Does anyone know anything about some imported smoothbores that were handled by Century Arms. These look SORT OF like a 1803 Harper's Ferry with a half stock, metal ramrod, octagon to round barrel and a big lock. Flat buttplate. 20 Gauge. I am looking at a used gun that is in pretty bad shape, you can see the hammer fall, it moves that slow, and I am told you can't get any sparks. I am thinking if the price is right I can re-work it by putting in a new mainspring, polishing the parts of the lock, and steeling a frizzen. How practical is it to caseharden a frizzen, does it work and for how long? Would it be better to silver solder a thin sheet of better steel over the frizzen. Any help or advise strongly appreciated. Thanks..
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Century Arms Smoothbore
- Thread starter crockett
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Over in the Flintlock section is a good thread on hardening the frizzen's face, click the provided link...
Frizzen Face
I would assume that you could get a spring from Dixie Gun Works that will work, once you get the old one out and measured, I would also clean and polish all moving parts as well...
You say the gun is in pretty bad shape, what does the inside of the bore look like?
Is it pitted beyond recovery?
I have seen bad kept guns with the metal ramrod rusted in place, the triggers were sluggish and were left loaded...
Is this one empty?
Frizzen Face
I would assume that you could get a spring from Dixie Gun Works that will work, once you get the old one out and measured, I would also clean and polish all moving parts as well...
You say the gun is in pretty bad shape, what does the inside of the bore look like?
Is it pitted beyond recovery?
I have seen bad kept guns with the metal ramrod rusted in place, the triggers were sluggish and were left loaded...
Is this one empty?
I posted this in the smoothbore because it is a smooth bore. The bore is rusted and pitted-a little but I thought I could clean, lap, etc and it wouldn't make too much of a difference because it was a smoothbore rather than a rifle. The barrel is plenty heavy. Am I wrong about that option? The ramord etc can be removed. Everything seems fairly good except for the slow hammer fall and it seems to me if you can buy a kit and finish it, then an old lock ought to be able to be restored. I suspect there is a weak spring and/or a lot of crud in the lock. If the lock was never taken off the gun and cleaned, then maybe there is rust and corrosion. It seems that slicking up the parts ought to make it work.
I have always shot percussion. I was surprised to read a thread a while back that the lock on a Flint needs to be removed and cleaned often. I doubt many people do it.
I have always shot percussion. I was surprised to read a thread a while back that the lock on a Flint needs to be removed and cleaned often. I doubt many people do it.
Actually i think you will find that most flintlock shooters remove the lock and clean it after they use the gun as a part of the general cleaning routine. It don't take long, remove a couple screws, take out the lock and wash under cold running water while scrubbing with an old toothbrush. The dry and oil. You may be able to get the lock to work by just cleaning it up good. Also first back off the tension on the lock screws and see if that helps. The lock may be in a bind or hitting wood inside the mortice.
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century arms was around back in the 70's with other companies like junker and Markwell. I had one of their shotguns,, I think at the time in kit form it cost me around 60 dollars , was cheaply made as I recall ,, nothing fantastic but it did shoot , I had to re work the triggers and such as you couldnt pull the triggers with my tractor
RussB
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Musketman seez; "Any barrel will benefit from lapping"... and I say he couldn't be more right.
I have improved accuracy, and made for easier loading in all my guns by hand lapping the bore using a compound from LBT (Lead Bullet Technologies)......It is a compound of about 800/1000 grit that is used by a lot of professionals who normally charge two hours labor for this same job.
I'm told a good valve grinding compound, as sold by NAPA will do just as well at about one half the price of LBT Bore Lap.
Years back...during the age of Prodigy on the computers, I querried this question and got a ton of responses on the how's & why's of doing this.
Now, ten years and many rifle barrels later, I have come to the conclusion that there is no witch craft involved at all.
A very tight patch, mineral oil, and a compound no courser that 600 grit will do a fine job. You can do it by hand, or you can use a drill. I would suspect a drill, at it's slowest speed, would make short work of this job although I prefer to hand lap it with a rod.
On a "brand new barrel", I use 0000 steel wool with Old Dutch Cleanser to start this process....You will never believe what comes out of a brand new barrel until you see it for your self!
Wrap a .30 cal wire brush with 0000 until it's a tight fit to the muzzleloader bore , pour on the mineral oil, cover it with Old Dutch until it's a paste, and do about 100/200 passes through the barrel....you have to see it to believe it!
The thought that a new barrel must be "shot-in"...requiring up to 100 loaded rounds to "settle" the barrel...is all pure nonsense. Remove what the factory left behind, and the barrel will shoot just fine.
This same process can be used to "restore accuracy" if a build up of any kind has taken place. I did this to one of my Hawken's....not because of build up, but because I wanted to start / try a new process for lubing (new to me) that was suggested by Roundball here on the forum.
Does this "wear" the barrel? I suspect it does, at least some. After all, it is a not so mild abrasive.
Does it matter? After ten years of doing this, all I see is continous improvement on some, and nothing has gone south on me.
Use your head when doing this. Don't intentionally try to remove metal....just polish the barrel, over & over & over.
You'll like the results.
BTW; I'm told by those "who feel they know" to not use Ajax Cleanser, so I never have. (Don't ask! I don't know why not.)
I do know that Old Dutch and Rottenstone work just fine. LBT is probably the best, but pretty expensive. NAPA, and Craftsman both provide a Valve Laping Compound that works just fine...and you may even have something better.
Russ
I have improved accuracy, and made for easier loading in all my guns by hand lapping the bore using a compound from LBT (Lead Bullet Technologies)......It is a compound of about 800/1000 grit that is used by a lot of professionals who normally charge two hours labor for this same job.
I'm told a good valve grinding compound, as sold by NAPA will do just as well at about one half the price of LBT Bore Lap.
Years back...during the age of Prodigy on the computers, I querried this question and got a ton of responses on the how's & why's of doing this.
Now, ten years and many rifle barrels later, I have come to the conclusion that there is no witch craft involved at all.
A very tight patch, mineral oil, and a compound no courser that 600 grit will do a fine job. You can do it by hand, or you can use a drill. I would suspect a drill, at it's slowest speed, would make short work of this job although I prefer to hand lap it with a rod.
On a "brand new barrel", I use 0000 steel wool with Old Dutch Cleanser to start this process....You will never believe what comes out of a brand new barrel until you see it for your self!
Wrap a .30 cal wire brush with 0000 until it's a tight fit to the muzzleloader bore , pour on the mineral oil, cover it with Old Dutch until it's a paste, and do about 100/200 passes through the barrel....you have to see it to believe it!
The thought that a new barrel must be "shot-in"...requiring up to 100 loaded rounds to "settle" the barrel...is all pure nonsense. Remove what the factory left behind, and the barrel will shoot just fine.
This same process can be used to "restore accuracy" if a build up of any kind has taken place. I did this to one of my Hawken's....not because of build up, but because I wanted to start / try a new process for lubing (new to me) that was suggested by Roundball here on the forum.
Does this "wear" the barrel? I suspect it does, at least some. After all, it is a not so mild abrasive.
Does it matter? After ten years of doing this, all I see is continous improvement on some, and nothing has gone south on me.
Use your head when doing this. Don't intentionally try to remove metal....just polish the barrel, over & over & over.
You'll like the results.
BTW; I'm told by those "who feel they know" to not use Ajax Cleanser, so I never have. (Don't ask! I don't know why not.)
I do know that Old Dutch and Rottenstone work just fine. LBT is probably the best, but pretty expensive. NAPA, and Craftsman both provide a Valve Laping Compound that works just fine...and you may even have something better.
Russ
