Long time stored rifle questions

[TAT2D]

I saw the posting on RWVA's Appleseed program and am interested. The rifle I have to work with has been stored for (I believe) at least 25 years. It's been in a sock and kept in the heated house so don't believe rust would be a problem and don't recall seeing any the last time I looked at it (a year ago or so.)

Would it seem prudent to have a gunsmith look it over before shooting it? That would give me an opportunity to get some pointers on cleaning and lube as well, which would probably be a good thing. I'm pretty much a novice in most things gun.

The Tigard GunBroker would be the most convenient store for me. I read the reviews and most seemed complimentary, but I didn't see anyone reporting repair-service, just sales and transfers. Does Tigard GunBroker have a gunsmith in the store, or ones they work with? From SW Portland or Tigard, could someone recommend a smith? (Related question, could someone suggest somewhere to get appraisals done? For insurance purposes.)

It's an older .22 tube-magazine pump rifle. Don't remember the brand.

I saw on the Appleseed site that they recommend practicing firing from the prone position to loosen up before attending the session. They suggested 'dry firing 10 times, 3 times a week.' I read the thread on dry-firing .22s and came to the conclusion that some are OK to dry-fire and others aren't. Should I assume this one isn't? How could I tell. (Do it a hundred times, if it still works, it's OK. 8*) Question for the gunsmith looking it over?

Thanks for any help.

MrB

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[captqc]

The Gun Broker in Tigard does not have a gunsmith in house, they refer people to Rich's in Donald. Another smith I would recommend is Koonce Custom Gunworks in Salem (503) 364-0100. As far as the apprasial goes just ask for Steve at the Tigard Gun Broker as he should be able to help you on that. Hope that helps, Gary

 

[TAT2D]

It does. Also, I infer you agree that having the gun looked at by a smith before shooting it would be a prudent thing to do? As far as I know it was in working order when it was put up, but that's been a long time.

MrB

 

[Logical1]

well if its been stored properly and it sounded pretty close.....I think that the only reason to go a smith would be for your own peace of mind. Some people would probably look up gun cleaning on the web, clean it and then go fire it. You know you could try ..
Allison & Carey Gunworks Inc. (503) 256-5166. 17311 SE Stark St

 

[jordanka16]

I think it's probably ok, but like Logical1 said, if it would make you feel better you should have it looked at.

As for dry firing, I don't dry fire any of my guns, I have snap caps for all of them and I recommend getting a couple.

 

[torpedoman]

DO NOT dry fire rim fires guns. use a spent shell to cushion the firing pin-breech area. Clean the gun up yourself you need to learn to do it anyway. make sure the bore is clear and load and fire one round holding the gun away from your body if you have any doubts but most of the old pumps were Remington mod 12's or copies of it, with a few changes to prevent patent problems, and they were strong guns with few problems.

 

[JAFO]

A competent gunsmith will be able to tell you if the firing pin will strike the breech face when dry fired. I wouldn't rely on old fables.

 

[TAT2D]

So, I wound up driving cross town to Allison & Carey (whom I learn are both departed from the store) and talked with the guy who bought it. I asked him to clean and check out what turned out to be, once I had it out of the sock again, a Remington 121 Fieldmaster. Assuming it doesn't need repair, he estimated $55 and a week or so to turn it around. Like 'logical1' said, peace of mind, both mine and wife's. I can admit I'm novice enough that I wouldn't know a glaring safety issue from a molehill. So that's underway. And thanks all for the suggestions and advice. I went with A&C, based on the reviews/recommendations here, for both A&C as well as Rich's.

I actually had two guns to be looked over, but only mentioned the .22 when I started the thread, as that was the one I was primarily interested in shooting. Wasn't 'til I'd thought about it a little than I realized if I was going to drive cross town that I ought to get 'em both done.

So that gets me to my part-II question, but I'll post that one in the Rifles and Shotguns forum, as I think that might be a more appropriate venue. Look for a new thread, as quick as I can type the story in, "Help ID this Shotgun."

And I'll post an epilogue here when I hear back from Allison & Carey.

MrB

 

[Logical1]

Gee I almost feel like I helped someone........its miller time

 

[TAT2D]

Epilogue -- I always feel like Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. when I say that

Short story as short as I can tell it, I took two guns to A&C, the Remington pump .22 and a Marlin 12 ga. shotgun for 'clean-lube-test.' Really, I was interested in having the guns given a good look over, as they'd been in storage for 25+ years and I wasn't the last person to shoot 'em.

Talked with Jeff (?); he suspected the shotgun was a Marlin Model 28, which is recommended to not be fired due to weakness. My choice whether to go ahead with the clean/inspect; I declined. Thanks, Jeff, for the heads up. The ID was pretty well confirmed in another thread I started to try to identify the gun model.

The other gun, a Remington 121 'Fieldmaster' was cleaned, oiled, test fired and declared ready to go. Charge was ~$55, in line with the estimate when I dropped it off.

Good news is that the promise-date for ready was to be 'about a week', but the 'it's ready' phone-msg came in under 48 hours, essentially one working day for them.

Both folks I dealt with at A&C were helpful and I'll take future work to them without hesitation.

MrB

 

[Wheeler44]

Sooo.......Have you been getting into prone and dry firing?...

 

[TAT2D]

o I have done some dry-firing, but not prone
oo picked up a small pkg of the drywall anchor snap-caps
oo need to get a shooting mat
o I ordered the 'deluxe' kit from Fred's, hasn't arrived yet, but should soon
o I printed out the materials that are available on Fred's site and read 'em last night
o and just registered for the IPSC Cert class out at TCGC

MrB

 

[TAT2D]

Sooo.......Have you been getting into prone and dry firing?...

Better yet, I took the rifle (a .22 Remington Fieldmaster) over to the range yesterday for a little live fire, prone. See exhibits 1 and 2. (1) is prone at 50' (the TCGC indoor range) into 1" squares. (2) is sitting at the same 50'. I know no one here is impressed, but I was happy enough with that for a first time out with the gun. And those were squeezed off pretty quickly, emptying the magazine (13 rounds) in not much over a minute.

Relative to Appleseeds, it is a pump gun, and as such doesn't have a sling, nor can one be fitted. (Right?) Fitting a sling to this gun would be a non-starter anyway, since it came into the family via the wife's father, and she'd prefer to keep it as it is. OTOH, I can likely swing use of a nice Mossberg bolt-action that does have a sling. Also has a peep-sight rather than open sights.

I received the targets and reading mat'l from Fred's. I'll look to see if there's anything on adjusting the sling. It's clearly a key to accurate shooting judging by all the mentions.

Also, talked to 'Sal' on Friday.

MrB