Meriden questions

[Kirk Pfeffer]

Not sure that this exactly qualifies as a "fine double" but thought I'd be able to get some questions answered here. I have a Meriden 20ga that was made about 1916 or so. I bought it over 20 years ago from a guy who was using it as a wall hanger but I figured that for $6 I couldn't go wrong even if I just hung it up. He had painted all the metal with black epoxy paint then baked it in the oven. I'm in the process of stripping the paint off. I've had it looked at and was told that it could be made serviceable again. Main issues as it stands are some missing parts and the stock has some missing wood at the receiver. The barrels seat well and are not too thin but have a couple small dings which I was told could be easily removed. I do some woodworking and have picked up a free walnut blank so I'm slowly working at making a replacement stock. We'll see how this one goes but at the worst I'm out some time. I was looking on the Numrich site and I can get most of the parts I need. Parts I know I need are cocking rods, front and rear firing pins, firing pin seat (not available), misc. screws (most of which are available), and a top lever spring. Here's some pictures of the gun disassembled. I'll most likely put them up in a couple posts along with some questions I have.
Thanks,
Kirk

[Kirk Pfeffer]

Here's a few more pictures

[Kirk Pfeffer]

Hope I'm not drawing this out too long so I appreciate everyone's patience. Questions I have are:

I was going to take the sideplate apart to clean it. Is there anything I need to be careful about when disassembling it?
I need a firing pin seat which I'll have to try and locate somewhere. Doesn't this also need some kind of a spring for the firing pins?
One of the parts on the Numrich site was called a locking bolt. I'm not sure what it is or where it goes but it's a pretty good sized part that I don't see in my gun. Any thoughts? Would it happen to go in the round hole in the receive right in front of the safety rod?


Well this is a start and I'm sure I'll come up with some more questions as I go along.

Thanks again,
Kirk

[John Dallas]

YOu might want to post this on the Double Gun site

[Steve Huffman]

Kirk what does the side plate say on it ? I have a receiver and parts that is marked The A.J. Aubrey I think is what you have looks very close. If you could post a picture of the side plate.

[Kirk Pfeffer]

Hey Steve,

I'll take a better pic of the sideplate and post it. This one says Meriden Firearms Company on it. AJ Aubrey is closely tied to Meriden and Aubrey was the Pres. of Meriden. Here's a pretty good link if you haven't already seen it. http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/17474742

Kirk

[Richard Flanders]

Dismantling the side locks is pretty simple but you might consider a main spring vise from Dixie Gun works. They're worth it. You can do the same thing with a small pair of needle nose vise grips if you grind the teeth off and wrap the jaws with a bit of duct tape to prevent marking the springs, which I guarantee you will do if you don't do this. Easier with a main spring vise I assure you. Dixie sells a very nice one for a very affordable price. I suspect your screw slots could be micro welded up and re cut also.