# Springfield 315 SxS .410 Shotgun Tuning



## Sharps40 (Jul 28, 2015)

Picked up the subject shotgun from a Pal.  Age wise, its likely 1925 to 1933ish time frame.  

Striker fired, reblued and with good bores.  Safe to fire and fully functional.  A gift for my youngest granddaughter....now both have .410s in their lifetime battery.

Some light work to do now before the hunting season.

Removing the forend reveled a bit of lateral play in the barrels to action, that would be wear on the hinge pin and or pivot point.  Additionally, both barrels sat down in contact with the water table and there was vertical play, wear in the bight.

Time to use a simple and repeatable method to tighten both vertical and horizontal play, putting the barrels fully back on face, i.e. rejoining the barrels to the action.

No heat or solder needed, the gun has been reblued and I don't want to either heat discolor the barrels, undo the relay of the ribs or scar the action by replacing the hinge pin.

So, checking the action, a big tell of play before  even opening the gun is the 7 o'clock position of the top snap.  It should be 6 o'clock or 4 to 5 o'clock when the barrels are joined to the action.







The pivot point is cleaned, deburred and degreased.  A shim is cut and thinned from a 32 HR Magnum case.....

2.5 thousands thick paper took out all the slop but was not enough to move the lever to 4, 5 or 6 o'clock.  So, I thinned the shim to 6 thousands thick.






The pivot point and shim are coated in 3M Black Max, the drill rod in oil, the works is clamped and allowed to set for 20 minutes.






Upon clean up, the shim fully covers the bearing points of the hinge pivot point.  And, it'll stay there till it wears out or till I heat it to ouch temp with a soldering iron tip to break the bond.






After greasing all contact points with RIG, the first snap shut is about 4 O'clock.  Perfect.  It'll wear in some more with use and then settle in for proper lock up for many thousands of rounds.  All slop is removed, the barrels are no longer touching the water table, the barrel breaches are fully on face and the bite of the top snap is in the desirable right side position.  Perfect.


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## Sharps40 (Jul 28, 2015)

Done and ready for service.  

First, a small crack reglued and reinforced.  It opened up when the stock screw was snugged down and needed to be fixed.  Try to get a few more years service out of the original 90odd year old stock.  Older crack repairs, likely from the time of the refinish, are holding fine for now.  The wood reinforcement pins will be stained and blended out of sight later.











Now we see, with some cleaning and a bit of grease in the right areas, the top snap is located in the perfect position, 5 o'clock, and should wear for many years keeping the barrels properly joined and the action tightly closed.






The youngest granddaughter has a bit more growing to do but I doubt much.  So, I shortened the stock to a more comfortable for an average Gal of 13".  Slightly longer than the Single Shot trimmed for her sister, MuddyGirl27....but then, MuddyGirl27 is a touch shorter and no longer growing tall.  Also, the modern plastic buttplate was removed and replaced with a proper antique rubber buttplate.  The fit now seems right as rain.  It should point well for her.  Finally, measuring the muzzles indicates both barrels choked modified.....good enough for small shot, buckshot or perhaps, forster slugs.






New old stock strikers are located and ordered as spares.  No sense passing up on a critical pare of spare parts for such an old shotgun....springs, even sears, are easy enough to make, but the strikers are complexly shaped and I'll be pleased to either have them on hand, or go ahead and install them, keeping the originals as spares.

Of course, I ordered the wrong pins first, thinking it was a 311 so I will have a complete set of New Old Stock Springfield/Fox firing pins, firing pin springs and retention/hammer blocking screws.....ah well, either have to sell the incorrect parts or go find a 311/Fox project to put em in!


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## TrailBlazinMan (Jul 29, 2015)

Ive had very good luck with sinking some holes inside the crack on both sides then filling with Acraglas. Holds well, and you don't have any pins exposed to the outside. Any thoughts on that Sharps?


