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A Cowboy Coach

6K views 51 replies 11 participants last post by  Sharps40 
#1 ·
While I finish up the Classy Coach, time to look over what might become a Cowboy Coach.

A rattle trap of a Stevens 5100 12g. Literally, rattles!

It comes disassembled for a reason.



A very early gun, the forend wood should be repairable, one small crack.....the buttstock has old putty repairs, missing wood and a long central crack, likely from some one falling across or using the gun as a pry bar.





Action was long ago reblued purple. We'll fix that, rust black. The safety detent is missing in action. The top snap spring is long gone. The right firing pin is so dirty it sticks. But, the essential functions are there and I believe it'll be a fully functional action with new springs, inspection and cleaning.



A small crack in the action.....not worth welding. Probably caused by the trauma that broke the buttstock. I'll stop drill it and silver solder the remainder....should be right as rain....its a non critical area and less than one third of the width of the lower tang is penetrated by the crack.





The bores are sewer pipe dirty. (But upon cleaning, lovely and essentially pit free. They'll need polish inside but no dents, no rust and came out bright and excellent with a bore snake only)



After the old reblued, someone tried to drive out the hinge pin since this one is loosie goosie. It didn't work, not because they punched the wrong side. but because these guns have a pin to be drilled out before you drive out the hinge pin. I'll fix it, tight like new.



Barrels shortened to 18.5" before final finishing to length. A snap on light pipe sight will sit behind a traditional brass bead later.



Should be slick for Cowboy Shoots or Truck or just a handy Tractor Cannon around the farm. New buttstock will be needed. Springs and bead are in bound. I'll make the hinge pin and we'll fix anything in the action that's worn out. Barrels will be browned. Action Rust Blackened.

 
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#27 ·
Getting itchy.......gotta round up springs but working some family stuff first. Thinkin it through, and since there is no trigger guard, I'm leanin toward a straight stock and perhaps either a Hawkins style trigger guard or one of the pretty shotgun guards I have hiddin around here somewhere. And amid all that, I'm getting a real bad itch to convert a Ruger Blackhawk to revolving rifle with perhaps, hand carved Damascus steel trigger guard and back strap assembly......
 
#28 ·
Found it. LC Smith trigger guard blank for an SxS. Long time back, they was on sale at Numrich, back when it was still GunPartsCorp/Thompson Auto Ordinance (givin away my time in grade there) for about $2 each. I bought a double handful and have used em on everything from Mauser Rifle Customs to the current shotgun project. They are nice, and with a blank stud, threadable to most any action. Now they are $11.75 and a buncha shipping. So, a nice upgrade in the looks and usability department (the loop is large for gloved hands.)

So, after putting suitable 1/4-20 threads on the stud with a good sharp die.



Some light tweaking of the loop and a bit of reshaping of the mangled and bent triggers will be required. But it'll work fine for a straight or pistol grip stock.....and if not, Numrich has a lovely brass Hawken Guard that could be adapted.



Gonna be purty I think....

 
#29 ·
One last job, before I go see Dad, and to stop it naggin at me.

Had the top snap lever at 6 o'clock with much fitting of the old abused barrel extension and a new used top snap lever. Plenty good....I wanted it better.

So, make the barrel extension future repairable with a soldered on shim. New and thicker shims can be put into place in the future as needed, no more beating the barrel extension to adjust the bite.

A .003 steel shim was chosen, cleaned on the back with sandpaper, heated on an old file and tinned with acid flux and Hi Force 44 low temp solder.

Then the bite of the barrel extension was cleaned, roughed up and tinned.

The shim was wedged into the barrel extension with acid flux on both tinned sides and the stub heated until a daub of extra solder flowed down and through to the heat source.....here it is cooling down for filing and clean up.



After clean up and a touch of cold blue to see if the solder line is real thin....it is, I can't see a solder line! Thin is good, strong. After looking it over and over, I checked the floor to see if the shim fell off......it didn't, but is sure is hard to see if a shim is there or not.





Yep, shim is there.....lovely....5 o'clock on the top snap lever! Just where I wanted it to start and it'll seat good with the first session or two at the range and then be fine as fine can be for many thousands of shots. Happy Joy......now to go see Dad!

 
#35 ·
Got back at it this morning....check running the new spring sets. Just a reassembly and function test and all went well.

Installing the new reduced power top snap spring with the help of a chunk of slotted brake tube.....I managed to get all the bends out of the top snap rod and now its the right shape, two bends, not seven, and long enough to properly function the safety.



Not the original springs for these spanking new firing pins, but slightly tapered so one end grabs the pin and the other end slides without binding. Screw heads needed polished down from .344 to .336 to clearance the new pins shafts. Both screw heads will need filed down slightly to adjust firing pin protrusion....mostly on the left barrel.



Pins and hammers back in place with new wolf reduced power main springs on the hammers.....the short barrels now hang fully open of their own weight, and since the actuating rod was slightly shortened, they hang open wider. No longer have to wedge the butt on a leg while camming the barrels down to extract the spent shells.




Broken left trigger spring needs replaced......



And here with new springs on both triggers and all function checks and safety checks passed.....time to polish out the bores.

 
#42 ·
Freed up some time, energy and a touch of cash. Stock wood is on hand and well machined. Very much oversized but close where it counts.

Initial fit.....





Prussian blue indicates not much contact.



After shaving away the blue spots, some contact on one side and still none on the other.



Keep shaving away at the blue marked wood until there is a good fit. I'll probably skin it at the end with a touch of glass bedding. Makes the fit perfect and seals the endgrain against oil.



Almost there, a touch more work to do on the left side.



