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January 8, 2025
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I took it out to function check it. Shot a milk jug at about 50 yds. Tomorrow I’ll set some targets up and see how it groups.
January 20, 2023
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MidwestCrisis said
Here’s the rifle back together. I had to repair a couple cracks in the fire stock. Both sides were pretty much all the way down. I used JB weld and reinforced with fiberglass cloth.
Adam, I can’t see the JB Weld at all. Did you cover it with something or did the lacquer turn the gray to black? I like the forearm better than the buttstock but all you may want to do is lower the gloss to satin on both pieces. Otherwise I think you’re done.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
November 7, 2015
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Nice work, Adam. As one of the “usual suspects” (one of my favorite old movies, BTW) and a T.C. Johnson fan, I’m looking forward to this assignment. Since we are a few days away from opening day of dove season (for the north Texas region) I’m thinking our clays adventure may need to be postponed. Since I don’t currently have a Model 50 in my stable I’d be forced to shoot a Browning Citori. Hardly seems fair, right? I suppose I could limber up some social equipment (riot gun) to make it interesting…NOPE!
The preceding posts beg the question, if someone becomes the caretaker of a Model 1907 in good condition would it be prudent to reinforce the fore end if one intends to shoot it more than a few rounds?
Mike
January 8, 2025
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I didn’t get good pictures of mine before I reinforced it. Both sides had cracks from stem to stern, I could’ve pulled it into 3 pieces with gentle pressure. I coated the inside with JB weld, then laid the fiberglass mesh soaked in the epoxy inside and smoothed it out. The outside of the stock also got coated in epoxy during the process. After the epoxy cured, I worked with several files for about 2 hours until it fit over the breach block and didn’t rub. I scraped the epoxy of the outside without getting into the wood. Basically just took off whatever the gloss finish someone else applied. With some 600 grit paper I evened everything up, applied some Sedona red stain, had it ready to spray with some aerosol lacquer. After the second coat, while rubbing with steel wool, I noticed the side flexing again. The cracks had opened from the outside. I used some gorilla brand super glue in them. Let it dry and used 600 grit and steel wool to get the excess off. I had to re stain after that. Let it sit overnight then started applying lacquer again this morning, buffing with steel wool between coats. If you look close you’ll see the fore stock is lighter on the left side because the stain didn’t penetrate as well after the lacquer. I wasn’t going to redo it, just wanted to blend it so I could shoot it tomorrow. It works out because the butt stock is lighter on the left side. We’ll see if my repairs make it through 20 rounds tomorrow.
November 7, 2015
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I think patience is the key with adhesives on wood, old guns in general. I use Gorilla Glue when building or rebuilding knives. I prep, apply the adhesive, clamp carefully and walk away. I’ve learned the key to working on old guns for this amateur is knowing when to walk away. I resume the project the next day. These guns we love have been around a long time. Getting in a hurry to fix them is almost always a mistake.
Mike
January 20, 2023
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TXGunNut said
I think patience is the key with adhesives on wood, old guns in general. I use Gorilla Glue when building or rebuilding knives. I prep, apply the adhesive, clamp carefully and walk away. I’ve learned the key to working on old guns for this amateur is knowing when to walk away. I resume the project the next day. These guns we love have been around a long time. Getting in a hurry to fix them is almost always a mistake.
Mike
What Mike said. Walking away from an unpleasing result is the hardest thing for me to do. Not doing so has cost me hundreds of dollars in gunsmithing fees to fix what I did next — that I would not have done next in the morning.
I have a mantra, developed recently:
“Well, $#@$%^. It ain’t worth dying over. Lets go to the house. ” Sometimes it works.
The color on the forearm and the invisibility of the cracks is really good. Don’t hesitate to paint with stain to layer it over a flattened topcoat, then re-topcoat.
Layering takes days between steps, not hours. But it is the secret to concealing flaws.
In the future, I recommend you go for a factory look but with modern materials, rather than worrying about what the factory used. What they used is all they had.
While you are not anxious to get a project that doesn’t exist done, put in an order for some Birchwood Casey TruOil, a quart of Bullseye clear Shellac, some form of ebony wood filler, and a can of General Finish brand satin ArmorSeal topcoat or its waterbased equivalent.. The TruOil you can get from Amazon or Midway. The shellac and other stuff from Woodcraft Supply, all online. The shellac is for layer separation. Order some Acraglass gel from Brownell’s. You will be glad you did. It is dark brown, not gray, and is what professionals use. You can add powdered aluminum or bronze for strength on interior surfaces.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
January 8, 2025
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Well my targets are a little too embarrassing to show but I was able to get some good groups. I noticed last night that the front sight was a little loose in the dovetail so I super glued a .001 shim to the bottom and drove it back in with blue loc-tite. I was hitting where I was aiming once I figured out the correct sight picture. At my 130 yd steel I was hitting low, but I did ring it a couple times. My stock repair held up. So now I’ll see if I can get the butt stock to match
April 15, 2005
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MidwestCrisis said
Well my targets are a little too embarrassing to show but I was able to get some good groups. I noticed last night that the front sight was a little loose in the dovetail so I super glued a .001 shim to the bottom and drove it back in with blue loc-tite. I was hitting where I was aiming once I figured out the correct sight picture. At my 130 yd steel I was hitting low, but I did ring it a couple times. My stock repair held up. So now I’ll see if I can get the butt stock to match
The Winchester S.L. Rifles are not known for target grade accuracy… 2″ groups @ 50-yards are superb.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
January 8, 2025
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Bert H. said
MidwestCrisis said
Well my targets are a little too embarrassing to show but I was able to get some good groups. I noticed last night that the front sight was a little loose in the dovetail so I super glued a .001 shim to the bottom and drove it back in with blue loc-tite. I was hitting where I was aiming once I figured out the correct sight picture. At my 130 yd steel I was hitting low, but I did ring it a couple times. My stock repair held up. So now I’ll see if I can get the butt stock to match
The Winchester S.L. Rifles are not known for target grade accuracy… 2″ groups @ 50-yards are superb.
