Winchester 101 - Barrel Selector - Vent Rib

[Soldatlamour]

A buddy at work is hard up for some cash, so he's offering a Model 101 for $600. Aesthetically, this gun compares to $900 (or so) guns seen on Gunbroker. However, there are some issues:

1) The barrel selector will only allow Over barrel to fire first. The selector moves over to "U," but the safety will not move into fire position with the selector on "U." O = Full; U = Modified

2) The rib vent is broken. See pics.

I took it out to my gun club, and I like the way it fits me and shoots, and I don't mind trying to help out a buddy who's down on his luck. However, any ideas as to what it'll cost a gunsmith to fix these issues?

(I'm in Houston, TX -- so if you have a gunsmith recommendation, I'm all ears)

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

The rib, I'm not sure what happened there, but it may be a soldered seam that has opened up.

On the selector, soak the assembly with some penetrating oil, let it set for a while, and see if it will select correctly. Those assemblies can be a nightmare if they get rusty, as the anti-doubling mechanism, along with the sear selector, are in a tight tolerance fit, and rust and gunk can cause them to not operate properly.

 

[Soldatlamour]

Thanks Dixie !

On the rib, is that something I can "jb weld" (i don't know what JB weld is, but I hear the phrase used a lot).

I'll take off the stock and soak in some penetrating oil. The pic of the receiver was taken after I hosed this down with brake cleaner and then soaked this in Sweets solvent for about 10 minutes, then scrubbed with a nylon brush.

This gun wasn't loved like my guns are !

I'll give it a go with the oil. Alternatively, would it require a complete disassembly and then some elbow grease/steel wool to smooth out any rough catches?

Again, thanks.

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

All the pieces in that assembly should work freely. You may have to disassemble it, clean the pieces of any dirt or rust, oil well, then reassemble it. I would try penetrating oil first, to see if it will work, and if not, you may have to disassemble it to see what is wrong.

JB Weld is a hardening plastic putty, similar to Bondo, etc. It is black in color, so one could fill that small gap, and probably not notice it. They also have two part epoxies too, but I like the putty for things like this. After using, just make sure to clean off the excess putty before it hardens. You can use a toothpick to pack it into the joint, and clean it up afterwards.

http://www.jbweld.com/product/j-b-steelstik/