remember that .22 i bought from Seahawk?
 

been awhile since i updated that story.

i left off at what a nice wonderful man Seahawk is about selling me what is essentially a family heirloom. i will cherish that thing for ever!! i truly feel we are all alotted one "barn find" in our life, and this is mine. (i never found that old senile lady out there with an early S in her barn, living with 50 cats...still looking).

Seahawk sent me tracking information for the rifle, and i followed that thing like NORAD tracking some chinese test missle launch. i got an email ping that the rifle was delivered and my FFL guy was as excited as i was. once his shift was over, he would run over and pick it up and start the process.

he called me and said, "cliff, did you buy a broken rifle?"

"hahah John, real funny.."

"no seriously, the rifle is broken in two"

i almost hung up on him. i contemplated the wisdom in my decision to quit drinking alcohol, and called and email paul. i thought of Targa911S right away, and sent him a PM.

the very next day, i get an email from some "david" saying he could fix it. i didnt realize david = targa911S. paul and david are friends! i mailed it back to the other side of the country, and david went crazy on it. we had options. for some unknown reason, david had a spare stock from a later rifle "laying around". or he could try to fix it. he did. he fixed it.

rifle was snapped in two, the gun sights took a serious hit and needed realignment. here are the pics.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1317826634.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1317826669.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1317826688.jpg

thanks guys. PPOT has superpowers.

That turned out nice Cliff, David does nice work. But Paul's a shady character, how do you know he didn't sell you a broken rifle?:p

Even though the grain is not running at the best angle in that part of the stock, it takes a significant whack to break one. Look at the type of break. Who was the shipper once the gun was in the system?

They suck.

What shipping company did you guy use, I don't think I want to use them.

UPS.

in their defense, UPS really mobilized and got the insurance process started. i dont know the details, as it really is paul's business, but the UPS inspector was at my FFL's house in two days. they took pictures, took the box...

the inspector thinks the rifle went down the conveyor belt sideways, got stuck and some larger box slammed it. (FFL mumbled this to me)

i shipped it to david UPS. i insured it to the moon (pulled a # out of my butt). the UPS lady heard the story and said she would say a prayer for the rifle. i felt better know God was involved :)

Good job......
 

saving the original stock! That stock was used on the "1st issue" of the Winchester model 52 rifles. Somewhere about 1934 they changed to a more bench friendly design that eliminated the finger grooves in the forearm. The stocks up to about 1930 or so had an oil finish with the last four years or so having a varnished finish. You are going to absolutely love shooting your Model 52 rifle! The one that I have was made in 1928 and is still a tack driver. Spare mags are fairly easy to find and are not terribly expensive.

A picture of my Mod 52. The 10 rd mag was an option. The 5 rd mag fits flush with the bottom of the stock.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1317831392.jpg

Nice gunsmithing! Awesome save!

I hate UPS and I avoid using them like the plague. They almost ruined our last vacation with their antics.

The good things are that Cliff still wanted the rifle (I would have taken it back, no questions asked), I did insure the transit, and I know Dave!

The really odd thing is I used a UPS shipping box specifically designed for rifles and packed it in it's soft gun pouch. I did go through an FFL on both ends and that has helped.

Cliff has been great and the email trail is pretty entertaining between Cliff, Dave and myself. Dave is, as always, awesome.

Still not quite finished, but here are some newer pictures. Fred, this is a 1928 as well!

I've decided to keep the gun:D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1317833213.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1317833244.jpg

Very Nice work. Bummer on the damage.

I don't use UPS anymore. I have seen a lot more package damage than USPS. I stopped using UPS when they bent, yes bent an M1 Garand Barrel.

DanB

talking to dave is awesome.

he has the voice of a radio DJ. serious.

Cool rifle. Very cool. Cool dudes, too.:cool:

If USPS had done this, the thread might be in PARF by now. Just sayin'......

This little story is why I always insure to full value. I always use tons of Bubble wrap and those pesky chips. Even then one an get something that shows u like that 52.

UPS once delivered a Flint Jagger rifle with the bare butt of the stock practically hanging outa the box..lucky there was no damage. I have had them deliver spoons to the wrong street.

The only damage and knock on wood so far was on shipping a C Sharps, how that rifle got damage is beyond me?

