Coach Gun Smooth Up

Coach guns are double barrel side-by-side shotguns with relatively short barrels. The blunderbuss was used to protect European coaches but the most famous coach guns were those used to protect Wells Fargo lines in America. Most are chambered in 12 gauge but some are chambered for the smaller 20 gauge. These shotguns have much utility when well made. They are useful for home defense, for close up hunting, and cowboy action shooting.

Typical coach guns available today include the European American Armory Bounty Hunter and the Stoeger Coach Gun. These are generally superior and better made than the Chinese double barrel shotguns with exposed hammers while being designed for affordable production. This means that some corners may be cut in order to provide a shotgun that is reliable but may not be as smooth as we would like. When the shotgun is intended for competition shooting the shotgun needs to be smoothed considerably.

What follows is a basic procedure. The shotgun used here is the Stoeger Coach Gun as manufactured by E. R. Amantino (Boito) in Veranópolis, Brazil and marketed by Stoeger, a corporate entity linked to Beretta and Benelli. Operating the shotgun is simple. A lever on the receiver is moved to unlock the barrels and let them swing down. The shotgun is loaded one chamber at a time, the action closed and made ready to fire once the safety is moved to the fire position.

The safety is an automatic Top: The coach guns are great historical pieces with much merit for modern use as well. Modern makes such as the Stoeger Coach Gun are good shotguns. type actuated when the shotgun is broken open. Some competitors do not like this for cowboy action shooting but for most it is a good feature that aids safe handling. After the shotgun is fired the action is broken open and the shells are removed one at a time. There is an ejector but it isn’t automatic, so manual extraction is the rule.

There are complaints with the Stoeger Coach Gun that do not mean much in personal defense or bird hunting but can be important in cowboy action competition. From the factory, the shotgun is very tight and cowboy action shooters often engage in fast work. The shotgun may be smoothed up considerably. The following will detail disassembly and a means of slicking the piece up.

While I use a Stoeger here, these procedures may also be used with the EAA Bounty Hunter and similar hammerless (hidden hammer) shotguns typically used in competition. Disassembly is straightforward and somewhat simplified compared to some of the great shotguns of the past. There are several variations on the Stoeger, including the Double Defense, a matte black version intended for personal defense with a single trigger and a rail for a light.

There is a deluxe version (Supreme) with a recoil pad and screw in choke tubes and the Uplander Supreme with longer barrels for waterfowl hunting. Basic procedures apply but be certain to learn the particulars of each shotgun before the work begins. The first step in disassembly is to remove the buttplate. This is

Stoeger’s higher end Coach Guns sport recoil pads. This shotgun uses a slotted screw, some use Phillips. Above center: The stock nut. Note screwdriver cut out. accomplished with a small Philips head screw driver, although some shotguns will have a flat screw holding this on. Take a 12mm socket and place it on the end of along extension to remove the stock bolt. Since the length of pull is 13.25 inches you know what type of extension you will need. The stock bolt also has a flat screw in the end.

This may be used in the plant for assembly. I am not familiar with a screwdriver that long and that size; leverage might be a problem. Next, the forearm is removed to remove the barrels from the receiver. The barrels are tilted and they slip off of the receiver. Lay these aside as the barrel assembly is of little concern until a later moment in the chores. When you examine the Stoeger receiver you will note the shotgun has an automatic safety.

This safety moves to the on position when the shotgun is opened and cocked. There are some that remove this safety for use in cowboy action shooting Far bottom Far top in order to obtain a few tenths of a second greater speed, however, I would never remove a safety from any firearm.

I suppose with the hold harmless agreement and modifying a shotgun explicitly for competition this is one thing, but the safety is a good thing for many gun owners and positive in operation for the rest of us. tion and the firing pins contact the shells with plenty of energy to ignite shotgun primers. Cutting coils in the springs is a common smooth up that some may find beneficial. Next we take a look at the mechanism.

