This weekend the wife and I had the opportunity to do some squirrel hunting. She loves her Stoeger Longfowler OU shotgun and chose to use it (we were limited to shotguns, which was fine) as her tree rat getter. This is a great gun and she loves it! Everything fits like a glove, Finish is quite nice for a matte gun and it's a very natural pointer for her.
Upon pre-shoot inspection, I noticed that there is some galling on the left side of the breech where the jeweling is. I had never noticed it before so must assume it happened when I opened the breech. Anyway, long story short is that it appears the mating surfaces didn't have enough oil. So here we are.
I am sure the Stoeger put the jeweling there to serve a purpose, it's not just to make it pretty, it's an oil retainer. After oiling there were no additional problems. The gun opens and closes cleanly and I found no sign of shavings, chips or other debris in the action of the shotgun.
Needless to say, she was heartbroken though.
How hard is something like this to fix? I know jeweling went out of style with back in the 60's but I think this jeweling serves a purpose. Do I need to stone ALL of the jeweling off and then re-jewel the entire side or do I need to try and repair just those swirls that are affected? I don't want to change the clearances on the gun, and I fear stoning the entire face might loosen up the excellent fit it has.
Upon pre-shoot inspection, I noticed that there is some galling on the left side of the breech where the jeweling is. I had never noticed it before so must assume it happened when I opened the breech. Anyway, long story short is that it appears the mating surfaces didn't have enough oil. So here we are.
I am sure the Stoeger put the jeweling there to serve a purpose, it's not just to make it pretty, it's an oil retainer. After oiling there were no additional problems. The gun opens and closes cleanly and I found no sign of shavings, chips or other debris in the action of the shotgun.
Needless to say, she was heartbroken though.
How hard is something like this to fix? I know jeweling went out of style with back in the 60's but I think this jeweling serves a purpose. Do I need to stone ALL of the jeweling off and then re-jewel the entire side or do I need to try and repair just those swirls that are affected? I don't want to change the clearances on the gun, and I fear stoning the entire face might loosen up the excellent fit it has.