A quick peak at what an English straight stock and splinter forend will look like. Gotta shave the butt though, it needs a vented recoil pad.



 
#43 ·
Finally back to it. And since I got so much done, I'll reward myself today with a trip to the range to shoot the 45 Sheriff and my 1886.

But.....the buttstock nearly carved in and nearly ready for roughing up the ends for some glass bedding to make a better than I can carve fit and to seal the end grain.



Plenty of extra wood to remove and I'll likely leave the side panels just proud of the metal.....the sides are thin anyway and a bit of extra wood never hurts for some additional strength.



Fitting up the new splinter forend, a mock barrel to sand it in.



With layout blue I see I am hitting bottom on the forend iron and the barrels are just clear of the wood.



Screwed to the forend iron, a light sanding and shaping and it snaps into place nicely.



After a bunch of rasping and sanding the buttstock, I straighten the tang on the lefever trigger guard and check to see where metal and wood will need removed for adaptation to this stevens action.



The width of the buttstock and the width of the barrels is about the same, so, easy enough to cut off the stock for a recoil pad using table saw with fence and miter.

 
#44 ·
Belt sander and measure and true up the fresh cut end of the buttstock, not much truin is needed so I stop shy of the line when the measurements all around are about the same.



Screw holes on the recoil pad are 3 1/8 CTC so I find, mark and drill centered holes. Screws are run in and out a few times with some lube to prevent cracking the wood.



Initial grinding of the recoil pad is with an 80g disc, following the top and bottom lines of the stock wood.



Fine belt sander is used to bring wood down to recoil pad on the cheek sides and to smooth out the lines over the top and bottom.



Next steps are glass bedding the forend iron and the buttstock. But for now, the Cowboy Coach looks pretty good.....





 
#46 ·
Clearance was made in the Le Fever trigger guard tang, action tang and in the buttstock. Trigger guard mounted and ready for a skim coating of glass bed.....and a slotted head screw vice a Phillips head.

Much larger and better looking than the factory stamped guard. Plenty of room to get to the triggers now.



 
#49 ·
Completed glass bedding the trigger guard tang....also started rounding over its edges and tail for a clean smooth look.



Moving the barrel back into battery increased the forend iron tension to a furious amount, took a pry bar to pop it on and off, so, a bit of work deepening the catch and now it pops on and off snugly but still with the necessary authority to retain the barrels.



I suppose next step is a test fire....then if all is well, finish the metal work and perhaps rework the cocking plunger under the barrel.
 
#50 ·
Guts back in and stock going on, clearance issue....not unexpected. Some trimming at the bottom lugs to clear the back end of the sears.



A couple spots of blue at 7 and 9 on the wood, the areas to pare away and clear the now installed sears.



Now it fits.



But it won't bring the hammers back full every time, stock on or off....must be that intermittent problem is now more often problem since the guts are clean. The cocking plunger on these come in two lenths. This one calls for the long one.....none available for 6 months. But the shorter 311/511 plunger is available and I have one in a bit better condition....I'll lengthen it. On the right, the more modern and shorter 311/511 plunger drilled, tapped 8x40 and a good strong screw threaded in.....now its a touch too long, but I can adjust by polishing the head of the screw. (I saved the rarer long 5100 plunger, it may fit another gun later.)



This will be locktited in place later.



Now, on opening stock on, it holds the left barrel hammer back but not the right.....stock off, both hammers lock back properly. The wood is interfering with the sears....not unexpected. 37 years smithing and I still ain't no wood carver....No apologies, the interior will be a bit ruffer when done clearancing....but......I am who I am.

The point of interference, mid sear....



Its the tail of the sear return spring that's rubbing. So, I cleance both sides.....now both hammers stay back with the stock on......it requires a smart break to click them back. Sears and hammers are a bit worn and if I find a good deal, I'll likely replace all four parts.



For now, pulled triggers, right barrel good, left barrel no go.....over and over....the problem? Forgot to reshape the rear trigger to clear the new more forward mounted trigger guard.....Done below and the shapes are not too bad, Now both barrels fire.



About several hundred openings and closings.....lock up still looks pretty good....but gotta get the safety to reliable status......one step at a time, each part complements or interferes with the other....tackle em one by one till its done....but, if it ain't a driving rain tomorrow, I just gotta go to the range with it....after all, it was a real peeing contest tonight, but the burn weren't too bad, and so far the shotty is loosing its fight against resurrection.

 
#51 ·
Shooting went about as expected. A number of additional jobs were uncovered. 25 small shot hunting loads fired and 15 rounds of high brass 00 buck.

Nothing broken....good.

Gun locks the hammers back each time its broken....good.

Gun misfires most times on the first shot....bad. Might be the lighter Wolf main springs, or might be firing pin protrusion....either should be fixable.

New plunger needs shortened just a tad to easily extract shells....easy.

Rear trigger needs just a bit of reshaping....better finger fit.

Action bite settled in from 5 oclock to 6 or 630...I expected some set and there may be a bit more. The pore barrel bite has been so abused. It'll likely be fine and I doubt I'll do further work on the fit of barrel to action. Its about as good as it'll get.

The recoil, even with full loads of buckshot ain't too bad....good.

Trigger guard tang feels good under the fingers...good.
 
#52 ·
And breaking the old gal down for post range inspection,

The top tang split clean off. Combine that with the lower tang crack repair, and I have to concede defeat. Its been a fun project and lots of learning but sure nuff, this one is just plain tired.

So, I suppose I'll have to call it a parts gun. Lots of good stuff there and perhaps parting it out will aid several other old gals in getting spiffed up.

Here is the very disappointing failure of the upper tang.

 
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