Fixing up a .32-20

[delta-419]

32-20 Barrel Question

Since this thread has all the attention of the 32-20 clan I have a 32-20 question. One of my S&W 32-20s has a shot out barrel and there are no replacements for it. Will a barrel marked 32 S&W make a good replacement?

 

[dwh]

I have a 1902-1902 1st change barrel available if that the model you need. The barrel shank is smaller than the 1905’s.

 

[Muley Gil]

Since this thread has all the attention of the 32-20 clan I have a 32-20 question. One of my S&W 32-20s has a shot out barrel and there are no replacements for it. Will a barrel marked 32 S&W make a good replacement?

Most of the .32 S&W Long barrels are for the I frame revolvers and are too small.

 

[OrlontheBrave]

Hello friends,
An update: here’s a couple pictures from before bluing:

And here she is after bluing, in all her ramshackle glory.

Quite frankly it didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. The pitting was, as you can tell, pretty deep in spots. And leaving some of the original bluing has left it with a mottled look. Here’s the pitting on the backstrap.

The action, despite a thorough cleaning (and perhaps because of the bluing) is still rather stiff. While I picked up a patridge front sight, I’m unsure whether I want to try and turn this into a target pistol, or whether I should save the blade and wondersight for another project. Perhaps I should get a replacement spring set?

All that being said, she definitely has plenty of character still, and I’m no longer worried about rust.

 

[Truckman]

While I picked up a patridge front sight, I’m unsure whether I want to try and turn this into a target pistol, or whether I should save the blade and wondersight for another project.

That looks more like a Paine sight in the picture than a Patridge...Does the Wondersight have a square notch or a U-notch blade?...That might determine what to do......Ben

 

[OrlontheBrave]

That looks more like a Paine sight in the picture than a Patridge...Does the Wondersight have a square notch or a U-notch blade?...That might determine what to do......Ben

I hadn’t even heard of a Paine sight! Here’s a pic head on.

My wondersight has a square notch.

 

[glowe]

That sight is certainly not for a pre-war S&W. It would be way too short if set properly on the sight base. S&W front sight bases are a 1/2" diameter milled slot that, when the sight is set properly, will not show any part of the slot and held with a single pin. I would leave it as is and sell the Wonder Sight so you are not tempted to put it on another Smith!

 

[Green Frog]

Since this thread has all the attention of the 32-20 clan I have a 32-20 question. One of my S&W 32-20s has a shot out barrel and there are no replacements for it. Will a barrel marked 32 S&W make a good replacement?

If you find a K frame 32 S&W L marked barrel (the size and style you would need for the swap you propose) the barrel would be worth several times the value of a pieced together 32-20. Barrels of any description for a K frame 32 S&W are unobtanium. You will have better luck finding an orphan 32-20 barrel.
Froggie

 

[Shotguncoach]

I love your project....but then again, I'm somewhat of a trainwreck guy myself.

 

[OrlontheBrave]

I love your project....but then again, I'm somewhat of a trainwreck guy myself.

Thank you! I’ve rather enjoyed reading your posts. Once I have the time and tools I’d very much like to take on the sorts of projects you’ve been working on.

glowe, do you mean too tall? I haven’t measured, but I think if installed directly direct on top of the barrel the blade would be higher than the current half moon sight. I agree, though, that it might make the most sense to just buy a bug screw for the .32-20 and hold on to both sight parts until I find a project gun with butchered sights.

 

[Shotguncoach]

The great thing about home rust bluing is that you can re-do it is as many times as you need to. My fourth attempt was exponentially better than my first.

Looking at the inside of your frame I see some real opportunities to slick the old girl up. Don't use a dremel....do it the old way with a stone at first. You'll have much more control. A spring kit will help but smoothing out the internal surfaces will help more. Together they can be magic.

You can do this. You already have the most important tool: a good attitude.

Keep having fun.....

 

[OrlontheBrave]

The great thing about home rust bluing is that you can re-do it is as many times as you need to. My fourth attempt was exponentially better than my first.

Looking at the inside of your frame I see some real opportunities to slick the old girl up. Don't use a dremel....do it the old way with a stone at first. You'll have much more control. A spring kit will help but smoothing out the internal surfaces will help more. Together they can be magic.

You can do this. You already have the most important tool: a good attitude.

Keep having fun.....

This is gun #4 for me, and I’ve been trying to strike the balance between “looks good enough” and “endless prep work,” especially because I don’t have power tools like a buffing wheel. But yeah, I figured if I have the front sight done I’d just spot rust blue any bare metal to get it to match.

I saw that you stoned the internals of some of your revolvers, but was too scared to try it this time. I think down the road I’ll get a replacement spring set, give polishing the internals a try, and work on the grips a bit more. I could try shortening the strain screw as well, but that seems rather permanent.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Send me a PM with your address and I’ll mail you an extra strain screw that you can experiment with…your original screw can just go into an envelope in the back of the safe.

 

[OrlontheBrave]

Send me a PM with your address and I’ll mail you an extra strain screw that you can experiment with…your original screw can just go into an envelope in the back of the safe.

PM’ed—thank you!

 

[OrlontheBrave]

Hello friends,

A quick update; Shotguncoach has very generously provided parts for the next step of the project! Like many of y'all I've greatly enjoyed following his projects, and I've been reviewing his posts as I try figure out how to balance strain screw shortening, India stoning, and spring swapping. Stay tuned for updates as I start the action job!

 

[Shotguncoach]

There are a lot of good people here that helped me get started. I'm happy to be able to pass that along, and I'm sure you will too when the time comes.

