A minor upgrade to a Ruger pistol revealed an odd hidden problem. This got me to thinking-
Those of us who buy used firearms and do some work on them ourselves have probably found more than a few odd issues and problems once we got below the surface. I'm going to relate a couple of mine, and I'd like to hear your stories two.

I bought a 1993 vintage Ruger MKII Competition Target Model a couple of months ago. The pistol appeared to have a Volquartsen accurizing kit, as it had the wide VQ trigger. I didn't look too closely at the lower when I cleaned the gun before it's first range trip. The gun functioned fine and was accurate, however the trigger had an odd feel and was over 4lbs when tested. A VQ kit should result in a 2lb trigger.

Tearing the pistol down again for a good look I find only the VQ trigger was installed. So I ordered the most critical trigger part, the VQ sear. Yesterday the sear arrived and I disassembled the hammer/ sear group. When I pushed out the sear pin it had about a 15 degree kink in the middle. The hole in the sear was worn oblong. Three questions came to mind, how does a sear pin get bent in the middle, how did the pistol still function reliably and why did someone spend the money on just the trigger which does not do a whole lot to improve the pistol?
Luckily I had the few VQ sear and a spare pin from a previous project. The pistol now has a trigger under 3lbs, and I hope all else is well.

I inherited just one of my grandads guns, a very well used 1957 Winchester Model 12 field grade 16 GA shotgun. He carried that gun for hundreds of rabbit hunting outings with his beagles. Grandad kept the barrel scrupulously clean and the exterior oiled. I figured he'd kept the action and receiver clean too.

During an informal hand thrown clay shoot, the gun began to slam fire. Uh, oh. I was only 17 at the time, but very mechanically inclined. I had an American Rifleman with a tear down and schematic of the M12. They are supposed to be easy to remove the trigger assembly from once the barrel is off. Well this one wouldn't budge. I tried everything, even took it to a gun shop and they couldn't budge it.

I soaked the receiver in Liquid Wrench and let it set. Finally, I was able to get the trigger assembly out by using a birch dowel rod through the trigger guard and smacking the rod with a hammer. Crud flew everywhere! Grandad had never cleaned the receiver. Now for the odd finds. There was a corroded, smashed .22 Long case riding above the bolt! Also found a fish hook stuck in the trigger group and part of a purple shotgun hull pretty much fused to the back side of the bolt. How in the heck did the gun function for years with that junk inside! Unfortunately, I also discovered the source of the slam fired, the disconnector parts were worn to a razor edge. I cleaned, then retired the gun.

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Virtue,Liberty & Independence

I'd be finding a new disconnector for that M12!

Like a Timex, those old Model 12's take a licking and keep on shooting! :-)

My favorites list went away with the last computer. There are several model 12 and 97 parts dealers (several parts are interchangeable), I have bought small parts for replacements and spares for my 97's off the internet and usually the minimum order will take of everything you'll need.

Ivan

Neat story about your grandpa's old model 12. Winchester model 12's are what all other pump guns hope to be when they grow up. I have studied this model for decades and have never heard of parts worn as you describe. However Winchester realized about 1953 that their guns were not selling as well as the cheaper green brand because the model 12 was essentially a custom hand built gun, so they started cutting corners around that time in an attempt to compete. I have a friend with a model 12 trap gun made in 1951 and he has in excess of 1/2 million rounds through it with no repairs needed. Though I have several post war models, it is the pre wars that trip my trigger. I only buy antique guns and over the decades the things I have seen could fill a small book. I particularly like it when someone arch welds a scope base onto an antique rifle that was not drilled and tapped for a scope. GRRRR. They fact you no longer shoot grandpa's model 12 is disturbing. Why? I think he would be proud as a new papa knowing his grandson has continued using his old worn gun. My grandsons cant wait to get my guns and go hunting just as I have done for 50 plus years. I have threatened their lives if they ever even think about re-bluing or refinishing my old guns. Them scars I put on the guns are my legacy. If they want shiny, go to Walmart and buy a new one. Leave mine just as they received them.

Your everyday hunters are not all gun nuts. I have had pump and
auto shot guns brought in that were 75yrs+ old and never been
torn down and reciever cleaned. Many of these guns were well
maintained, passed through 3 generations with a bore like a dime
The used of sprays has compounded these problems. All the
dissolved gunk ends up in action where it hardens and if gun is
stored upright in rack the excess oil/ cleaner will drain into the
end grain of stock. Not good.

I don't know if it's "odd" but I have purchased three used S&W revolvers in which the hammer block was removed. Why on earth people remove that part is beyond me.

Fortunately they are cheap and available.

I think most of them are left out because the person doing the tinkering had trouble getting the side plate back on. Silly, but some folks don't know to Line up the hammer block over the stud and in the sideplate groove. Those folks probably shouldn't change their own oil.