Bert
Well that makes feel better. I couldn’t see my hits at 35 yards. I shot a group, then tried a 6 o clock hold. That’s the low ones. Then I checked the target and shot the two that look good. Then I threw $50 at the 130yd steel.
January 20, 2023
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I wouldn’t want you shooting at me with it. Those 180 grain slugs are not flea bites at 50 or 100 yards. How did the gun feel in recoil with a new buffer as compared to when you shot it with more or less no buffer?
As Bert said, they aren’t noted for target accuracy but a cop, armed with one and a 10-round magazine of metal cased slugs, could deal a Depression Era bootlegger’s V8 Ford and its occupants a lot of grief. The 351 round had an appreciably better trajectory than the Thompson’s 45 ACP. Having owned and shot the Remington Model 8, it’s more powerful but not as compact or handy.
A prison guard, faced with a full-on riot, would take comfort from having one in his hands loaded with ten 180 grain softnose rounds.
The late, unlamented Homer van Meter was of the same opinion,
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
January 8, 2025
Online
The recoil is definitely softer with a new buffer. Feeling that giant breach block slamming back against steel is noticeable once you have shot one that doesn’t. I would imagine that shooting it without the buffer is like shooting a Garand with modern 06 bolt gun ammo. You’ll get away with it until you don’t.
January 20, 2023
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My Lyman bore scope is the old wired one that has only a 20″ rod. However, from the muzzle that should get me into the chamber all the way to the bolt face.
Somewhere there must be factory literature advising the anticipated round count when the buffer should be replaced. Or at least advising inspection and a minimum size gap.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
January 20, 2023
Online
An update. At the range, the 07 trigger locked up and would not fire any of several chambered live rounds, as if the crossbolt safety had been engaged. The same as had happened at the previous range session. Despite “firing” any number of dummy rounds made from fired brass out of the same box, at home. These dummies were carefully made with a Redding 3-die set and measured by dial indicator to be within both SAAMI dimensions and as identical to the vintage factory rounds as I could make them.
The trigger assembly of the 07 is a reliable design and is used almost intact in both the .30 M1 Carbine and the Model 50/59 shotgun. However, it has a very slight amount of takeup creep. More significantly for our investigation, the trigger does not move at all – no creep – when the crossbolt safety is engaged.
At the range, when the trigger is pulled on a live round, the trigger does not move. There is no takeup creep. At home, when the trigger is pulled on a dummy round, the trigger takes up very slightly and then “fires” the dummy with an audible firing pin strike on the dead primer.
The firing pin assembly is not blocked, as can be verified by other means as well. It is the trigger stroke alone that is blocked and there are only two things that can block it:
1. Manual engagement of the crossbolt safety by pushing the button in the trigger guard.
2. Automatic engagement of the crossbolt safety by the “out of battery” lever: the spring loaded lever installed in the left wall of the lower receiver, directly over and connected to the crossbolt safety. Under spring pressure this lever is held vertically at full extension and the trigger is blocked. At full extension this lever rides along the bottom of the breech bolt. There is a bulge or block at very end of the bolt, such that when the bolt is in full battery the lever is depressed, unlocking the trigger stroke.
The rim thickness dimensions of the live and dummy rounds are virtually identical. Both seat fully in the chamber, as can be confirmed visually. The live rounds are Western factory. Insufficient headspace is not an issue.
The most likely reason the trigger is blocked at the range is the failure of the bolt safety lever to be fully depressed, for some reason.
At the range, I failed to bring the set of dummy cartridges, to try after the live rounds would not fire. That would have probably revealed cartridge dimensions aren’t the problem.
I carried the 07 to the range disassembled in a Boyt takedown case. This particular 07 has never been taken down very much and all the steel edges are sharp and unworn. If not lubricated, the upper and lower receiver are difficult to manipulate into position and close fully. The takedown bolt requires a screwdriver to firmly close the two halves.
I now believe the lower receiver can be installed with enough of a barely noticeable gap that the bolt safety lever is not fully depressed. The lever is on the lower receiver, along with rest of the fire control mechanism. The breech bolt is in the upper receiver.
When I came home from the range, it was a couple of days before I cleaned and reassembled the gun. Before I did so, I decided to “season” all the internal steel with BreakFree CLP, to impregnate the pores and make a slick, molecular-level bond. It has made assembly and functioning significantly easier. Of course, after I assembled it and tightened the takedown bolt with a Brownell MagnaTip, it shucked and “fired” dummies without issue. Repeatedly.
The most likely cause of the trigger lockup is that the internal, spring loaded, bolt-out-of-battery safety lever mounted in the left wall of the lower receiver is not being fully depressed. I can prove or disprove my theory just by bringing dummies and live ammo to the range. “Firing” a dummy and then loading a live round. What I should have done before.
I am a slow learner and a sloppy investigator. 
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
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