I have a pair of engraved and inlaid 50's Mod 12's that I adore. One is a Trap and the other is a Skeet with a factory installed Cutts(headstamped on side of bbl). I like the Cutts performance-wise but my buddies are less than amused with its bark. How is this removed without damage or abuse from the barrel? I tried taping it with several layers (I know, desperate) of duct tape. It shreds it imediately.

Contact Briley's...they do outstanding work on shotguns and have "saved" more barrels than one would think possible.

Thanks but that is not exactly what I was looking for. I would like to know HOW these where originally attached by someone who knows. I have used Briley many times but I am not looking for permanent mods to this gun.

I think they were silver soldered.

Ultraman'
To get the "venerated" sleeve off the threaded boss on end of the barrel you are supposed to find the Cutts, wrench in the wodden box with the spare choke tubes and insert the handle end into(through) the noisemaker slots, Then after having removed the set screw at 6'oclock rear on the sleeve either slight pressure or a whack with a short piece of 2 x 4 on the protruding end should loosen it and it will unscrew by hand. If not it may need a little heat to loosen dried gun oil or lock tight in the sleeve threads. This is a right hand thread. The boss on the end of the barrel if done by winchester would have been silver brazed to the barrel. It will also be bored on a taper to cant the manure spreader up hill to compensate for the front sight highth which usually made you shoot under by 18" or more at 30 yards. Aftermarket jobs and you bent the barrel. You had to specify whether you wished the brazed boss or the soft solder version which used 2 side screws drilled into the barrel then machined off. Hardwarwe jobbers carried the bosses by barrel diameter. You almost had to be on familiar terms with Charley Lyman to get the tapered bore "adapters" because they were intended "For Factory Installation Only". ( and by maker and model #)
The wrench is 1/8" thick but considerably smaller width than a typical machinists square (s) blade, cant think of any thing in a tool kit for a substitute without wandering through a hardware store. Hope this is of assistance.

Ultraman,

couldn't you unsrew the choke tube and make a sleeve to insert into the cutts vent section and hold it in place with a choke tube? Make it removable. It would stop the noise and not permanently modify the bbl thus preserving it's original value. My cutts measures 1.062 ID, 2.700 deep from bottom of thread. If you make the sleeve fit snug into the cutts it should shut off the side pressure release and keep the noise down. What do think, is it worth a try and save your original bbl?

[ 01-23-2003, 12:29: Message edited by: ol crip ]