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## Sharps40 (Jul 30, 2015)

Once the crack is degreased, if it'll open that far, and bonded with acraglass, the repair is stronger than the wood and will never let go again.....done it many times.  This stock, simple reinforcement to hold the splinter by pinning and no clean up/refinish needed due to ooze out.  With the other major crack in the stock, and 90 years old, we'll be happy to get another year or two out of it before having to put new wood on it!  But yes, Acraglas or similar epoxies are superb stock fixers.  I have used it to resurface composite stocks due to wear or gouges and to repair a 4570 mauser and 50 caliber flinter that both split completly thru the highly figured wrist areas.  Simple epoxy and a threaded rod from the inside and strong enough to take about any abuse encountered in hunting and shooting.


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## roperdoc (Jul 30, 2015)

Always a treat to see your work.
 Just a thought, make sure you save these posts somehow for your granddaughters. The guns are a wonderful gift, but knowing and seeing the work you've done will make them even more special to them or even their kids one day.


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## Flaustin1 (Jul 31, 2015)

Very nice shotgun.  A SxS 410 is on my list of have to haves.


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## Sharps40 (Aug 1, 2015)

Its good when a plan comes together.  Final work on Sugar Princess's Stevens 315.  New Old Stock Firing Pins fitted, properly bent and installed.  Time for photos of my littlest Hunter with her fine old Shottie.

But, she's at a sleepover....so, to the work.

New Old Stock firing/striker pins.  How do we know?  Three items....the bag says so.  The pins are two piece, a later factory replacement pin that cut down on tip breakage.  And the big tell....they have cut of lines at the tips.  As is they are too long.  Grind em back to the cut mark, round the nose and they should allow the majority of actions to open freely, no snag.






Top to bottom old right, old left (neither well bent and binding in the holes in the receiver, plus ground way short over the years) and then NOS right, NOS left.....(yet to be fitted or ground or bent to fit.






Same order but the NOS firing pins are now bent for a freesliding fit and the tips have about 1/2 of the recommended metal ground off and rounded over.  It too two tries to get them the right length and guess what?  The factory cut line was exactly where I ended up.....a length that protrudes but does not catch on the extractors as the barrel tilts out of battery.






Here assembled, the tips just a touch too long, see the factory cut marks on the pins....?  I wound up cutting to that length, rounding over, stoning smooth and ....  perfect open and close!






The vertical pin in the bottom tang helps support the mainspring bracket.  I thinned it slightly as the NOS right barrel striker would drag on it and not "fire".  Once the vertical pin was relieved, perfect function of the pair of NOS strikers forward and back. 






Everything tested.....tripping the top snap places the triggers on safe.....breaking the action retracts the strikers and they catch properly in the sears.  The Right barrel trigger is slightly heavier than the left but both feel fine when snapping the gun from the shoulder.    Good to hook!






Well, lets see....$40 delivered for two new old stock strikers.  Free shim for the action.  Free antique rubber buttplate.  4 hours work.  At $50/hr for semi-sober labor, I figger a $250 charge would be a cheep gunsmith.......all the more reason to learn to do it yerownself.  

Now.....I gotta find some 410 shells and test fire it so I don't have to eat my words!


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## Flaustin1 (Aug 1, 2015)

Im envious.


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## tim scott (Aug 2, 2015)

