*** EVANS Aficionados ** Recent Evans Repair by SSS Member "Happy Trails"

[Two Flints]

Hello SSS,

I thought I'd pass along to you a copy of an Evans repair summary that was recently completed by Bill English, aka Happy Trails, of The Smith Shop, Warwick, Rhode Island, who is also an SSS member. He does remarkable repair work on the Evans Repeating Rifle. I want to thank Captain Jack and Happy Trails for letting me post their Emails and photos.  Two Flints

Howdy Captain Jack,

Your Evans is done. I apologize for taking so long but I have been under the weather as they say for a couple of months. Anyway here are some pix of the Evans and some explanations. Just click on the link to open the pictures.
Photos of your Evans:

Left Side View


Right Side View


Hammer and Stop


Lever Open


Hammer Cocked


Hammer and Stop


Rear Sight


Trigger Screw


Lever Stop


Extractor


During Assembly and Fitting


Bent Lever


During the assembly process I noticed the lever would not close correctly. I compared it to mine and found that it was pretty badly bent. I had to heat the lever and bend it to the proper shape as shown in the bottom picture.

We briefly touched on ammo for the Evans Transitional. Following is more detail.
The original Evans ammo for the Transitional rifle used a slightly tapered case and a .419" diameter bullet. However all rifles measure .431" in the bore.

No one really knows why the Evans brothers specked .419" when actually a .419" bullet will free fall through the bore. The speculation is the gun held 34 rounds and if fired continuously the powder crud would build up in the bore and the final few bullets would be traveling through a pretty constricted bore. So they figured if their ammo was undersized to begin with by the time you get to number 34 it'll make it through the clogged pipe without blowing up the gun. Realize they were trying to sell to the military so they realized soldiers wouldn't have time to clean the bore. Anyway if you shoot true Evans rounds of .419" they will print a shotgun type pattern. I know - I've done it. You can't hit the proverbial barn door at 100 yards. So the right thing to do is shoot .431" bullets and clean the bore every 34 shots or so.
There is no one that I know of that makes Evans Short ammo at this time, unless it is with .419" bullets and we know they don't work well.

The Evan Short cases that Buffalo Arms sells (http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=157289&CAT=3839) are for .419" bullets and are therefore tapered to match the chamber of the gun. To use a properly sized .431" diameter bullet the chamber needs to be about .011" larger in diameter down near the bullet end of the chamber. I have reamed your chamber for this size like mine. Now if you are ever able to find or ever want to try shooting original Evans ammo it will indeed fit and function however it will still be super inaccurate as mentioned. However at least now with the slightly opened chamber you can shoot what I term .44 Evans Russian. This is ammo made from the readily available .44 Russian brass.

Now I say "made from" because the original Evans brass (original, not the replica stuff from Buffalo or the other possible suppliers) has a couple of requirements to function correctly.
The rear of the case rim needs to be "chamfered". This is so the "extractor" can more easily slip by the rim when the action is being closed. The Extractor (one of your new parts) is on a pivot on the "lever" and is also spring loaded. As you close the lever the Extractor is required to "cam" or "snap" over the rim just like an extractor in a modern rifle or handgun. However the Evans Extractor swings into place by the action of the lever being closed. If the rims are left "square" it is a hard action to close the lever because you are compressing the spring a great deal. The Evans brother discovered if they tapered or chamfered the rim of the cartridge a bit the Extractor worked much easier. How do I know this? When I first got my Evans Transitional and was disassembling it I found some previous owner had lost the little spring cup that works against the sliding gate where you load the ammo. He used an original Evans empty brass case. here is a picture of the case from the butt stock.





Here is a copy of my loading spec sheet for the .44 Evans Russian.


The brass is easily modified. Using standard (empty cases of course) .44 Russian cases you can hold them in a drill press or even in a hand drill clamped in a vise. Use a fine tooth file and file the chamfer on the back of the rim as pet picture. Remember your only breaking the square corner of the rim. Then polish them if you have small buffing wheel.









The second exception required by the Evans rifle is that you use a "pointed" bullet. The ones on my loading page work the best. Why pointed? When the first round "up" has been fed all the way through the helix feed screw and is ready to be introduced to the chamber it is "dropped" into the chamber area from the left hand side of the mainframe. So when the lever is being "closed" you are feeding the cartridge forward from the left side. We are used to most guns, both rifles and pistols, feeding a round upwards from a magazine below the chamber like a .45 in a 1911 for example. On the 1911 the "ramp" to guide the round into the chamber is on the bottom. On the Evans it is on the side. It's also a long stroke to get into the chamber so a long pointy bullet accomplishes that best.

