What's the worst "shade tree mechanic" repair you have seen seen??

[fox-admin]

The worst I have seen is a nice CE 20ga with braze added to the hinge pin for repair for a off face condition, braze everywhere really ugly.

[Sporrns]

The idio-tinkerer who tried to add metal to the hook cutout in the rib extension on my HE and wound up bending the left hand ejector stem rod in the process (too much heat?). Thanks to TOOL MAN, I bought it at a bargain price at the Greenwich Gun Show. It chambered shells or snap caps OK, trigger and hammer mechs worked OK, but balked on opening and ejecting the left barrel empties. Dan Rossiter straightened the ejector stem rod and Mike Orlen in MA did a spectacular job of recutting the radius and orbit of the left hand extractor face using a jig of his design fitted to his milling machine. Both did wonderful work and the gun has functioned flawlessly since then. Kevin

[Silvers]

Kevin, I never saw your HE and not sure what Orlen did on "recutting" but rim cutters are commonly available from Clymer and others to true, deepen or to cut shotgun rim countersinks into virgin barrels. The cutter pilots in the chamber and is turned with a large tap wrench while the barrel is held vertical in padded vise blocks or similar. I have a 12-16-20 gauge set of cutters and have used them many times to true and deepen rim cuts that weren't deep enough for modern shotshells and were causing hard closing and forcing the barrels off face when shells were chambered. Ever see guys slamming their Fox or whatever closed to get the locking bolt to engage? Keep shooting that way and eventually the barrels will be sprung off face permanently. That condition is far more common than many realize. A depth mike is used to check for proper spec as on this Fox CE 12 bore, before and after pics below. frank
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[Sporrns]

Exactly, Frank! I had a very early (c. 190X) Parker VH 28 gauge that would chamber vintage shells OK but would barely close and bolt properly on more modern loads. Same situation as you describe; I watched as Del Grego used the rim cutter device to achieve the proper depth. Reminded me of using a ridge reamer in auto and marine engine rebuilding for new piston clearance. Kevin

[Silvers]

Another Fox “as found". As Kevin replied, some few vintage guns by orher makers also left their factory with shell rim countersinks a bit too shallow for modern shells. You can check your guns with a 6" steel pocket ruler or anything similar with a straight edge.
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[vaturkey]

Worst and it was easy. Probably 12 years ago I bought a 12 gauge Sterly ejector gun very cheap with no picture posted on the forearm bottom. Gun arrived and the smith called me to come over.

Gun had jb weld under the forearm to replace the barrel lug, which was gone. Jb weld was filed down to where the forearm fit nicely. However a sheet metal screw has been placed where the escutcheon was supposed to be and that machine screw went through the forearm and through a hole drilled through the forearm metal, and was then screwed into the jb weld. Believe it or not, the forearm actually was tight against the barrels. Gun had a 3 day inspection and was returned to the seller by my gunsmith.

[Silvers]

Not the worst I've seen but here's a Fox J-Grade SBT gun that was advertised a while back with an insert over the broken out web in the frame where the cocking slide presses when barrel is heavily opened. Serial number partially cut out which is a no-no; seems like the guy could have stamped a leading "4" to at least try to comply. Also nicely recolored with an oxy/fuel torch.

Obviously the machinist used a milling machine to do the the insert and I wonder why he didn't do a smaller cut along the long axis of the frame and microweld over the edges of an insert before finishing flat? frank
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[ROMAC]

Frank, not the same one but I walked away from a two barreled set for $1800 that I drove a few hours to look at before Covid.

When I pointed out the key cut the gentleman said that he thought that they all came like that for a quick fix and that he was told that you could order them back in the day

He thought that you could just drift it out with a brass punch and be ready to go with a new one. Lol

[DarylC]

Worst and it was easy. Probably 12 years ago I bought a 12 gauge Sterly ejector gun very cheap with no picture posted on the forearm bottom. Gun arrived and the smith called me to come over.

Gun had jb weld under the forearm to replace the barrel lug, which was gone. Jb weld was filed down to where the forearm fit nicely. However a sheet metal screw has been placed where the escutcheon was supposed to be and that machine screw went through the forearm and through a hole drilled through the forearm metal, and was then screwed into the jb weld. Believe it or not, the forearm actually was tight against the barrels. Gun had a 3 day inspection and was returned to the seller by my gunsmith.

That one pretty much takes the cake Tom. Got to give him credit though, found another use for JB Weld.