Sterling Arms Double Shotgun

Wait a minute. What? A Sterling Arms double barrel you say? It sure is. But what really is a Sterling Arms Corporation shotgun? When it was first brought to me, it appeared to be in decent shape. The barrels were tight and the top lever still had a right angle to it when the gun was closed. I looked it over some and then began doing some research on it. It was a 12 gauge with 30" barrels and the wood was checkered.

All of the serial numbers matched and the only wording stamped on the barrel set was "Projectile Steel". I quickly learned that there was little information available pertaining to the Sterling Arms Corporation. Actually, none with that brand name. Searches kept bringing me to pistols. With nothing to go on, I began cataloging the shotgun and making mental notes on how it was constructed. The shotgun is known as a "trade name" gun and is essentially a Fulton Arms shotgun.

Unfortunately for this old shotgun the screws have been damaged by previous entries into the gun. At first, the lockup resembled a Winchester Model 21 but other parts in the gun told me that it wasn’t. I saw some similarities to the Baker guns, the L. C. Smiths, and even the Liege double guns but none fit the mold precisely. With nothing to go on, I completely disassembled the shotgun as it needed a firing pin anyway.

With all of the parts removed, I was able to start looking for "like parts" one-by-one and then I finally found out just exactly what a Sterling Arms Corporation side-by-side 12 Gauge shotgun was. Simply put, a Fulton. What is not clear is why nothing has been written about the Sterling Arms Corporation, at least that I could find. I’m sure there is something out there that discusses what the Sterling Arms Corporation is and how long they were in business, but as of this writing, I was unable to locate it.

With that said, I did find some literature about "trade name" shotguns and that information, although it excludes any mention of the Sterling Arms Corporation, led me to believe that this shotgun fits into this category. Photographs of this shotgun, along with the parts removed (all of them) make this shotgun nearly the identical twin of the Fulton Arms Double Barrel Hammerless shotgun. Essentially, it is a trade name shotgun. A check for serial numbers and dates led me nowhere.

Mainly because there is no mention of the Sterling Arms Corporation anywhere except stamped on the left side of the receiver. Some say that L. C. Smith serial numbers are correct for these models but I have not seen corroborated evidence of that statement. This particular shotgun is more than likely an early model as the serial starts with a 1 and is a five digit number (17,XXX). What I do know is that I have it in the shop now and decided to do some research on the shotgun itself.

In most cases, I refrain from disassembling any firearm just to peek inside. However, with so little known about this particular shotgun—and the Fultons themselves— it seemed logical that a closer look was in order. My goal here is to provide information all in one place that I had to gather, to help a fellow gunsmith out when one comes

into the shop, be it in a state of disrepair, missing parts, or in a plastic baggie in need of reassembly. Furthermore, this information should help determine whether or not it is logical for the owner to have it repaired, keep it as a family heirloom, a parts gun, or re-purpose it to that of the proverbial wall hanger. I can tell you that much has been written about the L. C.

Smith shotguns and that led me to information about the Fulton Arms Company, along with a number of other trade name companies that were in business from the 1880s to the 1930s. Just know that not one shred of information was located I have not yet found an actual schematic. (by me) detailing the history of the Sterling Arms Corporation. I did run across a photograph listing the parts but no actual schematic. I guess some good news here is that there still are some parts available for this model shotgun.

I was able to find what I needed from the Numrich Gun Parts Corporation (GunPartsCorp.com, and they have many detailed views (photographs) for many of the parts listed on their website. Since those photos can be seen on their website, I decided to include photos not specifically shown on their website in this article for a little more clarity. Inspection and Disassembly As with any older generation shotgun you may see in your shop, always inspect the barrels very closely and carefully.

Look inside with a light for any bulges, dents, or cracks as you will often find them. Also check to make sure the shotgun does not have Damascus twist steel barrels as you do not want your customer to shoot those guns either. Always tell the customer if there are dents, dings, and cracks found and especially when a bulge is found. Tell them that they should not shoot the shotgun anymore as it is just too dangerous to find out how much shooting life is left in a gun with damaged barrel(s).

Finally, check the chambers. There were many a shotgun made in the old days with 2 1/2" or 2 5/8" chambers and these should never be shot with modern ammunition in the incorrect length for the specific chambers. Serious harm can result. Don’t even tell the customer that they may be okay if they want to shoot it a couple of times as you don’t need that lawsuit when the gun lets go. Just be careful and really check the gun you have in your shop.