This is a far simpler action than most vintages shotguns and, for the most part, the coach guns are trouble free. However, as they arrive from the factory they are rather stiff to open and cock. The hammer springs may be shortened slightly to alleviate cocking pressure. As a rule the action is smoother after this modifica-

The buffing and cutting I recommend will remove 2-2.5 coils in the spring and this usually results in a smooth action. The hammer spring rides on a guide that fits into the receiver. On the end toward the barrels is a divot in the receiver that the spring assembly pivots into. This is a simple design. The hammer spring is pretty stiff and it may be difficult to remove at the first try. After weakening the spring it may be somewhat easier to replace in the receiver.

I have cut coils with a Dremel cut off wheel for many years and find this the ideal means of achieving a lighter let off. As an experiment I have also turned the springs thinner, leaving them on the spring guide and turning them until they were noticeably weakened. This may work fine but I believe the removal of spring length by 2-2.5 coils is best for most shooters and gunsmiths. After the work is done the spring may be left bare metal or it may be quick blued with good results.

This work results in less opening force needed to cock the hammers. Lowering the trigger action requires more effort. Top Bottom American Gunsmith Reader Services 1.

There is a pivot pin that must be driven out to loosen the dual triggers. The action is simple but there are parts that touch the sear surfaces. These surfaces may be polished which will make the action smoother but the trigger action itself may not be lighter. If you take the rear leg off of the sear this area might be polished. There are springs that drive the triggers that may be lightened using the same technique as we use for the hammer springs and this may result in a lighter trigger.

Go easy on this work and do not go so light that there is a chance of recoil making the trigger jump and fire both barrels. This internal work isn’t complicated and the shotgun isn’t difficult to field strip. The trigger assembly is a bit difficult to work with but with sufficient effort it will go back into place. I have tested a number of Stoeger Coach Guns and EAA Bounty Hunters, not to mention the Chinese hammer-fired double barrel shotguns. Almost all I have worked with have been very tight to open and close.

I have used the same procedure on each and this improved smoothness isn’t simply for convenience There is a tiny hole in the guide that may be used to insert a paper clip and lower spring pressure for reassembly or disassembly. The author managed to cock the spring over and then rested! as an excessively tight fit hiders use. Following this smooth up, I have worked the action five hundred times after a good lubrication and found the action remains fairly tight.

This indicates the locking surfaces may need to be polished and lapped until the action is smoother. This takes some effort but results in a smoother shotgun. Don’t forget to polish the receiver and the forend surfaces as well. I get them to a high polish and burnish leaving the gun smoother still. 600 grit sandpaper is right for this chore. The shotgun progresses from being tight to open to one that may be opened with one hand.

Work the opening lever and flip the wrist and the shotgun will smoothly open under the weight of the side by side barrels. It takes some effort in polishing to achieve this type of smoothness but it is worthwhile. If the customer is willing to pay for the time and effort, the result is a truly smooth shotgun. The ejector is often overlooked. This piece is too tight and needs polishing. The set screw is taken out and the ejector removed.

The ejector is then carefully polished until rough edges and burrs are taken out.

Far Chamber Polishing I would not categorize the chambers of the Stoeger Coach Gun as rough but if you are in a competition and the winner is the one that reloads fastest there is some merit in polishing the chambers. There are expensive kits that will do the business but I have never used them. My trick is to use spent shotgun hulls. I wrap them in 600 grit sandpaper and slowly turn the shell with a Dremel. I have turned the shells to create a mirror polish and enjoyed excellent luck.

While I originally used this trick perhaps forty years ago to polish out a corroded chamber in a Browning ) cut apart a shotgun slug and used this to smooth the chamber. The added weight helped. A Dremel or a threaded screw will supply the leverage and horsepower. Auto-5, side-by-side shotguns respond well to this treatment. After polishing the Stoeger Coach Gun (and perhaps a dozen other shotguns over the years) the difference is very satisfying. Shotshells simply fall into the chamber.

When the spent hulls are ready to be ejected, a combination of polishing the lugs and polishing the cylinders results in easy ejection. The lever is turned to open the receiver and then the wrist is snapped and the shotgun opened. With a properly polished chamber and the right leverage the shells will fly out. This results in much faster loading and unloading time. These improvements are incremental as applied but the total of the procedures add up to a much improved shotgun.

The work is simple enough but pays big dividends. AG