Scratching the "itis" again

[Richard Flanders]

Jack. I have used my 1886 toplever for pheasants using Shermans load #79 with 1oz - 1-1/4oz of lead shot. Just put in extra undershot cards for the lighter loads. It's a bitch to carry for a day but you sure don't stop your swing with it and it powdered some pheasants that day. I got to watch Trigg shoot a 10ga for the first time that day and he dusted one also. I think that if I ever found a nice light 10 I'd use it for all my pheasant hunting. Unfortunately, it's hard to beat Murphy to any light 10 that comes up for sale. There's one in Alaska now but the bbls are wayyyy too thin and corroded and the way too high price is inflexible or I'd own it. The one I saw at the Novi Mich show this past weekend would do quite nicely were it in better condition.

Harrys shim idea works well. I have a bunch of .0025" shim material that's very springy and tough that I use or you can buy a cheap set of feeler guages and cut up the blade of the proper thickness.

[TARNATION !!!]

Thanks Richard. Well, this one won't be chasing much for some time to come, if ever. I don't know enough about the twist barrels but here is what I found on opening the package. (The seller was up front on the whole thing, so no surprises and for 95$ I wasn't expecting a whole lot) The barrels have been cut to 28". Lots of rust pitting on the outside but not that bad in the bores. The rib has been re-soldered in a a very sloppy fashion. The left barrel has a ring of weld. Don't know if that even makes it a candidate for the guys who know how to repair/restore such barrels.

It is 10ga. It has a DHBP with spur but it is broken across the base and the bottom of it has been drilled and screwed to hold in place.

The action is very loose in all directions.

The forend wobbles quite noticeably

The head of the buttstock is broken in a few places but worse, somewhere along the line I think someone may have used a draw knife to remove wood for whatever reason to the point the spur of the buttplate rides more than 1/4" above the wood.

Now all that said, it is an intact gun (except the last two inches of barrel length).

If the barrels can be made serviceable, it may be fun to play with the rest. If not, well it was sold as "good for parts" an idea that I don't lean toward, given that it is "all there". That may be heart over mind.

What are the thoughts of those who have re-furbished one of these?

Cheers,
Jack