The customer wanted to shoot this shotgun and I had to be the bad guy and tell him not to fire it under any circumstance, as both barrels had dents and one small crack on top of a dent. Enough of that. Let’s get started on disassembling this shotgun. I always recommend that you function test any firearm prior to taking it apart, just to be sure that it is in proper working condition. So begin by always opening them up and visually inspecting the cham-

bers to ensure there are no live or stuck rounds in the chambers. Once you are certain that the shotgun is unloaded, begin disassembly by closing the action and removing the forend by pulling downward at the front of the forearm. It is held to the barrel set by a flat spring and hook assembly and will just pop off when pulling it off correctly. Next, open the top lever as if to load the shotgun. While hanging onto the barrels, lift them out of the receiver as you open the gun.

This completes the disassembly for routine cleaning and light lubrication. Also shown are the rear ends of the sears. Moving on to the full disassembly, I cannot stress enough the mandatory need to have the correct sized screwdrivers on hand prior to disassembling any gun, especially doubles. If you don’t have them, get them or make them. If not, take the gun to a qualified gunsmith. There are two main issues that seem to be an epidemic when it comes to double guns.

One is the fact that so many people have disassembled (or attempted to disassemble) these fine firearms with the wrong tools (screwdrivers and punches) and another is that for some reason Far The safety slide engages with the bar and automatically sets the safety to the ON position when unloading/reloading the shotgun. It also shows the top lever assembly from the bottom or inside of the frame. these poor old working beauties have dings, dents, and bulges in one or both of the barrels.

Just once I would like to see an old shotgun of history come in without chewed up screw heads or dented/bulged barrels! They are out there to be sure but they are the exception. What I am getting at is that even though the information here can help you disassemble and reassemble this shotgun, you really should take a good tool assessment first and then combine your tool assessment with whether or not you should be opening up the shotgun in front of you or not based on your skill level. I’m just sayin’.

In most cases, there is little or no need to take a shotgun down this far. The intent here is to provide accurate information and identification of some of the working parts in this shotgun. Disassembling an obsolete firearm can and will lead to damaged or broken parts—parts that may no longer be available. So save the old beauty from a needless death. If it works, leave it alone. Practice on guns that are ruined already and not on pristine guns.

The top lever coupler interlocks with the locking bolt when installed in the receiver. Far The Fulton shotguns had this type of locking system. Moving on, with the forend and barrels removed, you’ll need to release or drop the internal hammers. First, depress the top lever trip (found under the locking bolt). It is best to hold the top lever wide open while depressing the trip with a small scribe or tool, then lowering the top lever so that it is straight and in-line with the receiver tang.

Now, using apiece of scrap wood, place it over the breech face covering both firing pin holes, move the safety to the off position, then pull both triggers to lower both hammers and take the tension off of the hammer Two wood screws secure the iron to the forend. Be careful not to break the forend when removing the iron as it pivots into the wood stock. mainsprings. The wood serves to protect the firing pins and you should never dry fire a double gun without quality snap caps installed as you risk breaking them.

With that accomplished, turn the receiver/buttstock over and remove the trigger guard screw located at the rear. Once it is out, unscrew the trigger guard from the receiver. Now turn the receiver/buttstock upright. With your weak hand, hold the top lever open and to the right just enough to access the top tang screw under it. Carefully loosen and remove this tang screw and pull it out. With those items removed, turn the receiver back over and remove the rear trigger plate screw that was under the trigger guard.

Remove the front trigger plate screw. As you do, the trigger assembly attached to the plate will be under spring pressure, dropping down and forward. Remove the bottom plate/trigger assembly from the receiver. Now lift the receiver upward, forward, and out of the buttstock. Once you do, you will see two coil springs still in the stock. These coil springs are the sear springs and you should remove them so you don’t lose them as the

A good cleaning was needed on this old double. buttstock can be set aside for now. There is no need to remove the butt plate unless refinishing the stock. If you need to disassemble the safety assembly, you can do that now. Turn the receiver over and the auto safety slide bar can be lifted out of the groove it rides in. This slide bar engages the safety button (places the safety in the ON position) each time you open the gun via the top lever to load it.

The top lever (coupler) pushes this bar back and engages with the safety button. With the bar out, you can remove the safety button and assembly by first removing the screw that secures the safety spring to the receiver. Once the screw and This assembly is held in the receiver by the same pin that captures the hammers. spring are out, remove the small screw from the right side of the safety button and lift it out of the receiver. The sears can now be removed.

