The L.C. Smith Collectors Association
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    Project Gun Archived Message

    Posted by David Williamson on June 10, 2016, 8:41 pm

    Talking about project guns, here is one that I just received in late May, a 1919 Field Grade with ejectors and HOT. I got this for a very reasonable price. As you can see from the pictures I'm sure it scared many bidders away.

    I had asked the seller if the outside of the barrels were pitted and he said no just rust from being in an attic. The heat had "alligatored" the shellac finish plus someone had taped something to raise the comb as it has a lot of drop.

    When I received the gun I naturally tried the Hot and found it was double firing. I tried the ejectors and they worked fine. The next step was to take it apart and see what might be wrong with the HOT.



    After I made up a spacer for the rear trigger plate to top tang, the safety would not go on when you moved the selector and would not fire on the selecting the left barrel. On switching it to the right barrel, it would fire but the spur lever would not engage. This is now beyond my knowledge of the HOT, so a few photographs were sent to Jerry Andrews and he confirmed that something was wrong with the sears. So off to Jerry it went for his magic.
    Started sanding the barrels, down after taking one very small dent out. There was no pitting on or in the barrels. The insides were very shiny and they measured .729 in both.
    Started with 220 grit cloth packed sandpaper and when done with that went to 320 cloth backed sandpaper and got into the top part of the ribs and around the water tables near the chambers. Stayed away from the stampings and used fine steel wool.
    I rusted the barrels twice and then boiled for 5 minutes. This is the first time I used tap water (well water) as I have always used distilled water. After carding with green Scotchbrite I rusted again with Laurel Mountain Forge, let sit for over 3 hours in the box out in the sun but it did not develop the "rust". I boiled them anyway for 5 minutes and then carded again and was surprised at the finish. This is the way they will stay. After cleaning I heated barrels slightly warm to the touch and put a thin coat of oil on them.

    Time for the stock. I put on a pair of rubber gloves and saturated a rag with acetone and started on the taped area. It removed the tape. Switched over to alcohol and started working on the finish. Had to saturate the rag and it dissolved the old finish.
    I did not take out the dings and dents, it shows the honest use it went through.
    Needs a few more coats of finish and this time I tried some of Brian Board's finish and it works great.
    The picture does not do justice to the nice piece of walnut this gun has. It has radial rays near the butt. and some nice figure.


    I sent Jerry the whole receiver and stock and by the next week, Jerry shipped it back working perfect. Jerry confirmed that both sears had to be replaced, the spring for the selector and spur was broken and adjusted everything. His words were it was really "hammered".
    Jerry does know his Hunter One Triggers and much, much more about these guns.

    Just thought I would share this with you as it seemed as though the site could use some uplift.


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