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I have this old gun...

Not hijack just a pic of,our old 410 bolt. She fugly but functional,shoots fine magazine is pain in and out though. 15487864761782533514832864457752.jpg 15487864994831375672448730285404.jpg 15487865211613036221836575967657.jpg no clue when or were it came from dont,remember probably was trade boot. Its a Savage 18c also says Springfield.
 
That's not a thread hijack. No such thing with me bubby. I like it.

Let me show you this strange 410 shotgun that my wife inherited from her Grandmother. (remind me to tell you one of the stories behind it someday). It's not a bolt action though. It's a single shot, but I've never seen another quite like it anywhere. Besides being a western field house brand, I'm pretty sure it's made by Marlin and does have the full choke 3 inch chamber (and pre68) believe it or not.

You have to pull the little lever on top (about where the trigger would normally be on most break action shotguns) and that breaks it down. When you close it, that cocks the internal hammer and sets the safety ON. (you have to flip the safety off with each and every shot--that's why I dont' really care for it but I imagine that was probably one of the selling points for teaching the youngun's gun safety at the time).

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John, regarding primer strikes. I suspect your deep primer strikes are caused by a combination of the bad extractors and not having a fully loaded shell chambered. If you think it's safe I'd fire a birdshot round to see what happens. The good news is the firing pin spring is certainly working following the extensive cleaning.

The off center strike is common in some older guns. You might try rotating the firing pin and see if it changes the location. Firing pin might be slightly bent due to age and/or the bolt chamber it rides in slightly out of round, again due to wear. I'd mark the shell at the 12 o'clock position and fire a round. Then rotate the firing pin 180 degrees and see if the position of the primer strike changes when the next round is fired.

Great progress.

Regards
 
John, Western Field shotguns were sold by Montgomery Wards and most were made by either Stevens or Savage. Should have a model number or part number on the barrel.

Regards
 
Thanks again for the replies Ernst.

After looking, savage did make an SB-100 in 410, which this one is. I was thinking it was made by Marlin, but appears that I wasn't recalling correctly.

As for the primers, I too thought that the force of the firing pin was seating the shell deeper into the chamber because one of the extractors is broken and the other missing entirely so there is really nothing to hold it firmly to the bolt face at this time.

After thinking about it, may also explain some of the off center strikes more too. I'm not concerned about whether it's centered really, but mostly where the primer is unseated. But the recommendation to turn or rotate the firing pin does make a lot of sense.

I sold a few gun parts and am waiting for that money to hit my bank account. With that, I'm going to replace one extractor, extractor spring and detent so that it will have at least one claw on it and am going to replace the other side probably next month.

I am also going to replace the bolt stop screw that is missing when I order the left extractor, probably tomorrow. From what I have read, that was one of the main reasons that sears recalled these guns back in the 90's.

I'm going to hold off on replacing the firing pin spring for now. If I get occasional light strikes, I'll replace it when I cross that bridge, but as we've noticed today, it didn't have any problems with the two that I lit off today.

As a little historical note, from what I have found, these guns were only made from 1946 to 1958. And according to the model number stamped on the barrel which ends in a 583.1 on mine, this was one of the earliest because there were several other model numbers that followed with slight changes in rolling production-- 583.10, 583.12 and several others. The crossbolt retaining pin location in the stock being one of the changes that I have noticed and I don't know what the others were?
 
Alright folks. It's colder than crap outside, so with no other real projects on my table right now, I started sanding and rebluing the old gun.

I noticed that the front bead was broken off almost even with the barrel, so no amount of whispering sweet nothings to it was going to unscrew it. So, the next alternative was to center punch the brass divot and drill it out to a 6-48 thread and I'll have to replace it altogether.

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And here are a few macro shots showing the orange peel texture of the rust on it. It's mostly all on the surface and not a lot of pitting at all.

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pay attention to this next picture because the next time you see it, will look a bit better ;)
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When I was sanding on the magazine tube, I was really surprised to see that it still had the original plug in it. I wasn't expecting that. Before I put everything together tomorrow or Thursday, I'm going to push the plug and follower and mag spring out and give it a good cleaning down in there. It's a bit "tacky and sticky" feeling. I may try to clean the dowel with some denatured alcohol. ??? Feels like cosmoline coating to be honest.

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After about 20 or 30 minutes of sanding by hand with some 220 grit, it's smooth as butter. But when I say it was oxidized, that wasn't an understatement.

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I only have a single coat of cold blue on it right now, and as well as it took it, the old gun has to have a lot of carbon in the steel. Much more than I'm used to these days for sure. Even with a single coat, it's not got a lot of light spots in it and it has a decidedly shiny black look to it. With one or maybe two more coats, it's going to shine up like a new penny.

