First Gunsmithing job

I've been so busy with building the shop I forgot to report on my first gunsmithing job.  I had a guy call me wanting to have his shotgun fixed.  The gun is a Western Field XMA-560-8A.  So do I know what a Western Field XMA-560-8A is? No!! S0 I had to look it up, and that took a while.  It seems that Western Field was a brand name used my Montgomery Wards for their guns.  The big problem was that Western Fields were made by many different manufacturers over the years.

So further research, love Goolge, revealed that this particular model was made by Noble Manufactuting that was in business from 1953 to 1971.  So the guy brings me the shotgun and the problem is that the shells come shooting out of the tube as soon as you cycle the pump.  Not a cool thing to have happen.  So I told him that I would give it a try.

The obvious issue is that the shell lifter is flapping in the breeze.  This could not be good.  So I took the gun apart and found that the lifter spring was weak and brittle.  So brittle in fact that it actually snapped while I was working with it.  Here was hoping that I could find parts.

Despite being at least a 41 year old gun I did find parts for it. After a few days the part showed up in the mail  so I installed it into the gun and put it all back together, not easy as there are a LOT of small parts inside a shotgun.

Afer loading in some shells I cycled the action and the shells fed out into the gun one as at a time as they were supposeed to. What a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.
It's amazing how such a little part like that spring can bring an entire gun to a grinding halt.

I waiting on the customer to come and pick it up but I'm sure he will be pleased.