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For my fellow members in North Texas, I have some good news. I’ve found a talented gunsmith who can and will do small, hard repair jobs with outstanding results, within a reasonable time. Ron Gervase [pronounced “Grrr-VAH-say”] was trained at the Pennsylvania School of Gunsmithing in the classical manner — he can make barrels, rust blue, carve and checker stocks from the blank, and make parts — and has deep experience working on very expensive arms. He worked for 14 years as a gunsmith at Ray’s Hardware and studied alongside two veteran ‘smiths and machinists to perfect his skills.
He has his own shop in on Avenue H in Arlington, Texas, just North of Interstate 30 and Six Flags Drive. Gervase Gunsmithing. He has a Website.
He will not accept custom stockmaking work now because it limits his time for other customer’s jobs. He holds himself to a very high standard and will not take on work unless it he feels he can give a perfect result.
The best way I can introduce him requires embarrassing myself, but I owe him that, so herewith:
Seewin, BRP, TxGunNut, Lou, Chuck, Anthony and Steve – and others of you interested in the 52 Sporting — know (to the point of boredom) how I got my end-of-the-line 52C and of my efforts to restore it’s respectability from an unknown, long-armed squirrel hunter with a taste for the California style. Seewin schooled me on sight hoods and dovetail blanks and BRP with help from Snipe.com “contributed” a fine 48F and Full Gold Bead to the cause. So far so good.
But then, one night I took it upon myself, after a long day, to remove the Redfield Junior scope base that had been on the receiver probably since 1960. California Joe must have used red “Stud-N-Bearing” grade sealant, although there was no trace of color visible where the four fillister head screws were seated on the scope base. Soakings with alcohol, then Kroil, and heat from a hair dryer finally let me budge three screws with a very tightly fitted Brownell slotted tip. Fourth one, no go.
After some really creative cursing in English, Spanish and Incoherent, I made my mistake. With three screws out, I decided to sacrifice the Redfield base and use it as a lever to turn out the fourth screw. I thought I could feel the thread break loose ….and then PING! The scope base came away in my hand with the screw head and a shard of the threaded shank with it. The remaining shank was still frozen in the receiver, the only visible part of being a small, razor-sharp, uplifted finger. Appropriately.
I called around and was referred by another gunsmith to Ron. He might have tackled the job if it were a J. C. Higgins single shot, he said, but not on THAT rifle.
So I called Ron, who said no problem, bring it in. I do that job about every two weeks. He called me two days after I brought it in and told me it (and a 1966 Browning T-Bolt II I’d brought to him with a stuck safety) was ready. Eighty bucks and tax for each repair, $173 all up. He dead centered what was left of the 6-48 screw shank, tapped a reverse threaded hole in the damaged shank, pulled it, chased the receiver hole threads clean. Easy to say, very tricky to do even with a zero-runout drill mill.
The eighty dollar lesson was very cheap.
- 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.
They normally use the medium strength blue loctite for scope bases but if their out of it and use the red high strength you have to use heat. Thread locker will break down with heat but more than a hair dryer, a propane torch will do the job so as long as you don’t have wood next to it. 300 deg is the limits of most standard thread lockers. If you want to be mean you can use a high temp grade good to 500 which is now in the tempering range of steel. They do have a super glue remover but I don’t know if it will work on thread lockers.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Bill,
I’m glad your gunsmith was able to save the day, and I look forward to seeing those sights on your 52-C Sporting rifle. Please post pics so those of us without a 52-C Sporter can live vicariously through yours.
BRP
Parson,
Mine is no exemplar. Because of its 1960 vintage, it left New Haven with a brazed sight ramp and the same plastic buttplate worn by the Models 88 and 100.
By the time it came to me in 2002, it wore an incorrect Lyman front sight in an aftermarket hood, an aftermarket, flared, black plastic grip cap with a fleur d’lis molded into its face, and a thin, un-ventilated, brown Pachmayr recoil pad. A Redfield 70 micrometer sight base had been crudely modified to fit the contour of the rifle’s left receiver wall. The Redfield’s staff was missing and the Redfield Junior one-piece scope base installed. A Weaver J4 in small diameter Redfield rings was fitted onto the base.
Because of the apparent anomalies and the definite alterations, the dealer was skeptical it was a factory Sporting and I was able to buy it out of consignment very cheaply.
At this point, the only thing “unfactory” is the Pachmayr pad, which I refuse to replace with a “correct” plastic buttplate.
Google has the motto, “Don’t Do Evil.” Mine is “Don’t Do Ugly!”
- 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.
