Do I fix or forget?

[aviator41]

This weekend the wife and I had the opportunity to do some squirrel hunting. She loves her Stoeger Longfowler OU shotgun and chose to use it (we were limited to shotguns, which was fine) as her tree rat getter. This is a great gun and she loves it! Everything fits like a glove, Finish is quite nice for a matte gun and it's a very natural pointer for her.

Upon pre-shoot inspection, I noticed that there is some galling on the left side of the breech where the jeweling is. I had never noticed it before so must assume it happened when I opened the breech. Anyway, long story short is that it appears the mating surfaces didn't have enough oil. So here we are.

I am sure the Stoeger put the jeweling there to serve a purpose, it's not just to make it pretty, it's an oil retainer. After oiling there were no additional problems. The gun opens and closes cleanly and I found no sign of shavings, chips or other debris in the action of the shotgun.

Needless to say, she was heartbroken though.

How hard is something like this to fix? I know jeweling went out of style with back in the 60's but I think this jeweling serves a purpose. Do I need to stone ALL of the jeweling off and then re-jewel the entire side or do I need to try and repair just those swirls that are affected? I don't want to change the clearances on the gun, and I fear stoning the entire face might loosen up the excellent fit it has.

 

[turkeyrun]

I would oil it and use as is.

 

[Johnny]

I would oil it and use as is.

I would do this. The Jewleing is just a different way of polishing a surface that happened to be aesthetically pleasing. You can use a real fine stone to remove any high spots and then keep it lubed.

 

[Glocktogo]

A pic of the affected area would be helpful in making a suggestion. I tend to lean towards leaving it as is though.

 

[Brandi]

I agree with everyone else, keep it oiled and let her continue enjoying her shotgun. If you aren't comfortable with it you can use it as a good excuse to take her gun shopping to pick it's replacement... Just saying. The new Ruger Red Label O/U have gotten very good reviews, that's what I would get myself, it's pretty too.

 

[AKguy1985]

I would oil it and use as is.

me too.

 

[Old Fart]

A pic of the affected area would be helpful in making a suggestion. I tend to lean towards leaving it as is though.

I agree pic would help. But from your description it sounds like not a big deal.

 

[aviator41]

Functionally, it's not a big deal. The gun performed flawlessly. This is more of an imperfection in a finish in her eyes. I oiled it and she shot it all day without any trouble.

I think I'm leaning towards leaving it alone as well. My concern is I'd have a really hard time getting any jeweling I did to line up and match perfectly with the factory jeweling with an end result in a poor repair of the finish. I'll try to get a picture posted. It's not just one little scratch, it's pretty significant galling.

Edit: Here's a photo'

 

[dennishoddy]

Just looks like character marks to me.

Any attempt to remove metal will introduce slop into the "fit".

 

[turkeyrun]

I stand by my original suggestion. Not a big deal, other than cosmetic. Any attempt to 'repair' would most likely result in looking worse, sloppy fit, or even worse.