Reader Forum

Remington 1898 A customer brought in a very nice Remington 1898 side-by-side double barrel with exposed hammers. One of the hammers had been lost and he wanted it replaced. I checked all the usual places (Jack First, Numrich, DGW) and finally settled for some Dixie Gun Works reproduction blanks. I sculpted the blanks to closely match the remaining example from the shotgun. The final step was to knurl the thumb spurs, but how?

I have been a tool and die machinist for 20 years but I could not come up with a clean and accurate way to complete this task since the surface is curved in all directions. I called Brownells and the Gun Tech suggested their metal checkering file but said they are expensive and require a lot of practice. How did they checker these during production? I can’t imagine having to file thousands of these one line at a time!

Steve Knecht Custom Machine and Gunsmithing, If we’re reading Roy Marcot’s masterful and only authorized history of Remington correctly the exposed hammer double you received is a model 1889. It was replaced with the introduction of the company’s first hammerless double, the Model 1894. Initially, this gun had Damascus barrels, ordnance steel ones not being available until 1896. This leads us to believe the barrels on your customer’s double could be Damascus.

Check to see whether this is true by detaching the forend, removing a small area of the finish from an area previously covered by the wood and closely examining the barrels for the tell-tale "twist" pattern. If such is present, it would be highly dangerous to discharge a modern shot load in the gun. We are quite certain you will inform your customer of the serious danger but have doubts your warning will be taken to heart and remain top-of-mind with the shotgun’s owner.

If you suspect the same, protect your interests and do not hand back the gun in operating condition. We know, great protests and, in all probability, much anger will be directed your way as a result. In which case, you can inform the individual emitting clouds of blue words swirling at you that the only way the shotgun can be safely fired is after it has been fitted with full-length Briley barrel inserts.

This will reduce the gauge but make regular use of current factory loads safe whether high or low brass in nature. Note, if the gun was originally percussion ignition and lacked firing pins we don’t believe the Briley inserts can be installed. Contacting Briley can confirm or obviate that concern. Inc On the hammer problem, our main contact at Remington both long before and since its acquisition by Freedom Arms Group, happens to be deep into the methods used to manufacture Remington firearms, past and present.

His supposition is the hammers were pressed into a die prior to being hardened. The mold, as you would expect, no longer exists. As an experienced die maker you are aware of the complexities involved with their fabrication. This responder to your query lacks your knowledge but chooses to inquire if making a die from scratch would be easier than metal checkering a hammer line by line?

Or would the most economical course of action be to grind off the knurling from the one hammer still impressed with it and finishing both remaining hammer surfaces to match? AG