Profiling the H&R 1871 Pardner Pump Shotgun

Although I may come under friendly fire from the H&R Collector’s Association, as close as I can figure it, the first Pardner shotgun came out in 1987. It was a break-open single-shot, and it was strong and built to last. I’ve worked on a couple of these single-shots in the last year or two; both required only minor fixes. According to some old timers, the latest incarnation of the historic, often-acquired and reorganized company, H&R 1871 has never produced a really strong pump shotgun. But they do now.

The new pump is strong enough to retain "Pardner" as its first name. It’s produced offshore, but whoever got the contract was certainly up to the task. As a result, the Pardner Pump isn’t overly complex, shows very good to excellent machining, and has a wood-tometal fit that’s better than you’d expect to find on a shotgun so reasonably priced. Moreover, it has a nice, slim receiver to greet the shooter when the gun is brought to point.

The 12-gauge Pardner has been out for a couple of years now and enjoys a zero return-to-factory record. The 20-gauge version under discussion here is the newest offering. Mechanically, the construction of the 20gauge differs only slightly from the 12. However, one of the differences is significant, and involves retention of the ejector in the receiver. Field Stripping Don’t assume the gun is empty.

Cycle it to be sure there are no rounds in the magazine, check the chamber, leave the hammer cocked, and place the safety on. Next, unscrew the magazine cap (#18) and set it aside. The magazinespring retainer (#14) will pop up above the tube but will not come completely out for reasons that I’ll explain later. Now pull the barrel free of the receiver. Drift out the front and rear triggerguard pins (#7 and 8). Push the trigger-plate assembly (#28) forward, tilt it down at its rear, and remove it.

Press the bolt release. Move the bolt toward the muzzle with the forend until half the bolt is visible in the ejection port. Turn the gun on its side or upside down’whichever makes it easier for you to reach into the receiver with a small, dull tool’and fully depress the front end of the left latch (#6). Hold the latch down and move the forend to the front until the actionbar assembly (#15) and bolt (#19) are withdrawn from the receiver. The slide assembly (#20) will probably drop from the bolt body at this point.

Have a padded place for it to land on your bench. Now is as good a time as any to mention why the magazine-spring retainer didn’t take off. It has two channels, one on each side, in which The 20-gauge, shown here field stripped, is brand new. Mechanically, it differs only slightly from the 12-gauge version.

An arbor press would be ideal for removing it, but removal can be accomplished with less sophisticated tools. fit two detents located at the end of the magazine tube (#10). When the retainer is installed, the channels and detents are lined up, and the retainer is depressed against the magazine spring (#12) to a position below the level of the detents, then turned 90 degrees. When it’s released, the detents prevent the retainer from exiting the tube.

When and if you must remove the retainer, depress it, align channels with the detents, turn it 90 degrees, and allow it to come out slowly. Lose control at this point and the spring along with the plug (#13) will make a swift pass at your nose. Detailed Disassembly Sometimes, the action bars on a pump gun get bent up or burred. This makes the action feel rough, gritty, and/or slow. The Pardner’s bars are rigidly brazed to the action assembly (#15) so they can’t be detached.

You’ll still be able to smooth up any minor damage without taking off the forend. If the bars are severely damaged, a replacement assembly should be installed, and for that the forend has to come off. This requires the unscrewing of the very, very tightly installed forend nut (#17). A Menck #3 wrench (from Brownells) will work for this, but be careful you don’t split the forend when going after the nut. Tackle the bolt next. A small tool is inserted between the extractor (#27) and its plunger (#25).

The plunger is pushed rearward, and the extractor pivoted out. Lest I forget, there’s a pretty strong little spring (#26) immediately behind the plunger. You wouldn’t want to spend an hour or two hunting for those two little parts, so watch out when you remove the extractor. The large pin at the rear of the Pardner’s bolt is the firing-pin retainer (#24). It’s not only knurled at the bottom end, it’s a steel-to-steel fit in there, and it’s so tight an arbor press could come in handy.

I managed to dislodge it with an 8-ounce hammer, a drift punch of the correct diameter, and a nylon bench block. Drive the pin from the top, and only enough to release the firing pin (#22) and its spring (#23). These both are taken out to the rear, at which time the locking block (#20) falls from the bolt. The inside of the receiver is close to naked now, but not quite; it still contains the shell latches. They’re both staked in their receiver slots. There’s also the ejector spring (#9).

In the 20-gauge model, the spring indexes into the back of the receiver and is secured in place with a hex-head screw’no problem there in the unlikely event an ejector breaks. But a large problem could rear its unpleasant head with the 12-gauge model, where the ejector is riveted in. Sure it’s possible to drill out the old stud and rivet in a fresh ejector spring if you’re set up for it tooling-wise.

Included in the necessary tooling are bluing tanks, which you’ll almost certainly need to refinish the receiver after the drilling and riveting are polished off. (I understand that the factory has a small and dexterous staff who can perform quick turnarounds on replacing broken 12-gauge Pardner Pump ejectors. But, so far, they’ve had very little work to do.) What you’re left with is the entire trigger assembly. Unfortunately, there is no schematic of it available from the factory. But don’t fret.

The Pardner trigger assembly (or firing mechanism) is not a reinvention of the wheel, safety pin, paper clip, or mouse trap. Instead, H&R’s engineers and "

H&R 1871 Pardner Pump Shotgun (Specifications subject to change without notice) 1 Barrel Assembly** 2 Sight Bead 3 Choke 4 Receiver & Magazine Tube Assembly* 5 Right Shell Latch 6 Left Shell Latch 7 Rear Trigger Guard Pin 8 Front Trigger Guard Pin 9 Ejector Spring* designers took an "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" approach to producing a reliable trigger assembly.

They went to school on the trigger groups of other successful pump guns that have performed flawlessly for decades and they created a clone of the one they judged to be the most successful.

I’ll call that gun "Model X." Although the components of the trigger assemblies in Model Xand the Pardner Pump are not interchangeable, they can be dis- 10 Carrier** 11 Magazine Follower 12 Magazine Spring 13 Magazine Plug 14 Magazine Spring Retainer 15 Action Bar Assembly 16 Forend** 17 Forend Tube Nut 18 Magazine Cap 19 Breech Bolt 20 Locking Block** 21 Slide Assembly 22 Firing Pin** 23 Firing Pin Spring 24 Firing Pin Retaining Pin assembled and reassembled in the same way.

Instructions for working with the Model X’s trigger appear in the NRA Guide to Assembly for Shoulder Arms, in Gun Digest’s Book of Disassembly/Reassembly for Shotguns and complete schematics for it can be readily found. For the record, finding the "Model X" trigger assembly is not exactly like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

I studied the books and 25 Extractor Plunger 26 Extractor Spring 27 Extractor** 28 Trigger Plate Parts Assembly 29 Stock Bearing Plate 30 Stock Assembly 31 Stock Bolt 32 Stock Bolt Washer 33 Recoil Pad** 34 Recoil Pad Screw 35 Recoil Pad Screw Plug 36 Receiver Stud *Restricted availability, send to qualified gunsmith only. **Factory installation only. drawings mentioned, made comparisons between the Pardner’s trigger assembly and those of a few other pump guns and proceeded to disassemble it with no trouble at all.

I have no doubt that you can do what I did equally well. But if you don’t feel confident with your decision on the trigger system, call me during "Hot Line" hours (see page 23) or send mean email and I’ll answer any concerns you might have. I