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Virtue,Liberty & Independence

I wonder if the missing hammer blocks are a case of being forgotten during reassembly, rather than an intentional removal. Some may miss it, and figure that since the action operates just fine without it, there is no reason to take the slide plate off again. I have done this at least once myself, though I always open the gun up and put it back in. My only other thought is that people remove them because they can rattle, but in my experience, I don't have that problem with my S&Ws, the old Ruger Security Six I had certainly did...

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Lots of different fix-it attempts inside guns seen over many years.
Broken flat and V springs put back together with a helper spring leaf. Usually held in position by riviting it to the two broken sections. It can work, but a really lazy spring results generally.
RubGoldberg conversions to make use of compression coil springs, even one that used an expansion coil spring on a Stevens S/S rifle have shown up.
Springs are a major component of firearms and flat springs in particular are a stumbling block in many hobbyist and even many gunsmiths abilitys to fix. So you see some 'field type repairs' quite often to be generous.

Loose bbls, TD and otherwise, tightened up in several different ways. Everything from mashing the threads a bit and jamming the pieces back together.
Winding a piece of thread or thin wire around the threads and then screwing the assembly back together is found sometimes. I think I even saw that mentioned in an old gunsmithing book as a suitable fix.
Tinning and sweat soldering them together wasn't unknown and you have to look carefully before giving that cheater bar on the bbl vise that extra shove.
Firing pins made from common nails,,assembly pins also. Yes they can work but the very soft nature of the matl will quickly lead to other problems beside having to make a new fireing pin anyway. Soft assembly pins like to rivit themselves into place in the frame when you try and remove them, then you have to drill them out.

I do a lot of SxS work including bbl refinishing. Pulling the ribs off and relaying them is part of the work. Loose ribs are common and sometimes you just have to remove them entirely and start over.
Very common to find past repairs attempted with all sorts of epoxy glues where small loose sections appeared.
You get an idea that glue was used when you pass that area with the torch during the stripping of the ribs. The glue goes up in smoke leaving a mess on the metal but everything has to be cleaned up before reattachment anyway.

One Parker bbl truely surprised me though.
decent G grade 20 but the bbls had been refinished once before and still had loose ribs.
As I was slowly working my way down the ribs loosening the solder joints w/a torch, smoke started billowing out from between the ribs and tubes. It continued as I loosened and removed the ribs.

What someone had done was in a prior rib relay job was to use wooden spacers in between the tubes. They actually looked like pieces of popsicle sticks.
Normally there are 3 or 4 spaces along betw the tubes,,steel pieces soldered in there to keep the tubes spaced.
These were wood and they caught fire and burned nicely setting off the smoke alarms in the shop.

I can only figure that who ever soldered the ribs back on used a soldering copper instead of a flame to do the work and that avoided setting the wood spacers afire during the process..

I just had an old MArlin hammer pump 12ga to look at (Mod17 IIRC)
Someone had removed the slide lock latch from the frame. Located on the right side back by the hammer. Used to unlatch the bolt when the action/hammer is cocked.
Not just missing,,someone stick welded the opening in the frame shut and smoothed it over a bit w/a file. No telling what else was done inside w/o a look.
The gun could be opened with the hammer either cocked or down now and as I don't like the safety /mechanics of these even when they are working I told the owner to retire it.
I offered to make it a non-firing firearm for him for no cost simply removing the firing pin, and explaned why it was dangerous as-is.
He walked away.

Since I collect Korth revolvers made in the defunct Ratzeburg factory, I am restricted to used purchases but that also saved me a nice bundle of money. I had found a great looking Korth in .32 S&W Long with the rare 5 1/4" barrel for a great price. When I shot that revolver it did not group well and I shot it in direct comparison to my 6" Korth in .32 S&W Long. Groups were at least three times as large.

I slugged the barrel, checked the chambers, the alignment ... nothing looked wrong - until I checked the forcing cone. On the "bad" gun it was way too large, more like a .357 forcing cone.

The same calibre bullets in the two cones:



I also had a Korth rimfire revolver made in 1969 that had no roller in it and the hand was out of whack, luckily I had a longer hand and spare rollers in my parts box.

I opened the magazine of a Remington 31 pump shotgun and found a clothespin for a magazine plug

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One of the police officers that I worked with in the 1980s decided he was a gunsmith. He was doing an action job on a M19 (IIRC) and after he popped off the side plate, he reached inside and pulled out the hammer block. He proceeded to give it a toss, saying, "You don't need that. The action is smoother without it." We couldn't find the hammer block and wound up ordering another one.

Needless to say, he never touched one of MY guns.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

That was fairly common in the 80's to pull the hammer block out of S&W revolvers thinking it gave a smoother action to them.
I know of more than a few people who were purveyors of that thinking and practice and they should have known better both for safety and what practical advantage it offered to smoothing out anything.
It usually went hand in hand with backing out the strain screw for a lighter DA pull,,instant action job.

I think a lot of people have problems getting the hammer block back in and just leave it out. Many probably don't realize what it does.