From Pat's Bench

Dear Pat,

I have a Browning BSS 12 GA side by side shotgun which I 've owned for 25 years. It have been a real good gun. My problem I've had is it will not always select for the second shot. The shotgun has a selector and no matter how I select it, right barrel of left, it will not always change over to the second shot. I've never had it a part so I'm not sure if it is broken or dirty. What do I do with this: 

Thanks Morgan

Dear Morgan,

The Browning BBS is a great double barrel shotgun. this gun was made with very close tolerances. It seems the old oil and grease will begin to get sticky and thick and cause lots of trouble. I've seen the inertia block completely seized up. My fix is to disassemble and completely clean and relube to solve the problem. I also polish all the connection surfaces with the sears, connector and inertia block. I recommend any repairs to be done should be done by a very qualified gunsmith.

Good Luck, Pat

Dear Readers,

We had a customer bring in a AR15 in 223 that would not eject a fired cartridge. The firearm was being used for law enforcement training. The firearm was working fine the week before and now it quit operating. I checked it over and everything looked good but still would not eject.

I had my employee Joe, who is more familiar with this gun, check it out but still no luck. I had Joe take the bolt assembly out of my AR and tried it in our customers gun and it worked perfectly. We both knew then, that there was something wrong with the customers bolt assembly.  The bolt head rotates on the bolt body so when the firearm is fired the gas goes into the nozzle on top of the bolt which allows the bolt to turn and open to eject the fired casing. Using our air hose and directing air into the nozzle the bolt would not open. We then knew the nozzle was plugged up. Sure enough a blown primer from a fired casing had gone into the nozzle, plugging it up. I'd never seen this before. We will probably never see it again

Good Luck, Pat

Dear Readers,

To those owners of Remington 11/87 20 GA shotguns-

When those 20 GA where shipped new they came with an extra steel gas ring that is about one inch tall. This extra ring is used only when shooting 2 3/4" light loads.  If you use this extra ring shooting heavy loads you run the risk of breaking your action bar.

Just a heads up to keep your 20 GA running,

Good Luck, Pat

Dear Readers,

I have written about metal finishes, such as Kalguard, which we do at my shop and many other types available to the public such as dura coat Teflon coatings.

I have had some cusstomers attempt these processes themselves with not much sucess. I've run into the same problems when attempting to assemble coated items. I have learned for the close fitting actions a thickness of 2 mil or less is required. Any thing thicker will tend to chip and not look good when fully assembled.

We've also tried coating revolvers with some success: The Smith & Wesson models have very tight tolerances, so we've tried to shy away from them. We see a lot of simi-auto slides which works well as long as the sights can be removed. Be sure to research the process  before proceeding.

Good Luck, Pat