Now some folks might say yikees a pointy bullet in a repeater spells disaster. Well it would in say a Winchester lever rifle because one bullets point is right on the primer of the bullet ahead of it. But in the Evans each bullet is separated by the Helix feed screw and so each bullet is independent from one another and never touch each other. So pointy bullet are OK.
Just rereading the above paragraph reminds me that most folks don't realize it but the Evans does not have an "Ejector". The Extractor pulls the empty out of the chamber and the action of the indexing lead spline that is feeding the next new round into place "kicks" the empty out. You will notice all empties just fall right at your feet. They are not like a gun with an Ejector like a 1911 that throws the empties across the room. Just a note - the Winchester 1873 rifle does not have an Ejector either. It relies on the "carrier" that is bringing up the next round to flip the empty out of the top of the gun.

I will send you a few dummy rounds so you can see how the ammo is made.
Anyway that's all I can think of for now. I will get the rifle ready to ship back to you this week. If you have any questions let me know.

Happy Trails

[PvtGreg]

I have no other words than - "WOW"

This dremel tool rig I did might work well for shaping 44 russiian rims. - http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,40676.0.html

[Jobe Holiday]

That is the most comprehensive grouping of information on the Evans I've ever seen!

Thank you for posting it.

Jobe

[sharps1863]

Thanks for the posting.
I have never seen an Evans rifle until now.

[Colt Fanning]

Howdy,
Please excuse this rather long post but I have worked on an Evans and need to get some info from an expert.

I believe my Evans is a "Sporting model" made up in 1879 out of left over parts.  The receiver is the late model and was intended for the long cartridge.  It has the later type square hammer which extends below the action.  The barrel has the lettering for a transition model and may be for the short cartridge.  It is 21 In. and round.

The rifling is very sharp but has rough chattering tool marks in the middle of the barrel.  The last 4 In. are good.  The sight is from an early Mod. 1873 Springfield.

The first time I shot the gun, it blew the primer out of the case and I had to bend the lever as you did to get the gun to lock up properly with the correct head space.

After discovering that the action would not operate correctly with an bullet OAL of less than 1.920 I elected to go with 44 Mag brass and a bullet from an 421-390 mold by NEI.  The mold was shortened to to have only three lube grooves and casts a 295 grain bullet at .421.

The gun would shoot inside of about an eight In. circle at 50 Yds, however after about 150 rounds I had a round that wouldn't chamber even with considerable force on the lever.  After prying out the round with a screwdriver I resumed shooting but about 1/2 the shots were missing a 3 ft x3 ft target at 50 yds. and many of them punched the paper in profile rather than point on.  At this point I reamed the chamber to 44 Mag and bored out the mold to cast a .431 bullet.
The gun now shoots inside a 6 In. circle at 50 Yds.

The remaining problems are fouling and striking the primers off center.  I have to disassemble and clean the action about every 100 rounds or the drag on all the sliding firing parts from fouling will cause miss fires. The firing pin is a very loose fit in the breech block and was bent.  It strikes the primer near the edge even after I straightened it.
Questions:

Should I make a new firing pin possibly with a retractor spring to center up the impact on the primer or will this not make much difference.

The hammer is made of three pieces of sheet metal riveted together did you make the new hammer out of one piece of metal.

Your new hammer spring is of the hairpin type whereas mine is a single leaf.  I put a shim between it and the barrel to stiffen it but this only marginally improves the miss fire problem.

Where did you get the new sight and is it correct for an Evans,  Mine works ok but is not correct for an Evans.

Do you have any other tips?

Thanks for your help
Colt Fanning

 

[Herbert]

The NM Evans is very diffrent internaly than OM,TM Evans,in my opinion these rifles are best worked on by vey experinced machinests gun smiths

[Happy Trails]

Preston,

Since you say your "receiver is the late model and was intended for the long cartridge." it is probably a New Model Evans. 
The New Model has an action "dust cover" and is distinguishable by the fact that where the forearm wood meets the frame it is square.  The Old Model and /Transitional Model show a curved meeting point.  See these pictures. 
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20New%20Model/2EvansNewModel.jpg
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20New%20Model/1EvansTransitional-1.jpg
The actions are quite a bit different also.  The Old Model and Transitional Model has a much simpler lever mechanism.

