Well.........Couldn't help myself! I got up early this morning to take the Stoeger Uplander to the range to try it out.
Last night I deactivated the auto safety. It still works but in a manual mode. I cut 1.5 coils off the locking lever spring. Took the whole action apart and smoothed everything over with Cratex stones. Barrels now drop open VERY easily and stay open.
But as I was looking at the shotgun, it just didn't look "Cowboy"........28" barrels need a jacket with patches on the elbows, a Tweed hat and some kind of yellow or brown dog. I have none of the above!
The barrels needed to be shorter. But how short? Twenty inches seemed Too shot and 28" was too long. Whenever I confronted with decisions like this I alway take a moderate approach and go half way. So I decided to cut them to 24".
I uses a set of old calipers set at 4" and scribed a line around the two barrels. Using a 24T hack saw I cut about a 1/6" proud of this line. Then I did some measuring and found that the top rib is perfectly parallel with the bores so I could easily lay the barrels down in the milling machine, upside-down and mill the ends perfectly square.
This I did and then verified with a machinists square......Perfect!
I filled the void with Brownells Steel Bed and filed everything smooth and cold blued
I took an 1/8 piece of brass rod and chucked it up in the lathe. I proceeded to turn a nice big Brass bead with a tapered shaft for the front sight. Drilled a hole in the center of the rib on the milling machine and taped it in.
I still think my 1897 will be the "Go To' shotgun, but it will be fun to try something diofferent every now and then and certainly for some fun with the poppers.