Your best bet would have been to restock the rifle. I probably wood have repaired the stock as well keeping it to maintain orginality. It is a shame that happened to a venable old rifle

ya know tabs sometimes you confuse me. I felt saving the old stock was the best option. repaired but still original to the gun. Restocking to me was the last option.

40 years of singing, 50 years of smoking.

This will be oil finished. Thanks for that info. I want it to be correct. There were a ton of variants on this model. This one is a 52 target bull.

I would have simply epoxied it back together also.... Hell that is child's play compared to some of the repairs Dave has surely done that require grafting in new matching wood and inletting side plates etc.

Thanks tim. I used this stuff. Much better than epoxy.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1317842701.jpg

Gotta be careful as it's so thin, so it wicks, that you cannot feel it on your hands. I glued a stock to my hand once. Yeah really duh. Thankfully I had acetone around LOL.

Tabs,

Who do you use to ship rifles?

Nice work.

If something like this happens again, there is a guy in Oregon called "The Stock Doctor" who works wonders on things like this.

I help a local shop at gunshows and by listing stuff on gunbroker occasionally. If they ship something hard to find, rare, exceptionally pretty, etc. then it goes in a cheap $10 hard case and that gets packed in the box, etc.

Shipping the gun the way I did was clearly a cerebral flame-out on my part.

The most interesting aspect of all of this was the way the three of us dealt with it: Cliff and Dave are a hoot, forthright with great perspectives...but we all knew that.

Even though the deal was well made before the accident, I feel even better about it now.

Yer not so somber yerself Paul. We ship expensive stuff in hard cases also. Shotguns get taken down and each piece bubble wrapped.

Yes I feel good about this myself. Another page in this guns diary.

What am I the fair haired step child? LOL.

yes I have seen his work. He doing the same thing I am really. He just charges more. A lot more. He has done some pretty amazing restorations I will say.

Got a couple of oil coats on it today. I'm thinking it's gone back to Cliff friday. I worked on John's little .410 again today now that I'm on the downside of this one. You wanna see a challenge?

Great story, great gun and great guys!!!

weez all frends now.

Great work as always David!

Incredible work, David!! A good warm-up for the Quail!!

JA

Oh I'm multi tasking here. I have been working on that little one too. I have pics to send tomorrow. The Paul/Cliff project had some urgency to it so I did a marathon with it. I was working on the quail while I waited for stuff to dry.

that shotgun is named the Quail?

by the manufacturer or is it a nickname? pretty cool.

Brand name Crescent. (see H D Folsom) Model name Quail. It's a cute but tired little bugger.

oh..cresent quail. got it.

almost inspired me to named the rifle "bunny"..hahahh. (or "beer can")

I've got an ole English double (Black powder) that I need to find or make a hammer for.

It got damaged by the usps. Although insured , they wanted the gun after pay-out and when asked what would become of the SxS I was informed it would be destroyed.

Couldn't bring myself to let that happen.

No money for the damage but I still have it.

Nice work on the stock repair.

I've got a stock and receiver for a Browning B-ss that needs a set of barrels and a fore end for cheap if any one is looking for a project. I've found a couple sets of barrels but they wanted more for the barrels than I've bought B-ss SxS's for.

Bought off Gunbroker years ago.

You will most likely have to replace the pair. Finding one that matches the other....good luck with that.
What gauge is the BSS a 12 or a 20? Do you have the fore end iron? Are you interested in a Westly Richards?

I think "Ol splinter" or Crack" would be better. How about you just name it "brown".

I'll have to look later , but from what I remember the receiver is not stamped with the bore , only the barrels are marked. No on the fore end iron , but I've found the fore end stock with iron before , not sure why I didn't buy.

I've got a 20 and a 12 ga Browning in factory fitted hard/travel cases. Find I don't use the 12 bore anymore , but can't bring myself to sell it.

Maybe I will after I get sticker shock on replacement tires for my truck http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...20gifs/omg.gif.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...wLetter1-1.gif
SxS

"say NO to crack!"
 

it's coming back home!!

i cant wait. the repair looks unbelievable. cant wait to check it out in person..

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1318470684.jpg

It shoots real nice too! Has a great trigger!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1318471220.jpg

The first four on the left are the first grouping at 25 yrds. The rest are after I zeroed it. Sweet shooter. Mind you this is not from a bench, just a single point rest and the peep sight

I am sure vash can not wait!