Greetings.

I have collected some repeating shotguns of the late 1800s, and I just acquired a nice Win Model 1893. However the action sticks when shucking it to the rear. It has, oddly enough, British proofs, but I don't know if they are Nitro or Black powder proofs.

I would like to know if anyone knows a good Smith who works on these old guns? I'm stumped, and the Smiths I have tried have never even seen/heard of a '93. Any ideas or recommended Smiths? Thank you.

Classic Shotgunner

Midwest Guns has worked on my Model 42’s before. They do good work. You might call and ask them about working on your gun. They are in Pevely MO.

Read this first ,a good smith probably would not work on this gun. http://www.antiquearmsinc.com/winchester-1893-shotgun

Bobcat

And this history, is exactly why I collect these.

Christian Spencer, of Spencer Civil War carbine fame, invented and patented the first pump in 1882(?). Winchester and Browning saw it (the lever action shotgun idea never caught on) and Browning made his version of a pump, the Model 1893, which was improved over the Spencer. They both used 2 1/2" black powder 12 gauge shell. Meanwhile Spencer sold everything to Bannerman, who continued making the Spencer pump. When Winchester brought out their Model 1893, Bannerman sued them for patent infringement; this case languished in the courts for 4-6 years, which Winchester won.

And again, times had changed. By the end of the century, smokeless powder was becoming the norm, so to differentiate it from 2", 2 1/2" and 2 9/16 black powder shells, the industry "standard" was then 2 3/4" Nitro shell. And as the article notes, Winchester brought out the ubiquitous Model 1897 which could handle the 2 3/4" nitro shell and the lever action model 1901 in, 10 gauge only, to supersede the Winchester Model 1887, to handle the new 10 gauge nitro shell.