Croohur

I used to lightly oil the internals of my moderator, but I found it made no difference if I did or not. I assume the exhaust from the gases quickly expel the oil and all you have done is waste a bit of oil!! I just take it off periodically and soak it overnight, give it a clean and its good as new!

Brake cleaner when its been in the wars then a light gun oil/mineral oil, blow some air through it/around it and shes good to go.

I wonder is the AK for Akkar Altay the Turkish shotgun maker who make the budget Churchill range.. these are quite similar

Seems to be another one here: https://www.cheshiregunroom.com/classic-sporting-tr-ak-07-12g-shotgun

After the Classic Doubles stopped producing in Japan, Marocchi in Italy took over making them for a while AFAIK. It has the look of an early 90s Marocchi anyway. As Gunman said, proof marks should reveal all....

Oh no! I've only just started reading it in the past few months. While it understandably focused a lot of attention on American guns like Fox;s and Ithaca's it was incredibly well researched and well written. A real shame.

The Spanish system, as applied by the proof house in Eibar in the Basque Country is easy enough to follow. Since 1995 a number presented in blocks of digits presents the information like this:The first two digits identify the maker (for instance, 16 is AYA, and 13 is Lanber). The second two digits identify the maker of the gun, and 03 indicates a shotgun. The next sequence of digits is the manufacturer’s serial number, and the last pair of digits is the year of manufacture (for instance, 98 indicates 1998, and 05 indicates 2005).The serial number AFAIK gives the model and year of manufacture - mine was 13-03-0****-06-12-76This breaks down as Makers Code - Type - Serial Number - Year of proof - Gauge - Chamber length13 - Lanber makers code03 - Type of firearm in this case a shotgunSerial number - pretty obviousDate number - last two digits of date of manufacture i.e 98=1998,99=1999 - The above number would indicate 200612 - 12 Gauge76 - Length of chamber in this case 76mm (3inch) The above is valid IIRC for guns made post 1998, before that the format was serial no, year, bore, chamber length I think....If you look on the under side of the barrels you will see the spanish proof house marks, there should be a a proof house year code made up of a letter and a single number.

Yes, I have one. First one I've owned, but works as well as I expected them to work. Have no complaints. I don't use it much so cant comment on how long it will last, but had one about 18 months with no issue.

👍

If I was a betting man, and having a feel of the worst of the pitting I would say that it would be safe to use with light loads. But I'm not a betting man and will take it to a gunsmith. It was gun that did have sentimental value to the original owner, who gifted it to my wife. I'd rather keep it and use it, as its a nice old boxlock and out of respect for the family friend. But it would not be worth putting much money into it, and I think the original owner would not want us to. I did some livht honing on the bores today, just to make sure there was no rust. The pitting does seem ancient, there wasn't any sign of rust. There is some slight pitting on the barrels, but it has been smoothed over and re-blued at some point, probably around the same time as it was re-proofed. Anyway, I've put it in the back of the gun cabinet and will ponder on it over December and Christmas and get it to a gunsmith in the New Year. Would be delighted to hear anymore input from people. I have no experience of older sxs at all. I have a Merkel Model 8 from the 1970's that is bombproof so am eager to hear people's thoughts. Cheers.

I like it. I don't like it that much. I'm in Ireland. If anyone does sleeving here it will be at least twice as expensive as in the UK.

Well they are 30" barrels and balanced slightly barrel heavy so that might be an option

Of course the pitting is in the open choked barrel so walls are thinner. So lapping might not be an option. The bores near the chamber end are in much better shape. It's really the front trigger open barrel end that has the worst of it. Will definitely get someone to have a look, as it's a nice gun to shoot. Just needed to add a bit of LOP to stock and we were all good to go

Fired a few shots yesterday to see if it was sound. Gave the bores a good soak and cleaned out today. Unfortunately, what the cleaning showed some pitting in one of the barrels. The top picture shows the worst of the pitting. Have no experience of this situation. It looks bad to me, what would be anyone else's opinion? It could be from 60 years ago and possibly why it was sent for re-proof... Anyway won't be shooting until I can find someone who can have a proper look at it.

Thanks for that information. Much appreciated. Here are a few more photos. I've seen some that have Braddell engraved on the action. This one jus has it on the rib. There are decades of grime and scratches hiding what seems to be a nice piece of wood underneath. Can't wait to give it a good clean tomorrow and see what she looks like