side play

[45/70fan]

I just got back from vacation and it turned out to be a good week. After several years of trying I reaquired  my first gun that I sold over 20 years ago. It's an H & R Topper Jr model 490 20 ga. with an AR prefix. Talk about a trip down memory lane when I saw the old girl. Unforunately the guy that had it didn't take the best care of it. I cleaned up the rust on the barrel pretty good with some very fine steel wool. The bore looks great and it still shoots good. My question is how do I tighten up the considerable side play when the action is open? I looked in the centerfire FAQ's but didn't see anything. Also is there anything I can do to restore the color case hardening finish? It's gone on the bottom of the reciever.

[stimpylu32]

45/70

As for the play , you can put a thin cardboard or plastic shim between the the forarm and the forarm spacer , just remove the forarm , take out the 2 wood screws and cut a shim from some thin material , just try diffrent layers till you find what works , then trim around the spacer to make the shim look like it belongs there .

Not sure what to tell you about the case color as i have never done that .

stimpy

[Busta]

45/70,

H&R will reblue and color case harden finish the H&R 1871 LLC (current models) guns, but I don't know about the older H&R's. It used to be $10 for the barrel reblue, $15 for the color case hardening, and $10 for shipping. Might be worth a call to see if they will do it, the toll free number is 866-776-9292. $35 isn't bad to get her looking like new again, if they will do it??? If they will do it, you might get them to tighten her up too.

[45/70fan]

Thanks for the replies guys. I had a spare forearm from a Handi, I tried that spacer and it tightened up alot. There is a little play at the top when locked up. I'm gonna try rotating the hinge pin and see if that helps. If I can get some free time at work I'm gonna call and ask about Busta's suggestions. It would great if they still do it and $35 would be even better.