Disassembly of w&c scott &son side opener

[hugh rather]

This gun is pictured on the Gunderson militaria sight.I think there could be traps in taking this side opening lever action from 1875 apart for cleaning .Cannot find any reference on disassembly. I believe this is a Grant and Hodges patent type gun action.

[John Campbell]

Mr. Rather: If you have never taken a British gun to bits, think twice. If you don't have the proper turnscrews, think twice. If you don't have the tools to measure barrel wall thickness/safety, think twice. If you can't work with the badly buggered lever pin on this gun, think twice.

If you send the gun to an experienced gunsmith for a strip-and-clean, relax.

I'd recommend Kirk Merrington.

[hugh rather]

I do posess these things and after 5 plus decades disassembling guns this is not my first rodeo.Basically looking for a schematic illustrating internals .I think there could be disassembly traps in this one.Getting the lever out appears simple; just loosen the screw holding it in the cam in the action ,but is that all? Removing it gives access to the sidelocks and removing those and stock gives access to internals.

[Chris Robenalt]

Do you have any pictures Hugh? I'm thinking I've done one of these. Just curious.
Chris, AZ

[hugh rather]

They are the "" fancy w&c scott &son gun under long guns on Gunderson Militaria site". Interesting site by the way. I will try to post some pics tomorrow. Thanks

[hugh rather]

Here is a Scott pic.There is a screw holding that side lever on(slot on the other side).Took pic at night,;sorry about the quality.Love the browned hingepin- how did they do that?

[Bob Brown]

I've got one just like that in a short 10. It was probably one of those guns that something broke so it got stuck in the back of a closet for a century. Pretty good shape and not a lot of use. The flat spring that closes the side lever had broke. I took it apart and there were no surprises. You shouldn't have any problems.

[hugh rather]

That spring looks dovetailed in.What does the small screw on the frame in the hinge do? Thanks

[Bob Brown]

Maybe I was wrong about ours being the same. It's difficult to see with your picture. This is from W.W. Greener's book The Gun and it's Development page 141. Does that look like yours? The flat spring has a hole in the wide end that the screw on frame in front of the lever goes through and a 90 degree bend in the tip of the short end. Mine wasn't dove tailed in. It was a tight fit, but with a bit of work it came right out. There are a couple of poor photos of the action on my short 10.

edit: Just took a closer look at your picture, Hugh.They're not the same design. Mine is like the one in the Greener book with just the single Purdey bite. It was made in 1872.


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[hugh rather]

I will look at my copy of The Gun and its development.I understand that several makers copied this design after the patents expired on this Grant Hodges type gun.Nice gun by the way.

[Chris Robenalt]

I'm sure the sidelever drops out with the trigger plate. I think you push on the bolt to release tension. Kinda like taking the little screw out of the bolt on a Parker lever to drop the assembly.