If your single barrel or over/under is loose in the receiver when the top lever is in the lock position, your gun’s top lever jumps while shooting, or the top lever positions itself to the left of center of the top tang, it’s time to have that corrected. Though it’s not a serious safety concern, it sure can lead to be a distraction. On a few break open guns, damage can occur to the top lever, which will lead to an expensive top lever replacement.

Here at Doug’s, we can save you the expense of replacing the locking bolt/block. Many of the modern guns today have parts available, but they are expensive, especially the guns from Europe. A new locking bolt can cost upwards of $125 or more. Not included in that price is the time to fit this new part. A new locking bolt comes from the manufacturer oversize, so another $100 to properly fit the locking bolt.

Doug has been rebuilding locking bolts for over 25 years. He begins by disassembling the complete gun and giving it a thorough cleaning. He will then take an angle measurement on the barrel’s lug, where the locking bolt locks to the barrel. This is not a measurement taken with a protractor. Doug uses an optical comparer to accurately determine this angle. This angle is recorded, and the locking bolt is then welded. The weld is TIG welded using 4130 rod. This is a tool steel material. There is no heat-treating done after the weld. The object is to keep this welded area of the locking bolt soft, but not softer than the lugs on the barrel. It’s a fine line, but the objective is to keep both surfaces relatively the same.

Being that the locking bolt has already been fitted, all that’s need is to regrind the angle to match the bbl’s lug, until the top lever positions itself to the right of center, with the bbl closed. Grinding the locking bolt is done on a highly precise surface grinder. The grinder has a magnetic adjustable plate to accurately set the angle to less than one minute of a degree.

On occasion, enough material cannot be added to the locking bolt. Here we are talking about severely shot and/or worn guns. In this case welding of the bbl’s lug is needed.

If you find the your break-open gun opens very easy, meaning it feels kind of sloppy while it’s open, this too can be corrected by welding the forend lug on the barrel, and refitting the forend iron. Some attempts have been made by others to tighten this up by peening the lug or forend iron. PLEASE!, do not allow anyone to do this. It looks terrible on a fine firearm AND it’s only a temporary fix.

All of the above can be performed on most over/under, single barrel, and side by side double barrel shotguns.