Acquired a free shotgun.

[gamekeeper]

My local dealer e-mailed asking if I was interested in a Zabala side by side .410 for £75.00 he said it's a bit rusty but clean bores and tight. When I got there he said I could have it for nothing as he had sold an old gun I had forgotten about. Well he was not lying about the rust and the stock looks like it's been used for a cricket bat but I've just tried it out back home and it hits where I point, so with a complete refinish it should make a good little Squirrel gun...

IMG_20201007_160852.jpg

Click to enlarge photo..

[piller]

Your insects must be tough over there. We can usually just step on our crickets over here. We don't need to hit them with a slab of wood.

[3leggedturtle]

Whats it weigh? Looks like a nice project you can't hurt too much.

[Sixgun]

You call that "bad condition"? Looks like nothing more than a steel wool soaked with #9 and a little stock finish will bring that baby up to new.....

.410 doubles bring more money here than 12 gauges.

OK, ready GK?.....can I have it?

[gamekeeper]

Six the answer is no and it looks better in the photo than it is but still easily doable.
3leggedturtal I haven't weighed it but I'd guess 6 .5 pounds but it feels lighter, both chokes modified 26" barrels non ejector.

[GunnyMack]

Nice to see chokes other than full in a 410!
The little CZ 410 I have is right at 5 lbs and its a joy to carry as the girls are working.

[6pt-sika]

You call that "bad condition"? Looks like nothing more than a steel wool soaked with #9 and a little stock finish will bring that baby up to new.....

OK, ready GK?.....can I have it?

I can second that ! I can’t count on my fingers and toes the number of guns I’ve owned over the years that looked terrible , then 000 wool with Hoppes cleaned up the metal without scratching the bluing . Then Hoppes on a rag over the wood , a blow dryer then 3 or 4 coats of Bowling Alley Wax and they looked very presentable if not nice .

[6pt-sika]

Chokes don’t bother me as much as they used to . I used to be adamant about more open for upland birds and skeet blah blah blah . Now the guns I pick up most often for birds sporting etc are M&F or F&F . My number one Parker 12 is 30” F&F , number one Parker 16 is 30” F&F , number one Parker 20 is 28” M&F and my only Parker 28 is 26” F&F . I shoot those guns at everything skeet etc and any target I miss is not the blame of the gun .

[gamekeeper]

Just checked the date of manufacture 1978. It looks like the former abuser only used 2.5" shells in the 3" chambers, I can see what appears to be light pitting and 3" shells stick in the left chamber. So I will have to polish the chambers, any suggestions ?

[GunnyMack]

A wooden dowel, hacksaw( thin kerf) a slot down the length about an inch( 2.54 cm) then use fine grit emery paper and spin the other end.

[piller]

To remove the stuck on powder ring, put a bronze bore brush on only 1 section of cleaning rod, chuck it into a drill, dip the brush into some hoppes or similar solvent, start the drill and spin the brush as you only go in as deep as the chamber. Just about 30 seconds to a minute should be enough. British seconds and American seconds are the same.

[6pt-sika]

To remove the stuck on powder ring, put a bronze bore brush on only 1 section of cleaning rod, chuck it into a drill, dip the brush into some hoppes or similar solvent, start the drill and spin the brush as you only go in as deep as the chamber. Just about 30 seconds to a minute should be enough. British seconds and American seconds are the same.

Yeah a brush chucked in a drill is my prescription as well . I had a set of Krieghoff K-32 trap barrels that were chrome plated on the inside but they had slight rust spots I assume from chrome flaking off . An threaded aluminum rod with a 10 gauge brush chucked in a drill fixed that issue in about twenty minutes .

[Grizz]

British seconds and American seconds are the same

BEST laugh of the week so far . . .

[Nath]

Nice find John.
Use wire wool in the chambers spun by a drill. Bronze brushes are recommended by anxious people.

I got a new zabala box lock ejector 3" high pressure steel recently too .

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[gamekeeper]

That's a much nicer Zabala than mine ever was or ever will be but I can't help noticing one of your triggers has fallen off....

[piller]

GK, it is because of those great big shells he is using. That extra size caused the problem.

[Rusty]

WOW! Zabala? that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I had a guy give me one of those back in the 70s to settle a debt. Made in Spain IIRC. Mine developed a problem. If you pulled the wrong trigger first, both barrels went off. That wasn't fun. I never did find a gunsmith that could fix it. Ended up trading it off for something else.

[Nath]

That's a much nicer Zabala than mine ever was or ever will be but I can't help noticing one of your triggers has fallen off....

That's the only issue, single selective trigger.....utter nonsense!

WOW! Zabala? that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I had a guy give me one of those back in the 70s to settle a debt. Made in Spain IIRC. Mine developed a problem. If you pulled the wrong trigger first, both barrels went off. That wasn't fun. I never did find a gunsmith that could fix it. Ended up trading it off for something else.

Ahh, that had the special bear attack feature

[Ysabel Kid]

Looking forward to the "after" pictures!

[M. M. Wright]

Looking forward to the "after" pictures!

Yeah, me too.

[Bill in Oregon]

So am I. Eager to see you put that little .410 to use, John.

[gamekeeper]

Well it took 50 & 120 grit paper and a lot of steel wool to get rid of the worst pitting on the outside of the barrels, the stock varnish was pretty thick as there are a few natural blemishes in the wood.
I should have spent a lot more time on both wood and metal but was eager to get it out shooting. The internals were free of rust and it doesn't appear to have had a lot of use, I also found a set of sling swivels that were missing when I got it.. I put 4 rounds through it Sunday evening to make sure it was okay, and took it out today to hopefully blood it but no luck, all I saw was a bunch of crows mobbing a Sparrow Hawk and they never came close enough for a .410. I may reblue it again as I only used Birchwood Casey super blue and the stock could use a couple more coats of Walnut oil.
Sorry the picture is not the best, I took it while looking for Squirrels.

IMG_20201026_153239.jpg

Click on the photo to enlarge.

[Ysabel Kid]

Big change John!

[3leggedturtle]

Would like some mire close ups of the 410 and the tree.