[Azidiot]

I have a M40 that had a malfunction loading from the magazine which detonated a shell with the bolt half open. The bolt is broken and some small parts damaged.
It has been suggested the Model 40 was subject to a recall in the 40's or 50's. Does anyone have such information? Where would I go to find such outdated info? Could a gunsmith make a new bolt? Is it even worth the effort?

Any help would be appreciated.

Azidiot

[Jim Watson]

I don't think they had a formal recall like the lawyers do now, but I have read that if you sent one in for repair you got a new Model 12 back. Naturally anything like that is long gone, there is no more Winchester.

I have no idea where you might get parts or service now. I think you would be better off to sell it for parts and buy something else.

[Roswell 1847]

Not much in the way of Model 40 parts at Numrich Arms but if there is any interchangeability with another model of Winchester you might find a bolt that will work in your gun.

[Jim K]

The Model 40 was Winchester's second try at producing an autoloading shotgun. It was a modified Model 11, and was even less successful, with only about 12,000 made compared to some 100,000 for the Model 11.

It had the same basic problem as the Model 11, wicked recoil that was brutal to both the shooter and the gun, in spite of attempts to use buffers. Eventually, as Jim says, Winchester simply recalled them all, though many owners did not take advantage of the recall. WWII put paid to any more attempts by Winchester to make an auto shotgun for many years.

Given the small number made and the even smaller number in existence today, there should be a high collector interest. There is not.

With that small production, and the recall, there was no extra parts supply. Winchester was obviously not going to provide parts for a gun they had recalled, so they probably scrapped them. I doubt you will be able to obtain any repairs, or if there is even any market for parts. A gunsmith might be able to weld the bolt together to make a display gun, but I would not have high hopes of obtaining any new parts.

Now, please satisfy my curiousity - wadinhell was anyone doing firing a Model 40 anyway?

Jim

[AntiqueCollector]

I wouldn't shoot that gun again even if you could repair it...

[Azidiot]

Jim Keenan,
Thank you for the information. It is very helpful.

To help satisfy your curiosity:
This particular shotgun was my grandfather's. My dad inherited it in 1963 when his father passed away. I inherited it in 1995 when my dad thought it needed a new home.

At the time the incident noted in the OP occurred, about 1970, we had no idea the gun was not sound (nobody was injured, but it sure scared the crap out of us!). It happened during a goose hunt when Dad's "usual" shotgun, a Remington semi-auto 12 gauge featherweight made about 1964, had been returned to Remington for repair. Dad had rarely used Grandad's old gun, but pressed it into service. It's easy to see now that it should never have been fired with heavy field loads.

It has been kept for sentimental reasons and will probably stay in the family as a wall hanger.

AntiqueCollector: With what I now know about it, I agree completely, thank you.

Azidiot