1887 lever shotgun

[Relentless Renegade]

I am shooting a 87 and am thinking about the drop two setup.
I would like to give it a try myself.
Anyone ever done this and have any advice?
Thanks,
RR

[Pettifogger]

An 87 what -- original or reproduction?  And what do you mean by "I would like to give it a try myself."  Do you mean you want to try and do the work yourself?

[Relentless Renegade]

Reproduction and yes do the work myself.

[Pettifogger]

The "screw" mod which is fairly easy to do was declared an illegal external mod by SASS.  (This was a screw placed in the bottom of the carrier that would limit down-travel on the carrier to make the drop two work better.)  The only other way to do it is to weld a stop on the carrier and machine a recess for the stop to drop into on the lever/bolt assembly.  Unless you are very familiar with the internal workings and dimensions of an 87 and unless you are a pretty good welder and machinist, it would probably be easier to send it to Lassiter.  He is the only one I know that can do the internal mod on the repro 87s.  If it were an original you could send it to Fireball.  However, the Chinese gun is different enough from an original that Fireball's mod won't work on the reproductions.

If you have a reproduction, it SHOULD already be set up for the drop two.  Whether it works is a different question.  The way it is supposed to work is that there is a dimple or a 5/16" hole in the magazine follower.  The tip of the ejector (the thing between the two carrier halves) is supposed to drop into that dipple/hole.  If yours has a dimple, most of the time the dimple isn't deep enough.  Just take out the magazine follower and drill it out to 5/16".  The ejector tip should then drop in the hole.  If the ejector tip is to short to go into the hole, then you will have to weld a little material on it and reshape it.  The ejector has to be just long enough to drop into the hole in the follower and hold the carrier in the drop two position, yet short enough that once the shells are inserted into the gun you can still close the lever and force the ejector tip out of the hole.  Good luck.  They are fun once you get them running.

[Relentless Renegade]

wow Pettifogger,
I think you just my life a whole lot easier!
Just looking at my reproduction and 87 and see what you are talking about.
That piece does hit that spot but passes by it rather easy so I am thinking bore that hole and go from there.
Would it be SASS legal to siffen up that plunger spring to put more pressure on where the 2 meet or would that cause differant problems?

[Pettifogger]

Easiest way to increase the spring pressure is to just drop a fired shell in the magazine tube, brass base facing down, squash down the spring and reinstall the end cap.

[Relentless Renegade]

I see you have done this before