sharps40
as a retired gunsmith and gun maker of some 45 years I enjoy reading your posts. nice to see a home gunsmith that's puts some effort and thought into his work. I hope you take my comments well without getting offended... I do have a couple of comments to make this time. your use of a brass shim is awful, brass will fast become imbedded with grit and very rapidly wear away at the joint making a bad problem even worse. if your going to shim it use steel shim stock... best source is an old set of feeler gauges. anneal the gauge blade and cut to size..... if you use low temp solder such as high force or 95/5 or 96/4 tin, silver solder you can if careful with the flux solder the shim in place without scaring the barrel lump..... best if you put the barrels part way in a water bath, to act as a heat sink but also to avoid flux splatter. then you will have a fix that will last for another 75 or so years, instead of just a couple of years use. it also takes no longer than glueing the shim in place.
also your cracked stock.... the crack opened up because the stock head wasn't properly fitted in place and was bearing unevenly on the action sad to say but normal factory stock fitting. the stock head is where you need to use the acraglass not the crack. while acragalss was used by all of us for many decades it went out of use long ago. give CA glue a try, it is the current standard. I have glued well over 500 cracks with it and have never had one fail.... also no need to pry the crack apart and try to stuff glue into it. the thin CA glue will run into a crack several inches with just the touch of one drop. and you apply the drops with the wood clamped in place so you can see and play with the alienment and pressure until things are just right then put a drop on the crack and capillary action draws the glue in. but be warned the glue will eat up most stock finishes so apply it to a hidden location and let it be drawn outward to the finished areas..... hope this makes sense to you.
by the way, is the soon to be proud owner of this gun left handed? the triggers are set up for a lefty. I don't know why most American guns come from the factory this way but easy switch and makes a big difference to the shooter once they gain the experience to know the difference.
good work
tim scott


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## Sharps40 (Aug 2, 2015)

Gotcha on all.  Well known.  Brass is fine shim though.....no harder on the parts than the brass rods that everyone has to have for cleaning bores and wind up pumping dirt and grit onto the rifling since every one of those brass rods flex and contact the inside!  Kept clean and properly greased, that brass or even aluminum shim will not harm the steel pin it rides on.

Pin and lump are 90+ and will need work one day, right now is not the time.  Barrels have been relayed, top rib in two pieces, bottom from forend latch to lump and the barrels were shortened slightly.  They do not "ring" clear for the full length indicating the soldering is less than full length or simply has one spot on the right side where the solder is not strongly bonding the rib to the barrel.  The relay is adequate but not perfect, we'll keep the soldering heat off of the ribs and lump area for now.

The weapon has been fired extensively before the present work was done and points/shoots well and is very reliable.  As such, I am not worried at all.  Its just older and somewhat sloppy soldering on several areas top and bottom.

 Eventually we'll need to either relay brand new ribs properly or more simply, find a suitable set of replacement barrels off a 315 or 311/fox to fit to the action (but thats a big mod).  That, then would be the right time to replace pin with steel, ream the lump, set the bite, etc, etc.  Pin replacement and reaming at this time would virtually gaurentee scarring a nearly new purple bluing job on the receiver.  Not necessary, time enough to fit and polish and rust blue that action when a full job and proper rejoining is to be accomplished.  For now and for a few trips to the range and some hunting, clean brass with some grease is fine.  Aluminum would have worked as well and of no more grit packing harm, kept clean and lubed, than brass, steel, etc.!  

As for the stock, it 90+ and cracked large thru the wrist.  Given it needed a trim for fit, and the large crack is holding with its old line of glue, all is well.  Once new barrels are located and fitted we can go forth and stock with mesquite or birds eye or something pretty in a walnut. 

Overall, the total restoration is now down the road a couple or three hunting seasons.  By then she'll either love or hate shooting and hunting and I'll either be selling or totally restoring this fine shottie.

For now, the shottie is tight as new and safe to use.  Grandpap will be test firing it next weekend with factory and hand loads and natch, since she's under 18, Grandpap will be there to monitor access, handling and use 100% of the time.  Should anything slip between now and total overhaul, I get to work the plan!


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## GunnSmokeer (Aug 5, 2015)

excellent work on the gun, and this thread with its fine close-up pics will be a valuable resource for other Springfield side-by-side shotgun owners for years to come.

Does this gun have a corresponding brand name or trade name and model number as a "Savage" or "Stevens" shotgun, or is this a gun that was only made under the Springfield name?


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## doublebarrel (Aug 5, 2015)

Great job.I have 315 Stevens with checkered wood.I put new straight grip stock on it.Gun is marked second,never seen that before on Stevens. BB


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## Sharps40 (Aug 6, 2015)

Its a Springfield marked only.

