you've got it made when the inside of your shotgun looks as good as the outside let me
show you what I mean the Elsie Smith gun company started producing double-barreled shotguns in the
1880s and became one of America's most well-known producers of fine shotguns sidelocks shotguns had
the lock work mounted to the inside of this side plate and evolved from the days when the hammer
was on the outside Elsie Smith produced hammer - shotguns and two basic frame sizes a regular
weight and a feather weight the regular weight has a longer frame a larger lug recess in the
bottom and the top corner of the side plate is rounded Elsie Smith produced one of the simplest
of the side lock designs with only four major parts a hammer a seer a mainspring and a bridle
which holds the parts in position the inside of the locks on the highest-grade Elsie Smith
guns was finished by polishing and jeweling the internal parts only the finest American
and European shotguns have the insides of their locks upgraded by polishing and Julie
to upgrade these locks they're completely disassembled the shop made tool makes the
job easy as it D [ __ ] the hammer then holds the mainspring in place while the stud is turned out
now the parts are polished beginning with a diamond file followed by two hundred eighty
grit abrasive paper each part is polished moving through progressively finer grits finishing with
one thousand two jewel the lock plate I mount it to a shot made fixture to hold it securely
the swirls or jewels are made using an abrasive rod held in a brass tube I lower the tool using
a light touch and hold it against the lock plate for about three seconds this forms a
swirl where the abrasive touches the metal now the table is moved so the next swirl overlaps
the first by half since I'm using a quarter inch abrasive rod this will be one eighth
of an inch and I repeat down the length of the lock plate the rows are also offset by one half
swirl and I continue until the entire surface is covered with overlapping jewels the process
is repeated for the bridle attaching the bridle to the lock plate keeps all the swirls lined up
to add a little color I'm gold plating the hammer and sear electroplating requires only
electric current and plating solution i degrees the hammer and sear and plate them first with
copper the copper will give the gold a surface to adhere to as gold won't stick to bare steel
the fading solution is simply brushed on and the
electric current deposits a small amount of metal on the surface
fine polish will remove the slight haze
Wow neither bluing will give the mainspring and screws a bright blue color this process
uses potassium nitrate heated to about 600 degrees which is not hot enough to
affect the temper of the spring the parts are submerged until they turn a brilliant
blue and quickly dunked in water the last step is to polish the parts of the hammer
and sear that show through the lock plate as well as the end of the mainspring stud
1,000 grit abrasive paper quickly removes the
plating and night or bluing with all the parts complete I reassemble the lock Wow
quite a difference