Meat and potato guns

[mdeland]

Thanks Bob, all good sound advice and reasoning. I have opened the forcing cones on a number of guns to get rid of the steep angle needed with paper hulls with good results after patterning. I have two reamers for 12 bore made just for this when using shot cups which lowers the pressure for steel and deforms lead shot much less. Shot cups themselves raise pressure alone let alone the steep forcing cone angles like this gun has.

[bobw]

Yeah mdeland I'm sure you can handle the mods. I thought you sounded like you were going to jump somewhere without knowing where you were at. Quite frankly the very first thing I would do if it was mine is to see how well it is regulated as the old 311 isn't know to be very close at times so see if you can live with where it prints both barrels first before any barrel work at all. Bobw

[mdeland]

Would seeing where a Breneke rifled slug prints tell the story of barrel regulation I wonder? I'll check that out and see if there is a correspondence with shot loads.

[mdeland]

I think that the steep angle forcing cones in the throat need to come out regardless as all I will ever shoot in it will be shot cup loads and this will not effect regulation as far as I know. If regulation is off I'm not sure I want to try removing the ribs and re-regulating the bridge blocks as these barrels are brazed not soft soldered together. They used the soft solder to sweat in and fill all the voids left by the hard solder at the rib joints which is what I had to repair in the muzzle pictures.
I excavated and glass bedded the stock cracks, re-stained to match the forearm and put two epoxy recoil bumpers at the rear of the box lock stock mortise , top and bottom of the through bolt tunnel so I believe the stock cracking is a thing of the past hopefully. The oak doll in the grip will take care of that portion of stock weakness so I think it should be good to go with a new spar verathan and True-oil finish.
I probably will put in a new front bead on the rib as well. I don't really care for the wide flat one that came on the barrels.
Sure is a neat ole girl though over all. Just needs a little TLC to get her back in shape.

[mdeland]

Here is some shots of the break open 30-30 completed with aperture sights.

[mdeland]

I'm curious to see how well this saddle mount will stay put being sweated on the barrel with Force 44 low temperature silver solder. It is supposed to have 2/3rds the strength of high temp silver solder and with the rather heavy 03-A3 aperture sight dove tailed on top it will get a pretty good work out under recoil. I could have put in two 8 x40 scope screws to reinforce the silver solder joint but am always reluctant to drill and tap over a chamber area in a barrel if I don't have to although this barrel has plenty of steel wall around the chamber. I think it will hold as it did fine under the test load recoil of factory ammo but time and shooting will tell the story.

[mdeland]

Starting to rub in the coats of Tru-oil on the double gun stock after three coats of Spar Varathane seal coat dried for three days. The Tru-oil needs 24 hours of cure before the next layer is laid down with a steel wool abrading between coats. I'll finish up with a layer or two of Renaissance Wax over the cured Tru-oil for the final protection and desired look.
Anxious to get out and see how the barrels are regulated , choke constriction and patterning density. Interesting project working on these rather ordinary but physically sound and very functional work guns.
I'll post a couple of pic's of the double gun when finished and re-assembled.

[mdeland]

Wonder how accurate the 30-30 will turn out, it being turned into a basic poor mans match rifle?
It may shoot like a house afire and be a surprise to us all. I'll post back to comment on wither the rear saddle mount stays on with only the sweat joint or if it will need some screws to help out.

[mdeland]

Well I finished up the old girl and she's ready to pattern and check regulation. I measured the choke today the left barrel has .031 choke constriction and the right barrel has .020.

[mdeland]

Now that the stock fits me it feels really good when I throw the gun up with eyes closed and open them to be looking straight down the rib. I'm anxious to go shoot her and see if I can hit some clays and perhaps ducks .

[BFD]

That's a tight left barrel for shooting steel. Bismuth 4s or 5s would be a good choice for ducks

[mdeland]

Yeah, I think that's good advice Brent! I decided to pattern it with premium lead and steel shot loads and also shoot some slugs to see if there is any correlation between them as to regulation. I talked to a close friend of mine who knows shot guns well about the steep forcing cone angles and he suggested trying it with shot cup loads as is before removing them. I was going to just ream them but change my mind after listening to his thoughts. Pretty tough to put metal back after removal from a bone head mistake.

[BFD]

Don't run big steel through those chokes, never mind the forcing cones. Just don't.

[Kurt]

Pack the shot in the shot cup with Vaseline to extend the pattern range. Good for Goose.

[mdeland]

Good point, I've got a model 12 with and adjustable choke that has been a good duck gun with steel and choked modified. This gun will be used more for roughed grouse and spruce hen anyway so lead shot will be the predominate diet. I do have a set of adjustable choke reamers so can reduce the constriction if needs be after patterning to see whats up. I need to refresh my memory but think what I have now is full and Improved cylinder, no?