The customer brought in his Pride of Spain (POS) pivot barrel 20 ga double. Says he had taken it to a gunsmith already to fix a problem with right barrel “cocking too late”. He could not fix it and said that it working ok in his opinion. And this was before his house flooded and he brought it to me. He seems very attached and would like the rusty mess cleaned up and made operable so he can give it to his grandson.
I’d like to try to help him fix it, but I can’t get the POS stock off the rusty POS action. The affair seems conventional with a single tang screw and a through bolt hidden under the trigger guard that screws away. No stock bolt under the butt pad, but I can see evidence of some prior exploration where perhaps a gunsmith was searching for a plug. So, I’m wondering whether the prior gunsmith even got it disassembled.
I can’t tell if this is seized from the rust or if there is some tricky deal that I haven’t learned about or simply forgotten from the tapes.
Some said they were made by Zabala, imported to the states under the name of pos. Whatever schematic I could find seem to have a stock bolt. The hole may have been plugged (why?!), and the plug may have blended in with the stock because of age. You may consider shave off 1/8″ of the wood with a miter saw to expose a bit of inner grain. With help of magnifying glass you may be able to locate the plug. -TL
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Thanks. I’ll proceed on the premise that there’s a plug under a hidden trapdoor. See where it leads…
Actually, I’m thinking this might be a Spanish boxlock with a bottom plate. There’s a bottom screw. There’s a screw on the top under the locking latch. I’m on a proper hunt.
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Make sure the whole bottom plate doesn’t come off like you mention (that would be my guess), then you may have to remove the sears to get the stock off but they aren’t usually too difficult 😈 Ken
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…and the right hammer is broken. (Late cock, my butt…how ’bout no cock). Has anyone ever made a replacement hammer?
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On some guns, not sure I have ever made one for that make and model. Ken
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BTW, Ken you mentioned that I needed to be sure bottom plate did not come off. Too late for that. Came right off after I removed the screw and the top frame screw…giving up the trigger plate and exposing the sears. Have I created a situation I’ll come to regret later?
BTW, these thinly slotted Spanish screws are giving me a fit. Chewing up my expensive thin blade screwdrivers. Breaking tips right off.
Interesting, all the attractive externals. Very soft parts inside. Broken hammer is well deformed by firing pin.
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No, I just wanted you to be sure it didn’t come off first. If it did then that is the direction you may need to go to remove the stock. Just grind the screw driver tips on the belt sander like we show in the many courses. Then who cares if they bend or get broken or distorted…you just regrind them as need. Ken
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The hammer looks like it would not be too hard to build. It broke into two along a fracture point. Remind me please, apart from building up notches and such elements…is tigging the two halves of the hammer allowed? I have it staged for tig weld. I have two halves solidly fixed together with a 0.072 in. spring wire rod. Would that be a trusted repair or not?
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Welding is acceptable. Go for it. Ken
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I’ll be darned…TIG seemed to work. Miraculously.
