Winchester 37A .410 Restore

[Sharps40]

Got it from a Pal. A gift for the Grandaughter, MuddyGirl27. Its her shotgun and completes her lifetime battery of shotgun, 22 rifle, hunting rifle and handgun.

Getting it ready for good looks and small game now.

Pretty wood, previously sanded with heavy grit paper.

Front sight blew out and the muzzle is a bit crimped? Don't know if that was factory choke or not but it's going to be removed. If we need choke, I can jug choke the barrel later since its not chrome lined.

Not too many flat spots on the gun so, I'll use the factory sight hole to find top dead center.....

New hole, centered at 12 oclock, drilled #31 and tapped 6x48 for any kind of sight we might like to have, store bought or home made.

After trimming the barrel just aft of the original sight hole and crimped barrel, I square it with piloted hand cutter.

An 11 degree crowning cutter on a pilot, turned by hand makes a slight recess.

After polishing the 11 degree recess and a bit of rounding over the muzzle's outer circumference to remove the sharp edge......done. And I still have 25.5" of good smooth bright wonderfully preserved bore.

 

[7pt62THOR]

I always enjoy yer tinkerin' brother! Keep 'em coming!

 

[boneboy96]

subscribed!

 

[Sharps40]

This is the engraved receiver model. It came with white spacers under grip cap and buttplate.

A look at the hardware, mismatched screws and one badly boogered......top hole in the wood is stripped. (That hole will get the toothpick fix and be good for another life time.)

Was hoping for walnut but looks like its sycamore. With luck there will be no shadows in the wood as I'll nitric acid stain it to pop up that pretty grain pattern and I don't want any shadows in it! Buttplate white spacer is a long ago replacement that doesn't fit, I'll have to make a new one.

A dig thru the junk box uncovers a rolling block stock with lovely matched and slotted head screws I can use on the Winchester. The need their heads turned down a touch but better too fat than too skinny. With luck, I can clock them up and down (slots at 12 and 6) during the refinish.

The grip cap is steel.....the magnet says so. Just gotta figger how to get it off there so I can refinish it and the stock and make a new white spacer for under it too.

 

[3clicks_Off]

I like the toothpick trick. Works most of the time

 

[Sharps40]

Its great. Ya can even rehang house doors on toothpics.

 

[3clicks_Off]

Its great. Ya can even rehang house doors on toothpics.

Yes sir. Ive done it several times

 

[Sharps40]

For those that don't know, tightening up a wood screw in a hole can be done with one or more toothpics inserted. Threads grab as tight as new and for screws that are not subject to constant removal, like door hinges and buttplates, the fix is effectively life time.

 

[Sharps40]

Checking the guns action. With the forend off, check the barrel and action for side to side play, an indication of a looseness at the hinge pin. Up and down play indicates a worn locking bolt and or bite. This one is pretty good. Just a kiss of lateral play and I'll check to see if the barrel is joined to the action. If not, I'll attempt to rejoin it so its back on face.

I found my Prussian blue and the bite shows a complete wipe. Pretty good fit.

When closed, the barrel is less than 50% on face. The barrel needs rejoined to the action.

This is an inexpensive weapon. It doesn't merit, at least not yet, the expense of a new pin and/or welding the hinge point in the lump and reaming. So, given there is only a kiss of play, lets try the free and often low effort solution. Rotate the hinge pin to an unworn location and remove some of the existing wear/looseness in the action.

The right side of the hinge pin is marked with a sharpie and a brass drift and medium smasher wacker is used to start the hinge pin out from left to right.

Once removed, we can see a bit of the wear on this side of the original pin.....just a slight coke bottle shape.

Cleaning and polishing the pin and start it back in, right to left, 180 degrees out from where it was before. Putting a fresh face to the pivot point in the barrel lump.

Now the barrel makes full contact with the breech face....its essentially fully on face. Notice the gauling of the knees just below the water table......a steel forend iron has been installed and operated for years without lube. Don't oil a break open gun....grease it at the hinge points and the knees......Now with this gun back on face and properly lubed, it should last for hundreds of thousands more shots.

The two piece grip cap is glued together....gentle prying removes the medallion.

The stock is heavily gouged. I'll steam out what I can and after staining, fill with clear epoxy before the final finish. With luck it'll either sand out or disappear under the clear epoxy filler.

 

[Sharps40]

Excellent basic info for shotgun work and lubrication.

Joining barrels

Adjusting the bite

Lubing a break open shotgun