My 1886 gunsmith thread carried over

[TCLouis]

From another site. I am fishing for all of the answers I can get before handing this rifle over, or just keeping it as is!

So lets say someone had an original 1886 with little finish on it except the bolt and locking lugs (or whatever they are called). AND said gun is in "perfect" operational condition.

And lets say they needed work on the hammer (rebuild spur and one of the notches). It fires well as is, but I think it may be the halfcock notch. I only use pistol primers and so that is not a real big issue.

And so the owner would love to have it finished in a VERY subtle blue or maybe even a browning finish. NOT the bright blue or cased, and NOT highly polished.

No woodwork required, just the work stated . . .

Who would you recommend, guesstimate of costs and time frame to do the work.

If this is one of those projects like I have heard many talk about here taking a year or two, then I'll just leave it be and send a bunch of lead downrange having fun and attempting to plug a whitetail or two.


LouisB

To have hunted is success enough . . . to kill is to carry the hunt over time with each meal!

[Lloyd Smale]

doug turnbul

[charger 1]

Its not the length of time req'd that causes a job to take a long time. Its the stack of other work ahead of you. If I called a smith to have an 8 hr job done and he said it would be back next week, he's either lying to get more biz or he aint worth a crapper. Most smiths here worth salt are a 1 year bare min. of stuff piled up. The work you want I'd be doing myself

[Just Duke]

There is a thread about replacing the Winchester rebounding hammer with a Browning hammer. I just got to find it. Doug seems to be the go to guy as far as refurbishing needed.

[xtimberman]

Do you know whether the original finish was blue or case color? If it was CC, then a re-blue is going to be a bigger job - you'll have to completely remove the case finish before the metal will take the blueing properly - otherwise it'll turn pink.

I'm guessing that a browning or matte blue will cost as much as a polished blue finish. Most of the cost is in work time for dis-assembly, metal prep., and re-assembly - tank blueing goes fast, rust blueing takes a little longer.

It's your gun of course, but I would leave that original worn finish alone and pull out the hammer and trigger myself - can't be too bad of a job. JMO.

I just looked at the NRA Firearms Assembly Guide, and it looks like you could get to those two parts in no time. Once those parts are out and in front of you, check with some Winchester collectors and see where they send their hammers and triggers to get the sears and notches TIG welded and recut - and then re-assemble it yourself. I've done this with old Colt SAAs with broken notches on the hammers - they always come back better than new!

That should take a couple of weeks - a lot better than a wait of a year or more if you send off the whole gun. Besides, my experience with long-distance gunsmiths has been poor to infuriating. In fact, I will predict that there is a 80% chance that you will be disappointed with whatever comes back to you after all that time.

If for some reason you can't find any disassembly instructions, I'll copy the pages on the 1886 Win. in my NRA book and send them to you.

xtm