Don't know what you mean "Gun is marked second"

This weekend, firing pins are being installed in a 311/Fox, with luck, with out removing them two hammers and bull strong mainsprings.  Hopefully, will have pics up next week.


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## doublebarrel (Aug 6, 2015)

My Stevens 315 is stamped second.maybe a second but see nothing wrong with it and it shoots straight. BB


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## Sharps40 (Aug 7, 2015)

I never heard of a gun marked as second/substandard.


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## Sharps40 (Aug 11, 2015)

Time to finish this one up.

The NOS firing pins were a bit long and bound on opening the action, so they were shortened slightly more for a better fit while at the camp....






Also, as noted, the original pins were one piece and the NOS replacement pins were two piece.  Upon firing several rounds of skeet, the right side NOS firing pin parted ways with its spring mount disabling the right barrel of the gun.  Good to find this out now.  So the old pins were refurbished and the fit adjusted for smooth operation and reinstalled.






In the meantime, the NOS pins were soldered with Hi Force 44.  Melts and flows at 450 and after tinning the parts and a wash with acid flux, the solder flowed into place and all the way thru following the flame.....the bases of the case hardened NOS Pins were clamped in vice grips as a heat sink and also the sear notches placed in a pan of water......the file sings across the hardened skin after the solder repair so no worries.   Regular tin copper solder holds at about 8000 psi tensile.  Hi Force 44 holds at 25000 psi tinsile...I rather doubt these spare pins will ever come apart again.






So, for now, the refitted and fully functional firing pins are in place and will remain so until they fail.  The repaired NOS pins, also fitted and ready for installation, will be heavily greased, slipped into a plastic bag and stored in the draw bolt hole of the 90 year old gun.  If they ever break again, its a simple matter to immediately repair the gun in camp with a set of screwdrivers and a pin punch and then back out in the hunting fields.  In any event, what better place to store fitted and rare spare parts for a 90 year old shottie than right inside the gun its self.   I'll insert a note that the spares are fitted and ready in case I forget or for whenever someone else has the gun up for fixin many long years from now.


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## weagle (Sep 1, 2015)

tim scott said:


> by the way, is the soon to be proud owner of this gun left handed? the triggers are set up for a lefty. I don't know why most American guns come from the factory this way but easy switch and makes a big difference to the shooter once they gain the experience to know the difference.
> good work
> tim scott



Great thread and a ton of good info.  

I'm certainly not a gunsmith, but I'm a shotgun looney who loves SxS shotguns and the advantages of having 2 triggers.

The gun in this post is set up for a right handed shooter.  The front trigger will shoot the right barrel which is traditionally the more open choke.  This is because on a quick flushing bird, the front trigger is the quickest to get to and it's to the right of the rear trigger so you do not have to reach across the rear trigger (could cause a double fire if you are wearing thick gloves)

The rear trigger will fire the tighter choked left barrel which is the most closely in line with the center of the right hand shooter's vision (both eyes open, hard focus on the target) and theoretically a better sight picture for longer shots.  Also on incomers there is not as much rush to get on the trigger so the rear trigger can be selected deliberately for the tighter choke.  

Single trigger guns with barrel selectors offer some advantage on a clays course where the target distances are know ahead of time, but nothing matches the double trigger gun for instant choke selection in the field.  

I have and old Western Arms Long Range 410 double I'm restoring and this thread has some great info.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 2, 2015)

Concur.  This lil 315 is as factory, right handed set up, right barrel first.

And I have a FOX B single trigger 12g and a savagely beaten double trigger 311 12 on the bench soon.  Both will become coach guns.  One for Momma, in black and case as she wants a pretty double for occasional house or yard cleaning (mostly against copper heads on the property) and the other probably in old school plum brown for Cowboy Action or just a fine truck gun.  Not sure yet if they will get ported barrels.  She wants to try the managed recoil buck and small shot trap loads first.  The Fox appears to need minimal repairs before customizing but the 311 needs at least cosmetics and perhaps a replacement hinge.  More to follow in the coming weeks.


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