Working the Colt Model 1883 Hammerless Shotgun

A total of 7,366 Model 1883s were manufactured in Colt’s Hartford, Connecticut, factory between 1883 and 1895. This high-quality double-barreled boxlock shotgun was offered in both 10 and 12 gauges, with a very few made in 8 gauge. Barrels were of Damascus steel, and standard barrel lengths were 28, 30, and 32 inches.

Three basic grades of Model 1883 Hammerless were available: a standard or "field" grade; the "finer" or "fancier" grade with Damascus barrel patterns; and the "fanciest" grade with elaborate engraving, checkering or carving on the stocks, and very fancy Damascus barrel patterns. This model is generally considered to be among the best American-made shotguns ever produced. Author photos. other barrel lengths and special features were available from the factory on special order.

Damascus barrels were supplied as standard, with optional higher-quality "finest Damascus barrels" for those customers who were willing to pay a bit more. Colt’s competition was stiff, coming primarily from other high-quality doubles like the American-made Parker, the L. C. Smith, and Like all fine guns of their day, many some of the high-end British-made shotguns.

Despite the competition, the Model 1883 hammerless double shotguns were considered state-of-the-art—as good as you could buy—and to this day they are regarded as being among the very best shotguns ever made in the U. S. Takedown Instructions Begin by making sure the gun is unloaded. Hold the shotgun around the wrist of the grip while keeping your fingers away from the triggers. Always be sure you point the muzzles of the gun in a safe direction.

Open the shotgun by pushing the rear of the top lever (#56) to the right, and swing or break the barrels (#63) open and down so they pivot away from the receiver (#62). Visibly examine the open chambers to be certain there are no shells in them. If there are shells present in the chambers, lift them out and remove them to a safe location away from where you are working. Remove the Forend and Barrels. Shut the barrels and then turn the gun so its bottom is facing up. Operate the

forend lever (#8) by pulling the front end of the lever up Colt Model 1883 and away from the Hammerless Double Shotgun forend. The forend (Specificationssubjectto assembly can now changewithoutnotice) be removed from the gun by pulling its front end away from the barrels and forward. Now you can turn the gun right side up once again. Hold the barrels in your left hand and the wrist of the buttstock in your right. Operate the top lever again and break open the barrels.

When they have opened, lift them up and slightly to the rear to remove them from the receiver. Removing the Trigger Assembly and Buttstock. You will 43 Forend Lever Step find two screws at 1 Left Hammer 22 Tang Screw 44 Extractor Cam Pin 2 Left Trigger 23 Guard Bow Screws 45 Hammer Roll the rear of the triggerguard (#54) tang, behind the bow.

Unscrew and remove these two screws (#23), then pull the 3 Left Sear 4 Left Sear Spring 5 Action Bolt or Locking Bolt 6 Draw Bar 7 Extractor Cam or Ejector Hook 8 Forend Lever 24 Fore End Strap Screws 25 Small Tang Screw 26 Sear Screw 27 Extractor Screw 28 Safety Spring Screw 29 Sear Spring Screw 46 Hammer Roll Pin 47 Draw Bore Pin 48 Mainspring Roll 49 Forend Lever Spring 50 Joint Pin or Cocking Hinge 51 Extractor rear of the trigger- 9 Forend Lever Bolt 30 Forend Lever Plate Screw 52 Extractor Screws 10 Safety Slide or Safety Lever 31 Lock Cover Plate Screw 53 Trigger Plate guard tang away from its inletting in the buttstock, and rotate the entire guard about two full turns in a counter-clock- 11 Safety Catch or Safety Bar Cam 12 Safety Lever or Safety Button 13 Right Hammer 14 Right Trigger 15 Right Sear 16 Right Sear Spring 32 Trigger Screw 33 Safety Lever Screw 34 Forend Lever Spring Screw 35 Trigger Spring Screw 36 Extractor Push Pin 37 Cocking Hinge Screw Pin 54 Trigger Guard Bow 55 Lock Cover Plate or Floorplate 56 Top Lever 57 Buttplate 58 Forend Wood 59 Buttstock wise direction, until 17 Action Spring 38 Hammer Pin 60 Forend Iron 18 Mainspring 39 Safety Slide Pin 61 Forend Release Assembly it falls off the bottom 19 Safety of the trigger plate 20 Trigger (#53.) Unscrew, then 21 Buttplate remove the small tang screw (#25) from the rear of the lower tang and the large tang screw (#22) from the upper tang.

The large tang screw is located under the top lever, so you have to hold the lever to the side. Remove the screw from the front of the trigger plate. This is the rear-most Spring 40 Safety Catch Pin Spring 41 Extractor Cam Screw 42 Forend Lever Pin of the two large screws that face up on the bottom of the receiver, located in front of the trigger guard. Use a small wooden mallet or a wooden hammer handle to tap the side of the receiver.

