I'll post this here as I can't send you a pic on PM without going through gyrations.
I bought this old Winchester single in 1992. It was a wreck. The bore was clean but the outside of the barrel was pitted and the stock looked like it had been put through a meat grinder. I was looking for a 'throw-away' gun that I could use on the ocean for eiders. Even without contact with salt water my better guns came back with a glaze of rust on them which horrified me. So I bought this for $40. I phoned Winchester from the store itself and spoke with one of their engineers who stated that the gun itself was strong enough for steel but recommended that a screw-in choke be installed with an external choke tube. So that's the first thing I did. At the time it was $50 to have it tapped. The first time I went out I was laughed at by the others. But the gun is light, extremely well-balanced, and swings beautifully. That morning I never missed and even managed to get a double on a long line of birds coming in...I shot the lead duck and then dropped the last one going out...there were no more jokes after that!
(I was lucky.) A year later a friend was bluing some guns and I snuck the barrel in for a $40 bluing job. Then I stripped the birch stock, stained it black and painted a camo pattern on it to match the rock outcrops we'd hunted off of and varnished it. I added a sling and shell holder a year or two after that along with a recoil pad. I used to keep the receiver just bare metal, but finally painted it a flat black. And there you have it. I still take it out for waterfowl and actually like the old girl very much. I've become more and more classic in my thinking when it comes to guns, was given a Marlin 55 Goose Gun in 12 ga. last fall, did a total make over with it, installed my own tubes and can't wait to get out with it in September. I did buy a Chiappa Little Badger a month ago just for convenience but hope to never buy another new gun the rest of my life...there's just too many good old ones out there...and I like to fiddle with them during winters up here. I do my own chokes by hand because it saves me money in the end, but is not for the faint of heart...the reamer/tap were expensive...it takes me a full day to ream and tap and my hand is sore by the end...and my Marlin 55 had a barrel too long to put on someone's lathe anyway unless they cut the barrel way back, which I consider akin to a sin! Good luck with yours...
View attachment 11908
I bought this old Winchester single in 1992. It was a wreck. The bore was clean but the outside of the barrel was pitted and the stock looked like it had been put through a meat grinder. I was looking for a 'throw-away' gun that I could use on the ocean for eiders. Even without contact with salt water my better guns came back with a glaze of rust on them which horrified me. So I bought this for $40. I phoned Winchester from the store itself and spoke with one of their engineers who stated that the gun itself was strong enough for steel but recommended that a screw-in choke be installed with an external choke tube. So that's the first thing I did. At the time it was $50 to have it tapped. The first time I went out I was laughed at by the others. But the gun is light, extremely well-balanced, and swings beautifully. That morning I never missed and even managed to get a double on a long line of birds coming in...I shot the lead duck and then dropped the last one going out...there were no more jokes after that!
(I was lucky.) A year later a friend was bluing some guns and I snuck the barrel in for a $40 bluing job. Then I stripped the birch stock, stained it black and painted a camo pattern on it to match the rock outcrops we'd hunted off of and varnished it. I added a sling and shell holder a year or two after that along with a recoil pad. I used to keep the receiver just bare metal, but finally painted it a flat black. And there you have it. I still take it out for waterfowl and actually like the old girl very much. I've become more and more classic in my thinking when it comes to guns, was given a Marlin 55 Goose Gun in 12 ga. last fall, did a total make over with it, installed my own tubes and can't wait to get out with it in September. I did buy a Chiappa Little Badger a month ago just for convenience but hope to never buy another new gun the rest of my life...there's just too many good old ones out there...and I like to fiddle with them during winters up here. I do my own chokes by hand because it saves me money in the end, but is not for the faint of heart...the reamer/tap were expensive...it takes me a full day to ream and tap and my hand is sore by the end...and my Marlin 55 had a barrel too long to put on someone's lathe anyway unless they cut the barrel way back, which I consider akin to a sin! Good luck with yours...View attachment 11908