Here are some things that I've learned and that helped me learn along the way:

Remove the hammer spring and sideplate, then spend some time cycling the action by hand with the hammer spring removed so that you can watch how all the pieces interact with each other. Get your phone and make a few videos of the moving parts so that you can refer to them later when all the insides are on the outside.

An action job isn't one thing. It's the sum of a hundred little things.

Move all the insides to the outside (including the cylinder stop) and then reinstall the cylinder and yoke. The cylinder should spin freely in the frame window. If it doesn't, come back and talk to us. All the action smoothing in the world won't help if you're fighting a cylinder that doesn't want to turn.

Make sure you're yoke is aligned, the ejector rod is straight, and fix any endshake issues before you change anything else.

Do your smoothing on one part at a time and then check it with the original springs. This lets you know exactly what affect you've had. The secondary benefit is that you'll reassemble all the pieces about 50 times and become comfortable with how they all fit together.

Approach the spring changes the same way: one at a time with a full reassembly and test after each change. Test the feel of the action with your eyes closed - it helps focus your attention.

There are 13, 14, and 15 pound rebound springs in your kit. Use the one that provides what you think is the best feel. I've started using 11 pound rebound springs in my range guns but I have also trained myself to get my finger out of the way to allow the trigger to return.

The strain screw gets done last and that's a 3 part operation: testing at the range, setting the length on your workbench, then validation at the range again.

Take your time and post progress reports so that we can follow along. Don't be afraid to ask questions. I've already asked all the dumb ones so anything you ask is guaranteed to be a good question.

 

[OrlontheBrave]

Hello friends,

I finally found the time to begin work on the action job, up to “checking the cylinder.” I haven’t had a chance yet to acquire CCI primers or a trigger pull gauge, but I can at least begin smoothing the action.

Barrel-cylinder gap is on the upper end of acceptable: max gap is .008”, minimum gap is .004”. I could shim it to try to get the gap and endshake down by .002” (to .006” and .002”, respectively), but I don’t think I’ll bother. If I chance to order shims from Lance again (great guy) for another project I might add an extra couple k-frame shims to my order, but for now I’ll work on the other bits.

Cylinder spins easily—not as freely as when open, but for a good 1-2 seconds when spun with vigor. I don’t think that will give me any trouble (fingers crossed).

I lack the experience to identify rub spots by sight alone, so next I’m thinking of painting the inside of the frame with silver sharpie and the various internal moving parts with black sharpie (in lieu of dykem blue) and dryfiring a bunch of times to see if I can identify any spots that rub.

 

[mikepriwer]

I have one point to offer: DO NOT shorten the main spring tension screw. It's not really a tension screw, but rather the mechanism for getting the main spring to assume the proper curvature when pulling back the hammer. If you shorten that screw, you will not get the proper curve. If you keep shortening it, you will not be able to completely cock the gun, because the spring will bind against the bottom of the hammer.

If you want less tension, get a lighter spring, or thin your spring out with stones or emery paper.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[OrlontheBrave]

Thanks Mike! I might try it anyways, as shotguncoach sent me a spare strain screw so I have nothing to lose, but if I do it will be after doing everything else possible to improve the trigger pull. The gun was actually listed on Gunbroker as "single action broken" when, it turns out, the strain screw was just unscrewed and sticking out the front, so I know firsthand what happens if it gets too short.



Things I've learned tonight:
1. Black sharpie comes off easier with alcohol than silver sharpie, for some reason.

2. Sometimes old wood is just old wood. From I suppose repeatedly removing an assembling the stocks, the eschutcheon on one has begun to pull through and crack the wood. I wasn't even cranking down on them either, I just felt normal resistance, normal resistance, then boom, cracked stocks. Good thing shotguncoach sent me new stocks.

3. I threw in the Wolff mainspring just to see what would happen, and it definitely lightened the trigger pull.

4. I polished the bolt, rebound slide, and frame where the rebound slide sits, and I've narrowed the roughness of the trigger pull to the first half of the pull (or second half of the rebound), specifically between the trigger, cylinder stop, and rebound slide (and perhaps frame and side plate). It's not gritty or anything, just uneven, and on rebound the trigger gets hung up around there.


Edit: I think it might be the engagement between the trigger and the cylinder stop. The trigger moves smoothly, so my guess it's either the spots where the two pieces engage, or it's with the cylinder stop's movement. I'm thinking of using a little Fitz or some 2000 grit sandpaper on the engagement surfaces just to smooth them up, although I'm somewhat hesitant as all my polishing so far has been to less essential surfaces (inside of frame, bolt track, bolt, etc.).

 

[mikepriwer]

There are three other tests you might do. First, make sure the hammer, trigger, and rebound slide studs are tight. If any are loose, they can cause a stiff hammer and/or trigger when the side-plate is on and tightened up.

Second, make sure that when the gun is assembled, there is no drag coming from the extractor rod. Hold the gun in your left hand, and very slowly, pull the hammer back, just until the cylinder stop unlocks the cylinder. The cylinder will now turn free, using the thumb of your right hand. Slowly rotate the cylinder counter-clockwise. If it feels tighter in one or more positions, and then easier in other positions, the extractor rod and or the yoke is bent. Try spinning the cylinder by using that thumb to push up quickly on the side of the cylinder. It should spin freely about 1 rotation.

Brownell's makes a simple yoke alignment tool, that will test for yoke alignment. A slightly bent yoke will cause lots of drag.

A last test is to single-action the gun through all 6 chambers. At each charge hole, push the bolt forward, to disengage the front extractor rod locking pin. Note the position of the muzzle-end of the pin, when the bolt is released. Does the end of the pin return to the same position, for each charge hole, or does it stick out too far on one or more charge holes?

Regards, Mike Priwer