Friday, March 08, 2013

They don't hardly make them like that anymore...

Over at the other blog, I posted a picture of my recently-acquired Remington 870 alongside a vintage Remington 10-A I've had for a couple of years.

Roughly a hundred years separate these two shoguns, although the 870 design, having debuted in 1950, is a classic in its own right.
The 10-A has a forend with a single action bar, and the bottom-ejecting action has a strange little side-hinged flipper that serves as a shell lifter. A Pedersen design, one tends to automatically assume this is an attempt to engineer around Browning patents held by Winchester on the Model 1897. The Model 10 was certainly more modern-looking than the exposed-hammer Winchester, while sharing with it a feature that has sadly vanished from most of our modern slide-action gauges:

To take down, flip out the latch at the muzzle end of the mag tube and give the tube a quarter turn and slide it and the forend toward the muzzle until they stop. Then give the entire barrel and mag tube assembly a quarter turn and pull it forward out of the receiver.
The above shotgun was bought for, like, a hundred bucks including tax back in the autumn of 2011; it's a little rough and the stock's in need of a bunch of Acraglass, if not complete replacement, and the barrel's been cut down to 18.5" from a full choke ~28" tube, so its collector value is just about nil, but it sure is neat. That takedown feature is just handier than a pocket on a shirt. Why don't they do that anymore?

16 comments:

Dwight Brown said...

"Why don't they do that anymore?"

Indeed, why don't they? I'm a sucker for takedowns guns like that, and the little Browning .22 auto (I have one of those, but I'm still looking for a nice fitted case for it: you can carry that around, and people think you've got a pool cue instead of a gun), and the Marlin 39A, and especially the AR-7.

I blame my childhood.

Aggie said...

Welcome back, Tam!

JD said...

Dwight, check out Midwest Gun Works, I have a case for my Browning, I think I got it from them. It's not "fit like a glove" but it's made for the gun.

Tam said...

Dwight Brown,

I love my Marlin Papoose and my MGW take-down AR upper for the same reasons.

Plus, it's hard to not feel like you're in a spy movie when you pull the gun out and screw it together... :D

Anonymous said...

Dwight wrt Browning Auto case, I've been using an old Violin case for this for years. Never raises an eyebrow and has a 1920's cool factor too. Cheap and easy.

Dwight Brown said...

JD: Thank you! Bookmarked the MGW site.

Tam: "...it's hard to not feel like you're in a spy movie when you pull the gun out and screw it together... "

This is especially true with the AR-7, though it would not be my first choice if I wanted to take down a helicopter.

Anon @ 1:06: That's another good idea I hadn't considered. Which is a strange thing for me to admit, as I own one of the recent semi-auto Thompson reproductions and the...well, I wouldn't call it a "violin" case, as I think it is a bit large for a violin, but you know the one I'm talking about, right?

og said...

"See this you primitive screwheads? This is my BOOMSLANG!"

Old NFO said...

Nice old gun, and I'm betting it still works like a champ!

Jack said...

I have my Dad's Model 10 which he got for his 14th birthday in 1924. It gets to break a few clays every other year or so, just so it doesn't get lonely. A couple of tricks. If the barrel doesn't want to seat in the receiver, pull the trigger. If the barrel is lose on the receiver, some Model 10s can be tightened. Look for a little bar held by a screw in the face if the receiver. Remove it and turn the barrel nut in the receiver a notch or two until the barrel is tight. I can scan the manual and email it to you.

d said...

New Arms Room content!

Hooray!

I discovered The Arms Room in the dormant period, I hope this is the beginning of a run of new posts. I always enjoy reading the archives, new content boggles the mind.

d said...

And I agree, the art of the takedown gun is nearly lost.

I have a weakness for the little versions, a Henry rendition of an AR7, a Papoose, and a KT sub2000 are featured in my accumulation of guns, all stored on the shelf for "guns that get smaller when not in use"

Dwight Brown said...

d:

"And I agree, the art of the takedown gun is nearly lost."

I don't know: it could be making a comeback with Ruger's takedown 10/22.

I think that's a pretty slick looking gun. I haven't been able to justify purchasing one because I have the takedown Browning, I already have two non-takedown 10/22s, and I'm not really happy with any of the colors I've seen. But if it wasn't for those factors, I'd be tempted...

Andy said...

A good bit of that action was the forerunner (in a, wait until the patents express sense) of the Ithaca 37 action.

d said...

Dwight Brown:
"I don't know: it could be making a comeback with Ruger's takedown 10/22."

I snagged one, they're pretty nice. Mine wears a set of Tech-Sites.

I just wish it was blued and wood instead of stainless and synthetic. One of these days I'll Frankenstein on a spare carbine stock I have laying about.

When I made my post before, I sat here and stared off into the distance for an embarrassing amount of time, because I just KNEW that I had another rimfire takedown gun, but whenever I tried to summon it up mentally I just got "try again later" from the magic 8-ball I use for brain data storage.

Commander_Zero said...

Ah, the take down 'guage. Nothing tells the 911 dispatcher to not have the ambulance guys bother with the sirens like a short 12 gauge. I picked up a beater Model 12 Win, knocked the barrel back to legal length, re-beaded, and made a takedown alley sweeper that would fit in my three-day-bag. Makes me think of Hicks' from 'Aliens'..."I like to keep this around -ka-chick!- for close encounters."

Will said...

Tam,
I'm a thinkin' you meant MGI, instead of MGW, for your take-down AR upper?