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I told you the next time you see this next part it won't look like it did before. I'm going to let the blue work overnight and tomorrow will go over everything again and then rinse it and oil it down well. I don't think I'll have much of a problem with it.
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Looking good John. Ya know, Sears is about to become a thing of the past and that gun will have another chapter to add to it's history, and you are helping to preserve the gun and the history of what once was an American giant, the Amazon of it's day.
 
I have an old sears catalog from the early 1900's. I don't recall exactly the year, but it was really interesting just to read through the book and look at the prices and see what they were selling at the time.

The house beside where I grew up was a Craftsman. And the aluminum siding on my parents house was done through sears now that I think about it in the late '70's.

I think most of us remember looking through the sears wishbook for Christmas and circling the toy we wanted the most that year so our Mom could find it and order it for us.

And not to take into account having the old (outdated) catalogs in the outhouse was a huge relief to have too.
 
Got the 2nd coat of blue on the parts. It's going to be the final coat. I can't tell that it got any darker or deeper blue/black. Looks 100 times better than it did when I first started.

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I also identified the magazine problem with the sluggish and somewhat sticky follower.

Wasn't the follower unfortunately. I got a replacement spring ordered.

Yes, this was exactly how it came out of the tube. I don't know how it worked at all, but if I were to name my guns, this one would be called "the old cobblers gun".

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John, wonder if that's the original wooden magazine plug? Most I've encountered actually extend inside the magazine tube spring which makes sense so not to deform the spring when compressed. The plug end of the "dowel" should rest against the followers. Looks like someone lost the original and carved a new one without understanding the concept. This would certainly account for your mangled spring.

If you ever need one for hunting I'd simply cut a wooden dowel to the proper length which would fit inside the spring.

Glad there are folks like us who enjoy restoring old firearms! I'm in the process of acquiring a 100 year old Winchester saddle ring lever action carbine. These old guns are getting harder to find.

Regards
 
I think the plug was whittled out. Doesn't look factory by any means. It's got whittle marks all up and down it.

If I hunt with it, I'll just cut a smaller wooden dowel, but I've never been checked on our property on the mountain anyway since it's private property. I would normally just load the 3 shells and not worry about it. Truth is, I won't shoot more than twice at something anyway.

Yes, I do enjoy restoring old firearms. This isn't my first one, and I hope not to be the last either.

Please keep me posted if you get the old Winchester lever action.

I placed the order for an extractor, extractor spring and extractor detent, bolt stop screw, and magazine spring this morning. This should at least let me pop off a shot or two, and then will replace the other extractor.

I also ordered a new front bead from ebay for $5.75 (about a 1/3 of the price including shipping) than what numrich was wanting for them.

Hopefully all goes well.
 
Got much of it back together. At least as much as I want to do until I get the replacement parts.

The receiver always had an S (safe) stamp in it, but I used some white paint in it to make it easier to see

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and I also countersunk a small hole and put a drop of red model car paint in to help tell at a glance whether it's on fire. It's not a fancy solution, but it works.
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Nice work John. What a difference already.

Ernst, those old winchesters are cool. I have a couple of Henry levers and a Marlin. Someday a Model 94 will find it's way to me.
 
Thanks for the compliment meanstreak. I enjoy fixing these old guns.

I know I probably wouldn't get my money back in parts alone if I were to sell it (about $75- and even more when or if I find a good stock for it), but I appreciate the history and technology and stuff behind them. I just hate to see it lost. I'd wager a bet with pretty good certainty they're not going to make any more of them.
 
Thanks for the compliment meanstreak. I enjoy fixing these old guns.

I know I probably wouldn't get my money back in parts alone if I were to sell it (about $75- and even more when or if I find a good stock for it), but I appreciate the history and technology and stuff behind them. I just hate to see it lost. I'd wager a bet with pretty good certainty they're not going to make any more of them.

Sometimes it's the journey, not the destination.
 
I know this probably isn't going to really excite anyone, but I did get the new front bead this morning.

I intentionally got the .175 (fat diameter) bead. Fat beads are usually pretty quick on target because they're easier for your eye to pick up on in a hurry.

If I seat it all the way to the bottom of the threads, I'll have to file some off because it sticks down into the barrel bore, but I'm not going to do that until after I shoot it to see if it needs to be seated all the way down and to see how it patterns first. If it shoots low, I can always file it, but if it's shooting about right, I can red Loctite it or JB weld it in place. It's still got full contact on the threads if I leave it screwed out as far as I do in the picture, it's just easier to shoot the gun and see what I need to do before being hasty and filing off threads that may not need to filed off.

You can see the amount of room that I have for adjustment from the top of the barrel to the bottom of the bead, so that will be good for letting me be able to dial it in fairly well. If it's shooting off to one side or the other (real bad), I can always put a mid bead in it to help pull the sight picture to one side or another if I need to, but I hope to not have to do that.

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