Gunsmithing: Shotguns. Patrick Sweeney

to gain clearance, and place it in the guide slot. The upward curve of the fork goes towards the top of the receiver. Grasp the tips with the needle-nose pliers and compress them enough to insert them into the recoil spring front guide. Place the bolt on the slide and insert into the receiver. Press the shell stops to clear the slide. Once in the receiver, install the operating handle. Slide the gas rings over the magazine tube (in the correct order, see Chapter 16.) Place the barrel over the tube and then stand it upright. With one hand, retract the bolt and with the other press the barrel into place. Slide the forearm on and tighten the magazine cap.

      If you do not keep your forearm tight, it will crack. With enough cracking, the shotgun can become hazardous to use. This forearm was laminated with fiberglass cloth like a boat hull to prevent future cracking.

       Self-loading shotguns now commonly use the combustion gases to work the mechanism. Not all do, but most. (photo courtesy O.F. Mossberg & Sons.)

      To insert the trigger assembly you will have to tilt it slightly towards the large lever, the slide lock. The lock has a dog-leg in it, and it must fit into a recess in the side of the receiver. Once the lock has slid in, press the assembly flush to the receiver and line the holes up. Press the assembly pins through.

      This very grubby 1100 has the loading gate latch pin replaced with a solid pin with a large head. It also needs to be scrubbed.

      If your 1100, 11–87 or 870 has a USA speed loader, you need a screwdriver to disassemble it, not just a pin pusher.

      Stocks and forearms don't need much for general maintenance. The finish on your wood is one of three types, oil, plastic or everything else. If your wood has an oil finish, then you need the same or a compatible oil finish to touch-up the old finish as it wears thin. The plastic finishes, all variants of polyurethane, are wonderfully hard, smooth and shiny. If your stock gets scratched you can use rubbing compound If you have wood with a lacquer, varnish or shellac finish (anything that isn't oil or plastic) then Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen can remove light scratches and clean up a stock. It has one “drawback” and that is that it tends to increase the shine of a stock. A dull stock is only an oil finish, as any of the lacquer or, varnish or shellac finishes will have some shine to them. The Stock Sheen is an extremely fine rubbing compound and wax combination. The rubbing compound cleans crud and old stock finish off the surface, while the wax leaves a sheen behind. My friend John Simon used Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen and Conditioner first on an HK SL-7 of his. By the time he was done he couldn't leave it in the rack at the gun shop because every other hunter who came in wanted to buy it. If you want your stock to stay dull, then you must find out from the manufacturer what kind of oil finish it is, and use only that oil or oil mix to refresh the finish of your stock.

      On 1100's with rusted action weights, a barrel hone will clean the rust out and get the gun working again.

      This 1100 had the right-hand shell stop staked so many times the slot was worn out. By drilling and tapping it, the owner was able to get the shell stop to stay in place. However, the ugly factory has been raised greatly. The spring steel of the shell stop is so tough it took a carbide drill and four taps to get a threaded hole through the shell stop.

      Plastic finishes require a bit more work. To clean up small scratches, use an extra-fine rubbing compound to blend the scratch. You are using up some of the thickness of the finish to do the blending, so do only as little as possible to make the scratch fade away. Then, an application of an automotive paste wax will finish hiding the scratch. The polyurethane on your stock is the same type used in many other paints, yours just happens to be clear and with no pigment. If you use your shotgun hard, it certainly would be worth the effort to experiment with a couple of different waxes to see which works best, lasts longest, and works with your particular formula of finish.

      Wood doesn't need much, provided you haven't used your shotgun as an oar. The best investment for a working gun is spare wood, for replacement or practice at refinishing.

CHAPTER 5 Stocks and Woodworking

      Traditionally, shotguns do not have rear sights. This one is set up with an aperture rear for shooting slugs.

      Unlike rifles and handguns, shotguns do not have a rear sight. Well, traditionally they don't. Shotguns intended for use with slugs for deer hunting, or for use as turkey guns or for self-defense shotguns quite often have rear sights. But traditionally, shotguns have only a bead front sight. The location of your aiming eye in relation to the rest of the shotgun is supposed to be enough of a rear sight. For an experienced shooter using a gun that fits him or that he is accustomed to, the practical result is good enough. If the shooter is new, or the shotgun just doesn't fit, the results can be frustrating. Many pages have been written waxing rhapsodic about the fit of this gun or that, and the fussy and ancient gunsmith who fits them. Some guns seem to seek out the targets themselves, and are already “on” the moment the butt touches your shoulder. A little secret…the British shooters who shoot so well, and who seem to bring down everything that flies or runs by, have lots of money. Enough money to afford custom-made shotguns, and enough money to hire professional instruction in how to use those shotguns.

      You may not have as much money, but you can still benefit from their expenditures. If your eye rests in the same location over the stock each time you mount the shotgun, you can eventually learn (some learn quickly) where it hits in relation to the bead. If you're lucky, it will even hit right at the bead. If your eye does not rest in the same location, you cannot learn the “trick” because there isn't one. Many shooters assume that if they get a fitted shotgun their aiming problems will be over. Not true. The problem is not just the length of the stock, or its drop, cast-off and cheekpiece, but how you mount it. If each time you throw the shotgun to your shoulder you do so in a different position, fitting won't help. Consistently mounting the shotgun in the same place is as important as good fit.

      We have a dilemma. For many shooters, they can't shoot well enough to have any fun, and if they aren't having fun they won't continue. If they don't continue until they have an established routine, they can't get a shotgun fitted properly. So, buying a fitted shotgun isn't a shortcut, and now they've spent even more money on a frustrating experience.…

      Early stock designs left much to be desired. While attractive in a showy way, this stock cannot be at all comfortable to shoot.

      One solution is your gun club. Ask to try other members' shotgun (while they watch, of course) to see if there is any model that is more comfortable than your present one and lets you hit more targets. You could even organize a short league, where everyone uses borrowed shotguns (with factory ammo, of course, I'm not loaning my shotgun to be used with someone elses' reloads…) and uses a different one each week. In short order everyone will have learned a great deal, and you may find the shotgun you need is soon to be the ex-shotgun of someone who also found a better hitter.