I recommend that you scribe an "R" and "L" on them prior to removal to note the right and left sides. Carefully remove the top screws located on each side of the receiver. These screws can be very tight so go carefully. To remove the hammers, remove the two lower screws located on each side of the receiver. Again, these can be tight so go slow.

You will find that these two screws are cap screws that hold along receiver pin in the receiver and the long pin inside secures both hammers and the cocking lever to the receiver. The hammers will be under some coil spring pressure, so you can use your weak hand to press up on the bottom of each hammer while inserting along drift pin that nearly matches the hole diameter in the receiver. A scribed "R" and "L" on each hammer helps with reassembling in the same location.

Tap the pin punch in until one of the hammers can be removed. As the hammers are pulled out, you will see a V-shaped detent mainspring "cap" and the coil mainsprings attached. Just pull them down and out of the receiver. After one hammer is removed, re-insert the long pin punch into the hole where the first hammer was removed from and drift the pin in the frame out the other side. This will allow you to capture the cocking lever and remaining hammer.

After the frame pin has been removed, back the drift punch out and release the second hammer for removal along with the mainspring cap and mainspring. Continue removing the pin punch until the cocking lever is released and can be removed. Underneath of the cocking lever you will see a coil spring and the bottom of the trip. Pull the coil spring out with pliers. Using soft-

There are no firing pin return springs in this model, although it would have benefited from them as the breech barrels come into contact with the firing pins after firing and is the source of many broken firing pins. The sum and identification of the parts in this shotgun helped to make a positive identification of it. jawed pliers, grasp the slot screw head of the trip and wiggle it and the barrel-shaped trip out of the receiver. You do not need to remove the screw in the bottom of the trip; just pull it out.

It should be noted here that if you are removing or replacing the firing pins you do not need to remove the top lever to access them, however, the hammers must first be removed. To access the firing pins after the hammers have been removed, remove the two remaining middle screws located on each side of the receiver. These are also very tight and care must be used not to damage the screw heads. Once removed, the firing pins can be pulled out with a magnet or dumped out. There are no firing pin return springs.

Parts sources say that the firing pins and hammers are interchangeable for either side, however, the sears come in left or right sides only. To complete the disassembly of the receiver, remove the top lever. Turn the receiver over and unscrew the large headed screw that holds the lever in place. Once out, use a brass punch to gently tap or drift the top lever shaft out through the top lever washer and then the top lever coupler.

Once the top lever is pushed completely out of the receiver, lift the coupler out of the locking bolt lug area. Once removed, the top lever coil spring can be pulled out of the receiver. To get the bolt out, take your time and work it out of the frame. Use a small brass punch from the front of the receiver slot and push the locking bolt out. Take note as to how it goes back in place. This completes the disassembly of the receiver.

To disassemble the triggers from the bottom plate, begin by removing the two small set screws from each trigger. These screws are essentially trigger stop screws that prevent the triggers from falling lower into the trigger plate assembly. They will be tight, so be careful here. Once they are both removed, drift the pin that holds both triggers in the "trigger bridge" out. This will allow you to remove the triggers from the bottom plate.

Next, drift the small pin out that retains the safety stud in the same "trigger bridge". Note that the safety stud has a notch at the top of it and the wider portion of the notch should face the front of the trigger plate when reassembling. Once the safety stud has been removed, and if needed, you can remove the trigger bridge by taking out the two screws that hold it to the frame assembly.

You will see that you cannot remove the trigger bridge screw from the bottom of the trigger plate without first removing the rear trigger so you can access it. That is why you need to remove the triggers first. Also, Fulton schematics reference a V-spring trigger spring but this shotgun did not have one and I am not certain that it ever did. Reassemble in reverse. To disassemble the forend, remove the two wood screws that secure the forend iron to the forend wood.

Carefully tap the forend iron upward at the rear to separate it from the wood without force. Then lift the iron out of the forend. To remove the forend iron spring, remove the small screw that holds a flat spring putting pressure on the forend spring hook. Then drift the small pin punch out that secures the hook to the iron. The ejector located on the forend iron is last and is held in place by a slotted head screw. Remove the screw and the ejector (plate) will come off.

This completes the disassembly of the forend. Turning to the barrel assembly, the barrel ejector and cocking hook are removed by a set screw located on the left side of the barrel lug. On this particular shotgun, the head has been worn off (smooth) so it could not be removed. If the ejector or extractor needed repair, this pin or damaged screw would have been drilled out to remove the parts and subsequently replaced with anew or replacement screw.