This will cause the trigger plate to be shocked up out of its seat. 62 Receiver Stop Pin 63 Barrel Set Note: Not all parts are illustrated. Then lift the trigger plate assembly off from the bottom of the receiver. Tilt the buttstock (#59) down, and gently ease it off the receiver to the rear and down. Opening up the Action. Unscrew and

remove the lock coverplate screw (#31). This is the forward-most of the two large screws facing up on the bottom of the receiver, in front of the trigger guard. Then use a small wooden mallet or plastic hammer to tap the side of the receiver, causing the lock coverplate (#55) to be shocked up out of its seat with the receiver. Lift off the lock coverplate to expose the action. Push up on the rear of both the left and right sears (#3 and #15) to allow the hammers to fall.

From the bottom of the action, loosen and remove the two trigger-spring screws (#35) and lift out the trigger springs (#20). Pay attention to which spring is left and right, and mark or tag them so they can be reassembled correctly. Now unscrew and remove the sear screw (#26). This is the screw located at the lower-rear, on the right side of the receiver. Lift out both the left and the right sears, paying attention as you do to which sear is from which side. Again, tag them so they can be reassembled correctly.

Removing the Hammers, Mainsprings, and Drawbars. This next operation sounds tricky—in fact, is a bit tricky—but when you’ve done it once, you’ll understand how simple it is. Carefully clamp the receiver, bottom side-up, in a padded vise. Unscrew and remove the two cocking-hinge screw pins (#37) from the front, making sure you mark them left and right. Next, drive out the hammer pin (#38).

Use a screwdriver blade to push the tips of both firing pins back into their holes in the frame, and push rearward on the left hammer-drawbar Left top: Opening the forend lever releases the forend from the barrels. Left bottom: The tang screw is located under the opening lever. It must be removed before the trigger plate can be taken out. (#1 and #6) assembly from the bottom.

You must use restraint and keep your thumb over the rear of the hammer, because as the assembly slides to the rear, the mainspring (#18) will become uncompressed. Carefully now, slide the three component parts—hammer (#1), drawbar (#6), and mainspring (#18)—to the rear and lift them out, being very cautious as you do to note their relative positions for reassembly later.

Before you do anything else, you’ll want to take some careful notes on the exact position of the hinge pin. (The hinge pin is the large, often engraved round pin at the front of the action that the barrels actually pivot on.) Mark on it with a black marker to show its position relative to the outside of the action. The reason for this is the drawbars have to hook back onto the cams on the hinge pin during reassembly, so the position of this pin is critical.

Once you have reached this point, you can remove the right-side hammer (#13), drawbar, and mainspring in exactly the same manner as you Here the right side parts are illustrated.

Right top: This is the bottom side of the Model 1883 Colt action with the lock cover removed. Right bottom: The arrow points to the hinge pin. Be sure to mark its position on the frame side before you remove the hammer/ mainspring/drawbar assembly. did with the left side. The hinge pin can be removed from the side, but remember: Don’t fail to mark its exact position for later reassembly. Further Action Disassembly. Look up into the bottom of the upper tang, and carefully pry out and remove the action spring (#17).

This is the spring that supplies tension to the top lever, so you will have to use caution to keep this spring captive while you are removing it. Now you can rotate the top-lever about 90 degrees to the right and lift it straight up and out of the receiver. The Colt’s locking bolt (#5) can now be pulled to the rear and removed from the action.

Next, unscrew and remove the safety-spring screw (#28) from the underside of the upper tang, then drive out the two safety-slide pins (#39) from the bottom of the safety slide (#10). The safety slide will then be free to be pulled out from the top. Disassembling the Trigger Plate. Unscrew and remove the safety lever screw (#33) and lift off the safety lever (#12). Use a pin punch and hammer to drive out the safety-catch pin (#40), and lift out the safety catch (#11).

Unscrew and remove the trigger-spring screw (#35), and lift out the trigger spring (#20). Next, remove the trigger screw (#32) and pull both triggers (#2-left and #14-right) out the bottom of the trigger plate. Carefully tag each trigger. Disassembling the Forearm Assembly. Pull open the Colt’s forend release lever (#61) and unscrew and remove the forend lever-plate screw (#30). This is the larger-headed screw located in the top of the forend iron. Now, the forend-release assembly will drop out the bottom.

The forend-lever bolt (#9) is now free, and can be lifted off the top of the forend-release assembly. Drift out the forend-lever pin (#42) from the side of the forend-release assembly. This will free the forend lever (#8), the forend-lever spring (#49), and the forend-lever step (#43) for easy removal. Unscrew and remove the remaining screw in the top of the forend iron. This is the forend-strap screw (#24), and now the forend iron can be lifted up and to the rear for removal from the wood (#58).

Use a hammer and pin punch to drive out the extractor-cam pin (#44) from the side of the forend iron, and lift out the extractor cam (#7). The extractor push pin (#36) can now be lifted out toward the front of the forend iron. Conclusions It’s a really good idea when disassembling any double gun to use three small parts containers. One should be marked "left," the other marked "right," and the third container should be used for parts that are not unique to either side.

And, as always, you simply reverse the disassembly procedure for reassembly. ■