THE FASTENING SYSTEM

This is a technical article written by a non-technical shooter. Gunsmiths and other technical and mechanical wizards would probably have a field day with some of the descriptions. However, the idea is to explain the technical things as simple as possible and make the fastening system understandable to myself. If I understand it, so would everybody else.

Some twenty-odd years ago my SKB model 200E side-by-side shotgun started giving trouble. The barrels were not closing tightly against the breach anymore. It had obviously “shot loose or as the experts say, it had been “shot off the face”. So it was off to a reputable gun expert to identify the problem and hopefully recommend a good gunsmith to fix whatever the fault may be. He gave the gun one look and announced that the “key” was completely worn out. Idid not really know what the “key” was but assumed (rightly or wrongly) that the part pushing the sliding-bolt forward to engage the bites in the barrel lumps was worn out and had to be repaired. Iwas somewhat dismayed as, according to my calculations, the SKB had at that stage fired a mere 15 000 shots. One reads about better quality guns firing hundreds of thousands