Velocette

I think that he is saying that you have to be an experienced idiot to be able to make an idiotic statement.

😌

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 !!!!!

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.

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.

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.

Thanks for that, If I thin a pair of them down a little then the ejection may not be quite as fierce. Thanks for the kind comment, just get yourself another cabinet and you could be the custodian of a few of these !

Good point, these modern plastic woke cartridges cannot get away quickly enough from the nasty bang and you can actually hear them crying as they fly past you!

The barrels are fine, the bores are clean and shiny with no dents and a few rusty marks on the outside which are nearly all under the fore end. There is plenty of choke in it too, The only thing I'm not too keen on is the "swamped " rib which together with a higher comb than I'm used to makes the gun shoot a bit high for me. This will be addressed but in the meantime, a 3/16" high piece of ultra strong magnet placed just in front of the barrel bead seems to correct things enough to use.

The plan is to make some new springs, but much weaker than the one that did work which sent a cartridge flying way over my shoulder. It was amazing just how well finished it was under the debris and an inch of Vaseline.

The stock wasn't as bad as the description made out and is pretty solid with some lovely figuring. It was covered with some nasty French polish which came off easily and after a good polish and oiling is starting to look respectable.

The sticking safety catch was a pleasure to repair. The small screw fastening the outer button to the underside was quite tight and when I slackened it a fraction, it all slid and worked correctly. A close look revealed a missing "stake" screw which locked the main screw into its exact position and had allowed someone in the past to overtighten and therefore disable the safety. Starting with an 8BA cap screw I cut a slot in one end and then trimmed it down to 4mm so that it fit flush with the screw head. I used a junior hacksaw with a Bahco blade because they are thinner that normal and stoned down the undulations of the blade to make it as narrow as possible and it worked well. Failing that I would have used a Jewelers saw with their really narrow blade to get the slot as narrow as needed A slight oddness is it having ring set strikers which I've usually seen on continental guns but I'm sure someone will know about this. Unlike some, these came out reasonably easily using an enormous tool I made specially for the job !

I'm not sure about the origins of the action, the top lever operation being unusual having a coil spring rather that a leaf. Perhaps someone recognises it ? Lots of lovely detail though.

I took both leaf springs out of the fore end and simply let it extract rather than eject and that works well. Turning to the action, I managed to move the safety button with a good squirt of oil and a gentle tap with a brass drift. All the pins came out without damage and this is what's inside.

It all came apart easily and apart from the one spring broken, all was well. At this stage I got a reply from the Army and Navy archives, giving the story of the guns original owner. Mine is serial No. 61314 and I see that Mr Repard bought two guns that day.