Reader Forum

Stevens Guns I have a couple old Stevens guns that I need to find information on. I believe I need to contact John Callahan. Can you help me? Am I looking for the right person? You are indeed. John Callahan has been the Savage Historian for many years. Contact him at Westfield MA, 01085. Also, check Savage Customer Service at to confirm for any updates. Wimbledon Shotgun I have a customer who bought in a Wimbledon breach loading 10 gauge shotgun who has kept it because he likes the way it looks.

Where can I find history on this gun? Can it be fired with smokeless powder, only blackpowder, or not at all? Kenneth W. Wright Wright Enterprises of Texas It’s only a guess, but we believe you may have been handed an English make. As for exactly when and where it was made, take some photos of it, including close-up views, and send them with your query to the National Firearms Museum nramuseum.org) as they’ll likely be the best source for information on a gun like this.

As for shootability with modern loads, you’ll have to remove, or have removed, the forend wood and examine the barrels. If they show any signs of being twisted in nature, they are Damascus. It is also possible they are so old Damascus, or any other extremely-aged metal, it would be highly dangerous to fire even with a reduced blackpowder load and certainly not with a charge of modern smokeless.

If you cannot be certain if the gun is fit to fire, get to know the department head of metallugy at the nearest college or university with a well-equipped lab and get some help on the integrity of the barrel metal. R. Lee These foreign-made old timers can and do burn up a bunch of time just performing the basic research on them. Which is exactly what you have been asked to do. Carrying the research far beyond basic information quite often leads to additional expenses being incurred by the researcher.

Your time is money. We always recommend a standing policy to our readers concerning requests to undertake a research project that the customer making the request is either too ignorant or too lazy to undertake. More often than not, it is the latter. Wade Turner A fine cure for this is to insist on a minimum fee prior to accepting any job involving research. Quite often, the request will be withdrawn and no loss to the proprietor incurred.

If they’re willing to pay you fairly for your time, proceed as you best see fit. Model 81 I am trying to find a magazine for a Model 81 Remington in .300 Savage. Any advice where to look? Thomas Bates You can try Tom Forrest Lakeside, CA 92040, That failing, call Remington Customer Service in Ilion, New York (RemingtonProducts.com, for additional leads and contact Brownells for their Gun Parts Source List.

Finally, try Metalform (metalform.us, and Gun Clip Depot (gunclips.net, R243 Problems I received a Blaztech R243 and was told that it would not break open after a shot was fired. I tried everything I knew to get it open and finally had to drive several of the mechanism pins out to get it open. The issue I have now is reassembly. All I can find for this gun is a parts drawing. I need assistance finding reassembly drawings and instructions.

I read some online forums on this issue and it appears to be common for this gun. I will try to call the company for assistance but I am sure they will want the gun sent to them for repair. The forum that I checked had several people who had sent their R243 back for this issue and the problem reoccurred when the gun was shot. John Hatchel There is an error regarding the name provided. "Blaztech" was never a manufacturer.

Braztech, sometimes spelled Braztek, was the name of the organization that at one time held exclusive U. S. import rights to Rossi

Firearms, maker of the R243 rifles and several models of revolvers. In the 243 series, Rossi produced youth models, centerfire models, and models offering centerfire and shotgun usage via a change of barrels. No information was provided regarding which R243 model was involved. Further, an extensive search of gun-oriented websites revealed no multiple commentaries on hard opening. Ergo, we can assume no epidemic of the same with Rossi R243s.

Of course, opening difficulty can occur with any action of break-open design. Among these, in particular when less-than-required care in handload preparation is involved, are primers not seated deeply enough to allow the action free travel in the opening process. Also to be considered area broken extractor, weak extractor spring, or an extractor cut in the barrel breech so rigidly fouled or damaged the extractor hook is unable to lock on to the case head.

In this instance, a partially extracted case may extend sufficiently into the action to interfere with its opening. Add to that a seriously oversize chamber and/or excessive headspace allowing set back of a fired cartridge. Chamber measurement against SAAMI standards and employment of Go/No Go gauges serve to eliminate or confirm the presence of the latter two conditions. After discovering pins have already been removed from the action in the plunge-ahead phase, we can offer some solutions.

We have initiated contact via Taurus USA, presently the sole U. S. distributor for Rossi, to assist us in contacting Rossi and to secure complete information for a future article on the R243, which still appears in the Rossi catalog. In the meantime, the only quick alternative is to box up the loose pins, the R243, and return it to the factory for reassembly. Old Remington I have a Remington 514 single shot .22 rifle with a defective extractor. My customer wants to keep the rifle and make it shootable.

I have been unable to find any info on disassembly and reassembly of the bolt, extractor, and firing pin for this model and haven’t been able to locate a replacement extractor nor the specifications should building one become necessary. Have you done an article on the 514? Any advice where I can turn next? Jim Thompson We haven’t published an article on this but the Official NRA Guide to Firearms Assembly has apiece on the Remington 517.

For parts, check in with Numrich Gun Parts Corporation, Jack First, and the Brownells Gun Parts Source List. H&R .22 Premier I am looking for disassembly information and illustrations of the H&R .22 Premier. It is atop break revolver having problems with cylinder timing and the ejector mechanism. While it’s a nice little gun, it is almost useless as is. I have been careful lining up the cylinder and can fire shot shells but would hesitate to use regular lead bullets. One cylinder that came with it will not rotate.

Wear seems to be the problem there but the piece that activates the retraction of the ejector seems to be homemade and doesn’t function. A gunsmith estimated he would probably require 5-6 hours to make it function but in single action only. Steven Raynis We haven’t published an article and don’t have photos to share. What you have identified as a possible homemade component should be replaced after locating a suitable replacement.

The wear problem in the cylinder is likely to include one or more of the ratchets that are engaged by the hand to rotate the cylinder. We can offer no hope for securing anew cylinder and little for anew hand. The current H&R entity, presently embedded with the Freedom Group (Freedom-Group.com) along with such others as Remington and Marlin, will not provide service for the revolver because they did not manufacture it. AG