But since that was not the case here, I decided to leave that assembly alone. This completes disassembly of the Sterling Arms shotgun.

Reassembly Tips Essentially, you will reassemble the shotgun in reverse. You may encounter some nuances as you put it back together, so I figured I would list some of those here. When reassembling the top lever and locking bolt assembly, you will benefit from inserting the locking bolt into the receiver with the trip, trip coil spring, and cocking lever removed. If they are still in place, push the locking bolt in. From the other side, depress the trip until the locking bolt comes forward, past and over the trip.

While here, when reassembling the top lever, bolt coupler, washer, coupler spring, and top lever screw, take your time. It is best to install the spring, bolt, and coupler first; the top lever can then be inserted into the coupler. You will have to finesse this assembly. Be careful not to force the top lever into the receiver during reassembly or you could damage the top of the receiver. Take your time and it will go into place if you work slowly.

When installing the hammers, especially when you are installing brand new mainsprings, there will be spring pressure on the hammers that you will need to contend with. Typically, you can use a small Ctype clamp with wood or other nonmarring protection to apply pressure to the bottoms of the hammers, compressing the hammer springs so you can get the receiver pin started.

Once you have captured one ham- Sterling Arms Double Shotgun Part Dimensions Part Dimensions Sear Coil Springs (2) 1" x 0.185" (0.085" wire diameter) Top Lever Coil Spring (1) 1.250" x 0.240" (0.063" wire) Hammer Main Coil Springs (2) 0.750" x 0.325" (0.070" wire) Cocking Lever Receiver Pin (1) 1.300" x 0.140" Cocking Lever/Trip Coil Spring (1) 0.500" x 0.370" (0.040" wire) Firing Pins (2) 0.740" x 0.245"; 0.128" (small end) Firing pin retainer screws (2) 0.455", 8-32 threads; Cocking Lever pin cap screws (2) 0.170", 8-32 threads; Sear retainer receiver screws (2) 0.290", 8-32 threads; Top Lever Retainer Screw (1) 0.295", 0.382" (head), 4-40 threads mer with the frame pin, move to the other side of the receiver with along like-sized pin punch so you can capture the cocking lever assembly first.

Drift the frame pin holding the first hammer over enough to capture the cocking lever and assembly. Pull the pin punch out, install the second hammer and mainspring assembly, compress the mainspring, and re-insert the pin punch. Drift the frame pin already holding the first hammer and cocking lever assembly in place across so you can capture the final hammer assembly. Your slave pin punch will just come out as you tap the frame pin into place. Replace the two frame cap screws as these hold the pin in the frame.

All other assemblies go together pretty straight forward. When you reassemble the receiver and bottom plate to the stock, begin by replacing the two sear coil springs into the stock. Work the receiver into place. Next, add the bottom metal by inserting the two bottom metal tabs into the bottom of the receiver, then tilt the trigger/bottom plate assembly down. Go easy here as the safety stud can get into the way of the safety assembly in the receiver during reassembly.

Once the bottom plate is nearly in place, the last bit will be under spring pressure so hold the bottom plate in place while replacing the front then the rear bottom metal plate screws. Do not tighten them yet. Turn the receiver back over first and re-install the top frame screw that resides underneath of the top lever and tighten it. Turn the receiver back over and fully tighten the bottom metal screws.

The remaining reassembly and placement of parts is pretty much straightforward if you follow the above disassembly instructions. Parts Identification With so many parts either no longer available or continuing to disappear, I felt it important to list certain parts by name and size in order to help you either identify parts you may already have in your shop inventory or to aid you in making them if necessary.

These parts and their dimensions were taken from just this one shotgun so they could differ from trade gun to trade gun but I doubt they will as the Fulton Shotgun is the pattern gun. This was a great opportunity to record some measurements and photographs for some of the parts. With so many of the trade shotguns out there you will more than likely have one cross your bench in need of inspection, function testing, or repairs.

Always discuss with your customer the associated costs of doing this type of work on firearms that are not truly collectible or that do not have a significant dollar value. Even if it can be placed back into firing condition, the discussion needs to focus on whether the shotgun you have in the shop at that time is safe to use, even casually.

The last thing you want is a customer saying after being hurt is, "The gunsmith said it was operational." Be clear and let them know that although the shotgun is operating or functioning properly, that doesn’t mean you give them your blessing to go run some ammo through it. It’s just not worth it—for the customer or you. Hopefully you will find some value in this article, if for nothing else than having some parts photos and measurements! AG