Gunsmithing: Shotguns. Patrick Sweeney

      For the bolt spring, start the spring and its link cap into the tube, and then press the link down into line with the tube. When the link cap pokes through into the receiver it will catch on and retain the end of the link. Grasp the tube with your left hand, thumb to the end of the tube. Press the spring in place with your right hand. Clamp your thumb over the tube to retain it and then press the retaining pin through the cap. Place the lifter into the receiver and loosely screw the pivot screws in place. Once both are in place, tighten them and then back them off just enough to line up with the locking screws.

      Inside the receiver, this is the relationship between the bolt and shell stop, with the muzzle being to the right in this photo.

      Hook the lifter spring over the pivot pin, and then press the forward end down and under its retaining stud. The lifter spring will press against the trigger assembly. To hold the trigger assembly in place, put your right hand on the receiver at its rear, fingers over the top. Press the trigger assembly into place with your left hand and hook your right thumb through the trigger guard. Move the assembly back and forth until the holes line up. Hold the trigger assembly in place with your right hand while you press the screws through with your left. Tighten the trigger assembly screws and their locking screws.

      Slide the receiver tangs into the buttstock until they stop. Gently tap the butt of the stock against your benchtop to seat the stock firmly, and insert the tang screw.

      The shell stop is just a humble part, but one I have never seen broken or worn out. The shell stop on the bolt feeds shells from the magazine and travels with the bolt.

      On reassembly, line up the bolt with the clearance hole and press the pin part of the way back into the receiver. Press it just enough to catch the bolt, but not enough to prevent installation of the shell stop.

      To install the barrel, lube the outside of the magazine tube. Slide the recoil spring and friction rings over the tube in the appropriate order. Lock the bolt back. Stand the A-5 upright on your bench and slide the barrel over the magazine tube and into the receiver. Grasp the barrel and pull it against the recoil spring. Hold it there and slide the forearm in place. Tighten the magazine cap. Be sure the lip of the forearm slips into the retaining cut in the receiver. To check for proper assembly, slide the barrel into the receiver as far as you can, and tighten the magazine cap hand-tight. There should not be any slack between the magazine cap and forearm. I have seen quite a few shooters who “loosened the cap a couple of clicks” (for reasons they could not explain except that “I always do it”) and they are almost always the ones with cracked forearms on their A-5s. Keep it tight and the forearm won't crack.

      Magazine tubes that are dirty, rusty or have congealed oil on them can be cleaned with a Scotchbrite pad.

      Remington 11–48

      This Remington is a blend of old and new. While it is a long-recoil action right out of the Browning mold, it comes apart with two drift pins and no screws. Just like its ancestor, the 11–48 is durable to a fault, and you may see an 11–48 from time to time until we don't own self-loading guns any more. The only trick you need to know is when you try to put it back together.

      The shell stop is not staked in place, and is held in by the trigger assembly and the assembly pin. If you try to simply place the shell stop in the receiver and jam the trigger assembly in place, the stop will lean out and block you. Take a feeler gauge of .008″ or .010″ thickness and use it like a tongue depressor. Hold the shell stop to the side and slide the trigger assembly down the gauge until it is in place. Press the assembly pins through and pull the feeler gauge out. Vôila.

      Remington 1100 and 11–87

      The friction rings of the Browning are shown here. The steel ring sits under the bronze ring.

      Here is the heart of the Browning A-5 long-recoil action. The recoil spring is longer than the space for it, and is under considerable tension when the forearm is in place.

      Disassembly of the Model 1100 and the Model 11–87 is easy, and intentionally so. I will use “1100″ to describe the aspects of both the 1100 and 11–87 that are identical. Where the 11–87 is different I will use “11–87.” Make sure the shotgun is not loaded. Lock the bolt back. Unscrew the magazine cap and pull the forearm and then the barrel off. On the 11–87 barrel hanger there is a spring-steel clip that fits around the outside. The clip is the gas vent valve. A light load will not have enough gas pressure to move the spring, and ail the gas will be used to operate the mechanism. A heavy load will flex the spring, venting excess gas. Be sure you keep track of the clip, and get it back in place during reassembly. On a particularly dirty 1100 the gas rings may stay lodged inside the barrel hanger. Reach in with a fingertip and work them out. Grasp the operating handle and with your other hand press the release button in the middle of the lifter. Ease the bolt forward. Use a drift punch to press the two trigger assembly pins out of the receiver. Pull the trigger assembly out and set it aside. Grab the operating handle and pull it out of the bolt directly to the side. Hold the slide weight and pull it forward until it stops. The shell stops are preventing the bolt and slide assembly from coming out of the receiver. You will have to manually activate them to release the bolt. With a fingertip depress the shell stops.

      This Browning is set up for heavy loads.

      The bolt rides on but is not fastened to the slide, so pick it off the slide as soon as it clears the receiver. The last thing left in the receiver that you need to remove for cleaning is the action fork. It looks like a tuning fork with a T-handle. The rear tips have knobs on them to keep them locked to the recoil spring front guide. Use a pair of needle-nose pliers to compress the rears of the legs, and pull the fork towards the muzzle. Lift the legs up, and turn the fork a quarter turn to free it from the guide slots. The receiver is now open for scrubbing and hosing.

      Scrub and lubricate everything. Pay particular attention to the outside of the magazine tube. Crusted and hardened powder residue on the tube can bind the gas system and lead to a single-shot shotgun.

      The 11–87 magazine tube is made of stainless steel, and not likely to be rusted. However, the gas rings on both 1100 and 11–87 may have hard-baked carbon on them that will require vigorous scrubbing to get clean. Also, the rubber O-ring is prone to wear from firing and tears from heavy-handed disassembly. The older rings are black rubber. Newer rings are a metallized silver color, slightly thicker and stiffer than the old ones. It is worth the dollar or two to replace the old O-rings every other year with new ones. I have had many requests for a cheaper, industrial O-ring through the years. I have not found one, and even if I had I would not be very optimistic about an O-ring designed to hold water in a valve standing up to the heat and pressure of a shotgun shell.

      Browning ring stacking order is so important that there was a chart pasted into the forearm. After many years of use, most charts can't be read. If you don't stack them correctly, you can crack your forearm, creating the need for an expensive repair or replacement.

      To reassemble, put the action fork back in