Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Combination Guns and Drillings Three Barrel Gun Company

I was given one of these guns in 12X12x.32-40 yesterday and while it was a very nice gun it is a long way from that now. Trying to decide whether it is worth it or not to “restore”? The buttstock will need replaced as it was shortened dramatically. That is not too big a deal and some of the other work is doable - rethread the trigger guard screw where it attaches to the action and fill in a dovetail that was filed into the rib. There is another project that I’m not so comfortable with - namely replacing two broken parts. One appears to be a spring for the sear and is an odd shaped flat spring while the other one appears to be a cocking rod (not sure about that one). The rest of the gun is in more than usable condition and looks to be pretty well made with a lot of attention to detail. Hate to abandon it but not sure it’s worth the effort either?

Any and all options welcome!

PennDog

If you can do the work yourself it is a worthwhile project. If the head of the stock is good you can look at having a butt transplant done. Or send it off too Mark Larson and have an extension grafted on and he can blend it so you can't tell. There are plenty of tutorials out there on making V-springs. I've brought a couple of drillings back to life, it is fun but time consuming as I don't have a mill or lathe and hand file all my parts.

What erich said...

To have the work done will cost you far more than the gun will ever be worth. If you have good skills and can do the restoration or most of it it would be a fun and sometimes frustrating project.

I would try the metal parts restoration first, and if it's successful have a pro do the stock. A graft might work, but these guns are known for weakness where they were inletted and wrists cracking. If things are good enough for a graft definitely have the action section glassed.

I'd love to see some befores...

Another good place to ask about this is the double gun forum on www.doublegunshop.com/bbs. Lots of very experienced double restorers and gunsmiths over there and some of them will have specific experience with this maker--I've read threads about them there.

Good luck--I very much hope that you can get this ol' gal shooting again! I saw one in 16x16x.25-20SS that was a work of art.

Thanks for all the replies! I just took the original stock to the guy I use for duplicating and think the spring and cocking rod are “doable” the more I examined it. They seem like fine guns and hope I can get it back where it needs to be!

PennDog

If you decide to sell it PM me. Be Well, RZ.

Do, or have done both springs while you're in there...hint.

I'm excited to see some pix of the gun.