1873man said
They normally use the medium strength blue loctite for scope bases but if their out of it and use the red high strength you have to use heat. Thread locker will break down with heat but more than a hair dryer, a propane torch will do the job so as long as you don’t have wood next to it. 300 deg is the limits of most standard thread lockers. If you want to be mean you can use a high temp grade good to 500 which is now in the tempering range of steel. They do have a super glue remover but I don’t know if it will work on thread lockers.Bob
Bob, Thanks for the heads up on red Loctite. I do all my own scope mounting and collimation because I swap guns and use scopes from my little inventory of Leupolds accumulated over the years. I am a great believer in blue Loctite on degreased steel parts and would consider using anything harder to release as morally degraded as shooting my own bird dog.
I’ve never found it necessary to go stronger than blue, even on a six pound .350 magnum and several .300 magnum rifles, both Winchester and Weatherby. The warne scope mounts I had on my 350 didn’t loosen and the little carbine generated vicious (over 32 foot pounds) and very quick recoil, with no help from inertia. Sold it. I don’t hunt anything that would try to kill me back except maybe feral hogs. Despite all the war stories, I think any rifle suitable for South or North Texas deer is enough for those.
- 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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I’m glad Ron was able to help you, Bill. You’re right, drilling out a screw, cutting reverse threads and removing the screw is no big deal until you consider the screw is 6-48. I’ve been down that road on a larger scale with an eze-out on automotive applications. Last thing you want to do is break off an eze-out or a tap (hard steel). Took courage to tell this story on yourself, Bill. I’ve learned (usually!) to straighten up my work area and walk away when I get frustrated and won’t even bother to pick up a screwdriver when I’m in a hurry or had a rough day. I remember well the time my friend Steve Camp went to check on a custom gun Lou Williamson was building for him. He found Lou working on Scott’s dirt bike. Steve was frustrated but I learned that even the best of gunsmiths sometimes have to know when to let it go for a little while.
Mike
Mike, we’ve agreed in the past that good judgement comes from experience, which often comes from bad judgement!
I could have done something that was a lot worse — taken the last step in the series of mistakes leading to a sheared off screw head: taking the problem to my own drill press (the Jet in my woodshop that does many jobs so well) and trying to drill and tap a reverse thread in a tiny uneven surface myself. According to our friend Scott May, that is the final step that converts retrievable to beyond hope.
Once I recovered from shock and worked my way up through the layers of fury and self-condemnation, I calmed down and realized the next tool I should use for the job was my telephone.
The one absolutely essential attribute gunsmithing (even lightweight stuff dedicated amateurs can hope to accomplish) requires, is PATIENCE.
If another member can learn from my impetuosity and so be spared a little grief, then i’m happy to confess it for the common good. As my wife would tell you, even in retirement I’m not famous for my fragile ego.
- 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.
Update: when I picked up the two rifles I left with him, I brought Ron another minor mystery gun to investigate and fix, an early (“patent pending”) Weatherby Mark V built by J. P. Sauer und Sohn about 1959 and stocked in Southgate with a beautiful tiger tail pattern blank of Claro Walnut.
This rifle seemed remarkably butt-heavy and one of the attachment screw points in the face of the recoil pad was torn and distorted. Some idiot had removed the pad without lubricating the screwdriver shank.
A little shaking and tilting told me an inertia cylinder recoil reducer had been installed in the buttstock, which would have been understandable in a .340 or even a .300.
But this rifle was chambered for Roy’s most underappreciated cartridge design, the 7mm Weatherby, a short magnum almost identical to his very popular .270 Weatherby, differing in bullet diameter by only .007″. Neither is in the least uncomfortable to shoot in a Mark V by shooters of average size. The LOP of this rifle had not been shortened so I just don’t know…
Ron called me this morning and said the gun was ready. When he pulled off the pad he found not one but TWO recoil reducers, which he removed at my request. Even with its 24″ #1 contour barrel, the gun should now balance a little weight forward and not feel so whippy.
I didn’t want to replace the original brown, ventilated Pachmayr Whiteline pad because the Weatherby “Tomorrow’s Rifles Today” logo is molded into its face and duplicates are unobtainable. To clean up the buggered screwdriver puncture, Ron suggested a pair of neat access holes be milled through the pad face, colinear with the attachment screw heads, in the manner of the Silver’s pads seen on Holland, Rigby and Purdey double and magazine guns. I agreed.
Lest you think I’m wandering too far from Winchester, the purpose of the above is to illustrate the breadth of Ron’s talents. Tomorrow, when I drive over to pick up the Mark V, I’m bringing with me the Winchester Model 50 I picked up recently. It looks like it got light use and I’d call it a 92-95 percent shotgun. But I want Ron to strip it, clean and lube the lockwork and make sure the buffer tube, floating chamber and springs are not coked up where I can’t see. I intend to replace my 1955 Browning A-5 with it before the Browning loses its newish looks.
