How do I know if it's safe to shoot? Send it with slugs or get it checked out by someone not retarded?
To test if the lockup is still good:-close the action-take off the fore end-grab stock/action near trigger guard-shake barrel a littleIf there's a significant amount of play between barrel and breech the gun is on it's last legs.A competent gunsmith should be able to re-tighten the action, though that's likely to cost more than the gun is worth.Inspect the bore and chambers. Look for pitting and dents.In case of deep rust pitting, especially in the chamber area, that gun is done for.
>>65111965#1. Inspect barrels on the inside for rust pitting. You will need flashlight.#2 Check the lockup: Take the foreend off, put the barrels on the action and close it. Do you feel any wobble or does the stock lock up tight to the barrel?#3 check the barrels. Remove the barrels from the gun. Let them hang from your finger hooked under the lumps. Tap the muzzle end the barrels with something and listen. They should ring like a chime. If you hear a buzzing, crunching, or other sort of sound then the solder joint between the barrels and ribs is suspect.#4 look for cracks or failing repairs in the stock, especially in the wrist area.If that all checks out, shoot it. Make sure you check the chamber length, you don't want to go putting modern 2.75" shells in an old gun with a 2.5" chamber.
Why would it not be good to shoot? It's made of steel, not confetti.
You should also look up to see if the maker was reputable enough to trust. Old Iver Johnson Champions can be like that. There's more to it than just physical condition
>>65112276not all steel is the same, not all makers equal, and we don't know the lockup of his shotgun
>>65111965What>>65112019>>65112026Say as a preliminary.Shoot with some tall brass base 2.75" target loads first. Check again if anything changed in that inspection after shooting. If it was tight before and loose after a few shots, it's done.>>65112292The gun in OP's pic appears to be a Stevens 311 sold under some generic store brand name by Montgomery Ward which was a popular department store. It's a utilitarian but well designed and built SxS that's still common and widely used today, much like the IJ Champion.The design is fine but age and neglect/abuse can ruin any gun. Also it's a tossup if it's old enough to have a 2 3/4" only chamber. Probably no go for steel shot as well.
>>65112026>>65112385Wonder if you could handload those little 1-3/4" minishells to some ridiculously low pressure (BP substitute?) with just like a quarter ounce of birdshot. Would that be okay for some of the older shit, like stuff from the early smokeless era that may or may not be safe for modern powders? Hell, would it even be safe for damascus barreled junk?
>>65111965You either fire a few shots behind under a concrete bench or you need to check the head space with the go - no go gauges
>>65113377Fatso response.>>65111965If the bore is smooth and shiny like your lotion polished dick blast away. I’d blast all the action parts with some gun lotion, old crusties can lock up and not want to open if they’ve been sitting awhile building up goon juice
>>65111965Also just go buy some shitty target ammo, you could get bukaked running slugs on tight chokes. Grip and rip that fore end if the chokes aren’t visibly stamped on the barrels, muh 4 star barrel got that 4 star accuracy
>>65113372It's easy to handload weak shotshells. Just use less powder and less shot. You could do it with minishells but I don't see the point, you'd actually have lower recoil forces if you used real2.5" hulls for your weak loads because that means you can use full size cushion wads.>would it even be safe for damascus barreled junk?It depends on what's wrong with the old gun, if anything. If the worries are that the gun has been shot so much that the barrrels are getting thin, or that it's simply old or of questionable manufacture and you don't know if it's safe for modern shells, but otherwise the gun is mechanically sound then sure, go for it. But if the problem is that the gun is loose you're playing with fire no matter how weak the shells are. It's not the pressure of firing that's the problem, it's the repeated battering from each repetitive shot. If the gun is loose then I wouldn't fire it with any load, even really weak ones.
>>65113450what revolver is that?
>>65113377>check the head space with the go - no go gaugesIt's a shotgun shell, it headspaces on the rim
>>65114264Yes, and? If the action closes on the no-go gauge, which has an extra-thick rim, that's one way of determining the action is loose.
>>65114302Fat.>>65113860See barrel.
>>65111965That's probably a Wards/Western-Field Model 52, it's a house brand Stevens 315.Unless it's loose as hell or has ungodly pitting in the bore, it's safe for modern propellants.At worst you might need the chamber retapered for petal crimp shells, but since they made that piece til 1959, it should be fine for them.
