3 projects - need help

millerda68 · Sep 26, 2010

I just received some guns that were my grandfathers. 3 of them need some work and I need some recommendations and help with gun smithing.

1. H&R .22 Special - I was told the barrel and the revolver portion were not lining up correctly, so when fired, the bullets are shaved off and it sparks out the sides. I would like this one safety checked. The cylinder seems to spin or move both directions.

2. JC Higgins .22 pump action rifle. There is a bulge in the barrel and the barrel needs to be replaced.

3. 1873 Winchester lever action, octagon barrel rifle. Missing rear site, front tube, front stock. Lever action is all good and works. I would like to get this back to a complete functional piece again.

Any recommendations in the Beaverton/Hillsboro area would be appreciated.

AMProducts · Sep 30, 2010

Both of those H&R guns are probably not worth fixing, if you want take them to a gun buyback and go get new guns. If you are just looking for projects to do yourself it's probably not a bad way to go.

The revolver may just need a new advance/stop pawl, check numrich to see if they have parts availible. The best way to check this out is to empty the gun, cock the hammer (single action) and then see how much wobble there is between the cylinder and the frame. It is also possible the cylinder pin (the one the cylinder rides on) is worn out. If spare parts are availible, this shouldn't be too extensive a project, you should be able to drop in the new parts with a bit of fitting. These old revolvers didn't really lock up that well when they were new, but shot just fine for the most part. I would guess based on the description however that there is a different problem with that revolver... I would surmise that there may be a larger gap between the cylinder and the forcing cone which is allowing extra gas to escape. I'm not sure what the tolerance on that gap is, but it should be in the .002-.005" range. Automotive feeler guages can help you determine this. If this is a problem, the barrel needs to be taken off, recut, and then put back on. I think the barrels on these guns were simply pinned in, so this may be a home project. I have a gun like this, of similar vintage, when I got it, the first thing I did was clean it, and there were huge amounts of lead caking the inside of the bore (it came out in ribbons). As a result, the bore on mine is pristine!

Even with the sparks shooting out the side, as long as that doesn't bother you, it wouldn't bother me

The rifle with the bulged barrel is probably not worth replacing also... It just simply isnt. I had a friend who had a H&R pump action with a barrel bulge about 3" before the muzzle, we just chopped the barrel shorter (still over 16") and welded a new sight on. Even before we did that, it still shot just fine.

As for your lever action... find a good smith who specializes in these things. You might try asking around with the cowboy action shooting crowd (SASS) and see if they have a preferred smith. SASS is huge down here in southern california (heck, it started here), if you don't find one up there, there's a guy down in long beach ca who works on these guns, and has done good work for my boss. <broken link removed>

Hope all that helps, just remember to make sure the bore is clear on all of these guns before you shoot them! That's how barrels get bulged!

Ding · Oct 1, 2010

you can probably find all those parts from Numrich

Numrich Gun Parts Corporation

millerda68 · Oct 9, 2010

Thanks all for the responses.

M.Link · Oct 10, 2010

John, at Shooters Service Center in Portland is really into lever actions and cowboy stuff. He could probably do the work for you, or set you up with the parts you need to do it yourself. Call before you make the trip, his hours are kinda odd.