1887 clone going in to get the Spa treatment

Frulk · Jun 26, 2020

2+ years ago I was out in the garage when a friend pulled up, got out with this Chinese 1887 clone and said "It's yours for $150 if you want it". He put maybe 10 shells....probably less.... through it. I've never shot it. For a couple of evenings I sat in the living room cycling the action to try and smooth it out. Been sitting in the safe since then. I'm off today and decided I need to get out of the house after a week of self-isolation and teleworking. I called up the gunsmith that does all of my work and said I wanted to bring it over and have him 'slick it up'. It's not bad now but I I know it could be a little better. On my way to drop it off in a few.

Made by Zhong Zhou Machine Works. Surprisingly, wood to metal finish is pretty decent.

Crunchy Frog · Jun 26, 2020

The usual report is failure to properly eject fired hulls. It’s the extra length from the opened crimped case mouth, I think. If yours does this, look for a roll crimped shell.

Frulk · Jul 3, 2020

Thanks Crunchy for the tip on the shells. I’ve yet to shoot it. Picked up the shotgun yesterday from the gunsmith. Gun is just a tad smoother on cycling but the improvement in the trigger is very noticeable. $32 was the bill. Gave him $40 and walked out of the shop a very happy customer.

whatnickname · Jul 5, 2020

I bought one of these years ago when I lived in Colorado. Just like yours, mine was made in the Workers Paradise. Shot it once with field loads...hardest kicking shotgun I’ve ever fired. It’s been sitting in the safe since. And just like Crunchy Frog said, the issue is failure to eject fired shells. Not entirely sure a roll crimped shell is going to be the answer to your problem. However all is not lost. This model is popular with the Cowboy Action Shooting fraternity. Many of those folks shoot the short 1.75” mini shells in competition and these are reported to work just fine in the 1887 clone...solves another problem as well which is punishing recoil, no doubt the result of the stock configuration. There are a number of gunsmiths around the country that cater to the members of SASS (Cowboy action shooters) I’ve read that they can work wonders with the 1887 so that it will reliably eject 2.75” shells but that their waiting list is fairly long. Think I’ll sell mine. Just don’t care for the punishing recoil.

1887 clone going in to get the Spa treatment

Frulk

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Crunchy Frog

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Frulk

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whatnickname

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