Latest Holts Project. Army and Navy SxS 12g.

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, It is sad that once good quality English made shotguns are now selling for such prices, I had a Army and Navy 12 bore XXV , Made for a Navy  Officer, The advent of the O/U started the decline i reckon back in the late 1970s/80s as many i know went from their AYAs to Browning/ Miroku etc

[Velocette]

15 hours ago, London Best said:

Personally, I would stick with the fierce ejection.
The whole point of an ejector is to clear the chambers for a faster reload. There is little more annoying during a hot corner than to find that one or both empties have not cleared the chamber when you are trying to drop another cartridge in whilst watching approaching birds.

I think that you are right, to have the gun as it was intended to be so I'll get a "blank" from chambers and make up and fit a replacement spring. If needs be I'll load up some paper cases and leave them in a damp jacket pocket for a few weeks to correctly regulate the ejecting distance ! It may be that I remove the springs at times to suit where I am shooting but they will be there for the next custodian.

Edited November 11 by Velocette
Clarity.

[Velocette]

1 hour ago, kevin55 said:

Very interesting to read all this and see what can be done with a very cheap auction find

Was the rust easy to remove without damaging the metal?

 

Most of the rust just brushed off but I'm quite a fan of boiling rusty items in distilled water for half an hour to convert any remaining rusty pockets to black Ferric Oxide which is soft and easy to brush away. It does seem to enhance any remaining blueing or other surface treatment as well. A smear of Vaseline finishes the job. 

I forgot another simple but elegant detail of the action, the safety actuating arm is almost sculptural in its simplicity.

[Velocette]

And another thing, the strikers are, to me, very small at about 13.5mm long and have worn to very slightly different lengths so I'll make up two new ones. The action is a non-rebounding type so there are no small springs behind the strikers which means having to carefully tilt the gun backwards after firing and before opening it. I'm hoping that by cunningly shaping the striker tip the empty case passing it will reliably push it back.

[Old Boggy]

I greatly admire your metal working skill to bring the gun back into good working order.

A great post to follow. 

[old'un]

2 hours ago, Velocette said:

And another thing, the strikers are, to me, very small at about 13.5mm long and have worn to very slightly different lengths so I'll make up two new ones. The action is a non-rebounding type so there are no small springs behind the strikers which means having to carefully tilt the gun backwards after firing and before opening it. I'm hoping that by cunningly shaping the striker tip the empty case passing it will reliably push it back.

I thought all leaf spring guns had rebounding hammers?

[ditchman]

a couple of cut down Biro springs would do very nicely........you must have rebound springs onthem

[Velocette]

That was a complete attack of brain fade !! You are quite right, there should be springs in there,,,,,and there were,,,,just stuck in another magnetic dish that I put parts in and didn't notice and jumped to strange conclusions about the action. Must pay more attention !!!!!

[TIGHTCHOKE]

8 minutes ago, Velocette said:

That was a complete attack of brain fade !! You are quite right, there should be springs in there,,,,,and there were,,,,just stuck in another magnetic dish that I put parts in and didn't notice and jumped to strange conclusions about the action. Must pay more attention !!!!!

By George I think he's human, admits to minor mistakes and takes it all in his stride, a revelation................

[Velocette]

😌

[London Best]

3 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

By George I think he's human, admits to minor mistakes and takes it all in his stride, a revelation................

Obviously a ‘bot’. 
No human ever admitted to making mistakes!

[arjimlad]

Lovely to see this beautiful gun being restored to perfect working order. 

[Miserableolgit]

Not sure how I missed this thread but glad I found it. Fantastic to see a nice old gun being nursed back into good condition.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

1 minute ago, Miserableolgit said:

Not sure how I missed this thread but glad I found it. Fantastic to see a nice old gun being nursed back into good condition.

Specsavers, they are on the High Street if you can find them.....................

[Miserableolgit]

59 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Specsavers, they are on the High Street if you can find them.....................

Where's the High Street? 👓

[dainty duck]

Great post , I remember reading the Army  & Navy gun Catalogue  40 odd years ago and the amount of guns they had for sale in there was undeliverable ,

they had every caliber made , from 4bore db rifles and shotguns right down to 22 rimfire and center fire shotguns and rifles , also pistols going up to db 10 bore howdah pistols , it also contained household goods for the forces and their families whilst out in foreign  climes .

the prices in the Catalogue also included shipping within The British Empire and Beyond  ! 

[ditchman]

are you going to get the cheqering re-cut.....it will really make it pop then

[Velocette]

That's an imminent project, getting a double  and a single ended chequering tool from Peter Dyson and practicing on a couple of old stocks until I can revive the cuts without making it look too new. Deep but not sharp is the target. The hard bit is measuring the lines per inch through glasses which I tried to polish with rottenstone ! It didn't work and it will be next week before my new ones are ready to collect.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

14 minutes ago, Velocette said:

That's an imminent project, getting a double  and a single ended chequering tool from Peter Dyson and practicing on a couple of old stocks until I can revive the cuts without making it look too new. Deep but not sharp is the target. The hard bit is measuring the lines per inch through glasses which I tried to polish with rottenstone ! It didn't work and it will be next week before my new ones are ready to collect.

Gordon Bennett, next time use something like toothpaste.

[ditchman]

ive done most things ...but i have never picked up a chequering tool

glad you are going to have a practice first

how is it on the face ?...is it still tight ?

[Velocette]

Its as tight as a tick. The top lever is the right side of 5-o-clock so its had an easy life since it was last re-jointed, which it surely must have been. As far as chequering goes, I've only ever cleaned up dodgy or worn lines with a tool I made from and old screwdriver, bent to 90 degrees at the end and filed to a 60 degree V shape and tapered to work when pulling rather that pushing. Its more controllable like that.

[holloway]

Before you attempt to re checker might i suggest you give the existing checkering a good scrub with a firm tooth brush and a little degreaser you may find that it might not need any new work when generations of palm grease etc is removed 👍 whats there looks complete and fairly sharpish in fitting with your guns age .

[Velocette]

Exactly, I used proper turpentine and an old toothbrush as you suggested and most of it came up pretty well. There are the odd few spots of "bruising" and slightly worn lines that would benefit from cleaning up with this.

It should tidy up the few places that need it and leave a sympathetic finish. The chequering tools I mentioned from Peter Dyson were for some worse finishes than this, particularly on some fore ends which seem to wear quite badly.

[Velocette]

14 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Gordon Bennett, next time use something like toothpaste.

That's what the optician told me as she relieved me of my hard earned !!  Better still, leave it to people who know what there are doing.