the locks to accommodate the HOT. I used my mortising chisel and used the original stock as a template to guide the mortising chisel down through the inlet for the top tang to the bottom of the trigger plate. Tried it many times and finally put the good stock in and then took me about 20 minutes to get the nerve to pull the handle to the mortising chisel. Worked out great but I wouldn't try it again.

Thanks Stan. I have some degree of mechanical skills and like to work on my own guns.

When moving a mill, it is best to lower the table as much as possible and turn the head upside down. If a large machine starts to turn over, you can't stop it; run out of the way.
Mike

Excellent pictures, David. I admire your resourcefulness. Well done.

Francis, there are used HOT's sometimes on eBay, Gen Broker and probably more. The average price I see them for is between $400-$500, the cheaper ones you might see who knows if they work and who knows if the higher priced ones work also. There are a few people I know that if they buy a gun with a HOT they will send it out to Buck Hamlin and have it converted to double triggers. I own a few with the HOT and like them, the one I bought was a Specialty Grade with the Trap Options, ventilated rib, twin ivory beads and a recoil pad. It was ordered as a REO with 32" barrels, Regular frame, ejectors and a HOT which was other option. On this particular gun the HOT works from right to left barrel but not left to right on the selector, but both barrels have the same constriction so no need to switch.
The biggest problem I see with a HOT is when the gun is sent to a gunsmith that does not know or understand on how the HOT works. The lock plate connecting screw can be a half turn too tight or too loose and the trigger will not work right. The top tang screw under the top lever can be off by one full turn. (this screw head is tapered like the top tang and not being tightened correctly if will not work. When these guns were sent out by the factory all the screws were timed. When I take the lock plates off a HOT I always use a dial caliper and take measurements before and then after to confirm my original readings.

Oh and Buck will not work on guns with a HOT, but Jerry Andrews will.

Bill it would be much easier to do the job if you had a Bridgeport with a digital readout instead of using a dial caliper to scribe the lines for the extractor/ejector stem and a few other places. If I'm not mistaken and if this is the same gun, the pusher for the extractor/ejector was not put in. That is there if is a problem with the extractor/ejector not working, the fore-end will move it. It wasn't much of a problem just took time laying it out for the different operations.