I’m not a waterfowl hunter but I have learned not to frustrate myself trying to pass shoot doves with an open choked 20 gauge quail gun. My “new” M50 is an eight pound, 28″ modified choke, short recoil gun. The stock isn’t cut for a pad. One ounce of 7 1/2 high antimony shot over 2 3/4 to 3 dram equivalents from a 12 gauge modified barrel patterns beautifully with little stringing. I can shoot it all day. It will fully penetrate the body of a mature cock pheasant at 40 yards (assuming I lead him enough to hit something other than tailfeathers.)
My Auto-5 buttplate still features JMB’s likeness carved in horn. I put exactly two rounds of 1500 fs steel through it on an Amarillo teal hunt in 2018, with the brakes set for HV loads and a backbored Invector Plus barrel on the gun. Never again. I gave away the entire case of steel and would have to beg or borrow a gas gun to shoot that stuff. I don’t like to eat duck anyway.
- 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.
A few years ago I had a small job that I needed done on a Winchester Model 63, that I wasn’t comfortable doing myself.
Ron Gervase had recently opened his shop in Arlington, and was recommended to me by Jeff Lee, of Lee’s Gun Parts in Irving.
I recall that Ron had a great appreciation for fine vintage firearms (rifles & shotguns), and gave me a tour of his shop, showing all his capabilities.
The work was finished fairly quickly, and at a fair price – definitely a great resource for gunsmithing work in DFW!
Bill,
a great read, as I’m not sure how I missed it in the past, but I do tend to keep myself busy, and I’ll chalk it off to that. I to had a similar situation years ago, and one who has repaired many of different things and from a long line of a very well mechanically minded, and physical doers, tackled this in my shop. Not being in a hurry, and on a cold Wintered blizzard day out side, I worked up to it, in my mind ahead of time, as I had some pretty good teachers with the heat torch, and on some large Heavy Construction Equipment to boot, (two completely different animals), I used heat as Bob’s completely correct about the different grades of loc-tite, and the Blue and the Red! The difference in my situation, as I removed the wood, and secure in one of my special gun vises, that I have, and have made special accommodations for repairs and remedies along with my late Father in Law’s, Gunsmiths teachings, and advice, and some of Dad’s tools thrown in, as a Tool and Die maker. I used an intense electric heated soldering pencil gun, after I flattened, and cleaned out the hole, with my Dremel tool, as to not disturb the head but prep it for this removal, any remaining metal or threads on the rifle at hand. Concentrating as much heat, as this one pencil soldering gun I have, that heats up intensely, and pretty quickly, for this removal, of the said broken screw! I have a different pencil gun for soldering, that works well for soldering, but doesn’t heat up like the first one.
Anthony
Tony, I’m still impressed with your skill and courage! The idea of my taking my Dremel tool within 6 feet of my Model 52C Sporting’s receiver makes my blood run cold. According to Houze, WRA only made 1314 of them, from 1954 to 1960. Mine was made in 1960 and has a brazed sight ramp and probably had a plastic buttplate but, still…
- 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.
Bill,
The trade secret learned from both my father in law, and my Dad, besides patience,was to make sure the proper set up was attained, as a comfortable rest, at the solid work bench, with no wobbles or movement whatsoever! It’s not a project that you rush into, and it’s important to limit the distractions!
As I think back on some of the projects or things that I tackled over the years, I sometimes wonder, what a true Smith would charge these days for some of those things, as IMO, it would be worth it! 
Anthony
Tony, I gladly paid Ron eighty bucks an hour for his work. Having run my own practice for so many years, I know what overhead is and I think he’s shaving it mighty close, particularly for what he has to offer, which is a lot.
It is not hard these days to find somebody to build you a match-grade AR but getting an out of production rifle or shotgun diagnosed and repaired is another matter entirely.
- 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.
Bill,
I can’t agree with you more, as it’s well worth it to get it done right. One slip up, and it can be a problem.
It’s amazing the prep work, and the well thought out planning, that’s pretty much required, at least for me any ways.
Painters tape over the whole area to protect things, that I don’t need marked up, or scratched by accident. Small pieces, of light weight cardboard type, heavy paper, like an old oak tag paper, and that being taped into place, and covered with more painters tape, and when finished, all that’s visible is the exact, hole that will get the proper surgery performed on it! At least that’s my way of being successful with it, and making it work.
Anthony
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