rookhawk
AH ambassador
Here is a photo description so you can follow along with the words we are using.
Several photos of garden variety double barrel shotgun for parts labeling purposes and pictures of the before-and-after Butch Searcy repair on the gun that is the essence of Matt's dilemma.
Picture 1 shows where one of two release latches often exist, this one an Anson Plunger, Matt's is a Deeley latch. In either case, these much mate up to the hook or loop of the barrel and be tight to regulate a gun with consistent harmonics while also need to be held on so that the forend doesn't fall off the gun. The "bites" are the two or three places that hold the barrels SAFELY under discharge to the action of the gun.
Second photo. The gray box is an exaggeration of what was machined off the barrels of Matt's gun. This was done so the gun chamber was shorter, so that it could be reamed again curing a defective breach/chamber that ate ammo. Note that when that is removed, the three other areas all must be built up with annealing (softening) the metal, tig-welding new metal on, then machining all the surfaces so that the gun's anchor points will all be back where they were supposed to be. In later pictures, you'll see what we know that wasn't done. (e.g. it doesn't eject and it closes differently with different toplever engagement of the bites.
Picture 3 shows some of the basic parts. In addition to the bites (not circles, but visible), each of the circles spots must be addressed with annealing and adding more material, then dressing (machining and polishing) to fit OR by removing more material as appropriate. In Matt's case, the ejector dogs are now closer to the breach more than likely and need to be annealed, dressed down, and retimed, along with other circled areas.
Another image from a shotgun for example, showing the labeled areas that need machining to function correctly for opening/closing the gun, ejection to work correctly.
Now to pictures of before-and-after of Matt's gun. When he bought it, and then after Searcy serviced the gun. This picture shows the gun's screws in time. You would go into the floorplate of an Anson & Deeley boxlock action to either A.) Fix the ejectors...we know that wasn't done, or B.) to address bite engagement. You would prefer the work be done to the barrels rather than to the bite in the action because you want the barrels to wear, not the receiver.
Now the picture post-Searcy work. Here you can see that someone has opened the action, screws are out of time. There are scratches near the screws like someone slipped while trying to open or close the action during gunsmithing.
This is the really important picture below, and how I rest my case that Searcy milled the breach of the gun without doing any of the complicated work required to make sure the gun is locking up correctly, top lever engaged fully, screws re-timed, etc. See the circled areas. The gun barrels have been shortened by the breach and they are set back on the action, what he had to do to rechamber the gun. Note the looseness of the forend. The airgap that now exists at the forend-meets-receiver, and that the water table is set back. Every part that plays a role on locking up the gun, ejecting, etc. is precisely too long or too short by exactly the distance of the gap at top. Clearly, the forend was worked back on the action, but not in all areas, only at the knuckle/pin, not in the other two critical points for functionality.
Thus, when you review the pictures and my prior posts on what needs to be done, the definitions and the explanations will make more sense with the illustrations. None of the work remaining on the gun should be entertained by a "quality gunsmith" of any sort, this work must be performed by a double rifle mechanic capable of building a double rifle, because in essence, the repairs needed are EXACTLY the same type of work required to fit a brand new set of barrels to an action by hand. I'm not sure of what work Mr. Searcy is capable of doing in house versus what he farms out, but it is likely that fitting brand-new barrels is within his capability (clearly it is) but installing custom barrels from scratch (basically, the steps required herein) may be outside his skills as it would be for many of the top makers today. I do not believe Merkel, or Krieghoff, or any other high volume quality maker today could do the repair work shown herein, it would require a custom builder that is working off of one-off tolerances rather than extremely consistent, off the shelf new parts. Thus, I make an assumption that Mr. Searcy gave up as well because it is entering an area of time consuming hand work that would be greater than starting over.