I am surprised you can get as many rounds through your gun as you describe before cleaning.  I usually clean the gun after 25 to 30 rounds.

As for the off center firing pin hits I guess you need to determine which direction they are off.  Put a round in the chamber with a magic marker line say at the 12 o'clock position and see if it repeats from cartridge to cartridge.  You can then better determine if a new firing pin would help and if you can make it non-concentric enough to accommodate the off-centeredness.  The original Evans never had a firing pin return spring.  I doubt there is enough room to fit a spring in.  Since the Firing Pin is held in by use of a flat a non-concentric pin can be made as long as the firing pin hole in the face of the lever breechblock can accommodate it.

You ask "The hammer is made of three pieces of sheet metal riveted together did you make the new hammer out of one piece of metal."
I am afraid I don't understand what you mean by "sheet metal" & "riveted together".  The Hammer I made is for a Transitional Model Evans.  Here is a Transitional Evans Hammer that "rides" within a slot in the Lever.
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20Transitional/TransitionalHammer.jpg
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20Transitional/TransitionalParts.jpg


Here is a picture of the New Model "Lever" with the New Model Hammer that resides inside the Lever framework.  The Lever Framework is made of machined pieces and is screwed together.
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20New%20Model/12.jpg
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20New%20Model/14.jpg

Can you explain "sheet metal" & "riveted together" further or send some pictures of what you mean.

The Spring I made was for a Transitional Model so you are correct it is of the hair pin type. 
Here is a picture of the single blade New Model Spring.
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20New%20Model/NewModelDisassembly.jpg

Here are a couple of pictures of original Evans Transitional Model Rear Sights.
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20Transitional/16Sight.jpg
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20Transitional/15Sight.jpg
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20Transitional/14Sight.jpg

Here is a New Model Rear Sight.
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20Transitional/Evans08-1.jpg

Here is the Sight I supplied on the repaired Transitional Model.  It was as close to an Evans sight as I could find.
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x426/HT4461/Evans%20Transitional/SharpsSight.jpg
It is available from Dixie Gun Works.
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=5362

Hope this helps,
Bill

[Colt Fanning]

Howdy,
Thanks for the tips.  I will post a picture of the laminated hammer the next time I clean it.  I plan to shoot it in an NCOWS match tomorrow if it doesn't rain.  When I said I cleaned it after 100 rounds (actually one match or about 60 rounds) I meant
a complete disassembly to clean the firing mechanism.  I swab out the barrel after 20 rounds.

Regards
Colt   

[Colt Fanning]

Howdy,
Here are photos of the Evans laminated hammer.





Regards
Colt

[Bead Swinger]

I shoot my NM several imes a year, typically 60 rounds with no cleaning.  I'm using he .421-390 NEI  mould cut down to 300 gr. (44mag or44 evans long brass). My usual problem is dropping a round while cycling (usually only an issue with too-short rounds), or not putting enough on the tube.  'still haven't got all of the lead out, of the barrel.

[Jamieson]

Message for Happy Trails aka Bill English ,

Good evening Bill,

I have begun manuscript for EVANS ARMS finally.  Would like to use your info on reloading OM ammo in my book.  please contact me at scott.jamieson@sympatico.ca.  Thank you.

Scott Jamieson

[Ibgreen]

Never realized that the Evans used a underhammer action?  Yearly cool and informative!

[ndnchf]

My compliments to Happy Trails and the fine work he is doing to ressurect these unusual old guns. Over 30 years ago I started researching and shooting Evans rifles. They are all long gone now, but I still have my loading notes. I wanted to share the fact that these rifles can shoot very well with the original. 419" diameter bullet if properly made and loaded. Way back then I pulled some bullets from original 44 NM Evans cartridges and sent them to Richard Hoch. He made a beautiful nose pour mold that duplicated the original bullet. With some experimentation I was able to get pretty respectable groups. While I no longer have the targets, I do have target tracings in my loading notebook made in 1987. Here are two of them. One at 50 yards, the other at 100 yards. It certainly is not a target rifle, but not bad either.

.

Here is the other:

[ndnchf]

I'm sorry the above images are not better, my scanner is on the fritz. These were shot with an Evans New Model carbine. A couple year before, when almost no one was shooting these, I wrote an article about them for the old Black Powder Report magazine. That article is now posted on the Leverguns site:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/blancard/evans.htm