Great Moments in Home Gunsmithing

[gunsmith11]

Took apart a broomhandle many years ago, took me two days to figure out the puzzle to get it back together, did that once with a MK I once, do not remember it all but I do know that you had to have it upside down for one part, needed gravity to help

 

[NoJoe]

I decided that the only way to fix the jamming issues of my Marlin 60 was to completely strip it down. Took two tear downs and reassemblies to get it back together correctly(I think its correct, everything works).
Pinched myself many times reassembling Mosin and Mauser bolts.
Decided to take my Portuguese Mauser bolt apart in the car after I bought it. Shot the firing pin and bolt head into the leg of my dad while he was driving. Thank god it didn't decide to go for the drivers side window.

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

Glad to see,SOME normal folks have had the Ruger
ah, shall we say, fixation? Took me about 3 hours, and for the life of me I don't know how I did it.
Then there is the trigger spring on my 03A3 sporter, that disappeared from this earth completely.

 

[Papaw]

About 20 years ago I removed the cylinder thumb latch from my Charter Arms 44 Bulldog because in recoil in would hit my thumb and unlock the cylinder. When you pull the thumb latch off the gun, spring loaded parts move inside.
It's still off.
But I can open the cylinder by pulling the extractor rod.

 

[Photog]

+1 on the Remington Nylon 66
Colt lightning...nasty little 3 pronged spring to get back in.
M-1 Garand. Took out recoil spring, let go by mistake...embedded in the drywall.

 

[Bib]

Don't EVER take apart an H&R revolver....that's all I'm going to say.

 

[jkc]

But once you learn the trick you Really feel dumb. I can do one with my eyes closed now

Firearm reassembly is apparently a viable career choice for formerly sighted persons who failed to read the manual or ignored the admonitons to "wear eye protection" when disassembling spring-loaded parts.

 

[jkc]

I once took apart and reassembled the Rubik's Cube of firearms, a Remington Nylon 66.

This, I'm assuming, accomplished prior to the mesquite bug problem...???

 

[Gutpile Charlie]

I've collect and worked on guns for years. During that time I've assembled a 1911, AR-15, US M1 carbine and an FN FAL from scratch. Nothing major happened but I sure learned a lot in the process.

I've collected a large number of military bolt actions and semi-auto rifles. I've launched my share of springs across the room, but so far...knock on wood...I haven't lost one or hit my self in the eye...yet!

Watch those springs and small parts. Don't disassemble things where you can lose small parts. Don't disassemble things that you don't know how to put back together! Be careful and have fun.

 

[Jeb Stonewall]

Originally posted by Bib:
Don't EVER take apart an H&R revolver....that's all I'm going to say.

LOL
Been down that road!
Try finding the right hammer for one.
Got one apart now for over 3 years still looking for the right hammer.
Hope if I ever get the hammer I can remember how to put it back together.

 

[RDak]

Originally posted by truckemup97:
Anyone ever completely disassemble a CZ-52? If you haven't, well, then don't.

You can take the slide off the frame, and even the barrel out of the slide, but don't try to take the barrel locking assembly (or whatever they call that) apart.

I think I taught myself some new vocabulary words that night.

The Webley Mark VI ain't much better if you want to get the ejector to automatically snap back into place!!

I've launched so many springs over the years that, if I ever deep clean my basement, I could probably open a store selling springs!

 

[perpster]

Originally posted by Polar Boy:

Originally posted by jkc:
I can't be the only one who's exhausted an extensive repetoire of profanity attempting to reassemble a Ruger Markx .22 pistol???

I second that! I understand that there's a trick you have to know in order to get them back together again. I don't know the trick, so I keep my Ruger Mark II in a parts box. I suppose I'll get it back together one of these days.

Alrighty, I don't own a Ruger MkII (but I'd like to). Here's a couple of webpages that should help y'all out. If you like what you see and have a spare MkII, I'll accept it as a tip.

http://www.1bad69.com/ruger/field_strip.htm

http://www.1bad69.com/ruger/internals.htm

 

[Danny Abernathy]

My first Nylon 66 I decided to strip it and clean it after a Saturday afternoon plinking session. It took me, my brother-in-law and a friend of ours who was an lineman for the power company to get it back together. Oh, I forgot to mention the bottle of 151 rum and steaks afterward that it cost me.
Now I just spray them out with brake cleaner and lightly oil them and that is enough.

 

[Careby]

Losing a tiny screw or spring is regrettable, but not remarkable. More embarrasing is when you lose TWO because of deliberately dropping the second one in an attempt to watch it and find out where the first one went.

 

[2152hq]

When (if) you do ever find the screw that dropped on the floor,,it's amazing how far it crawled to from where it first landed.

 

[ingmansinc]

Originally posted by Careby:
Losing a tiny screw or spring is regrettable, but not remarkable. More embarrasing is when you lose TWO because of deliberately dropping the second one in an attempt to watch it and find out where the first one went.

I don't know how it happens, but every time I drop a part it always ends up with my finding it in the exact same place. Brownells.

 

[David LaPell]

I can remember launching the mainspring of a Browning Hi Power across the room several times, and ditto on the rear sight of a Smith during replacement. I always order two of those little plungers and two of those little springs at a time. And I still haven't tackled taking apart a Ruger Mk II yet for one of my wifes relatives. I think you need to be a nuclear engineer to work on those. Never worked on a Nylon 66 yet, but you can keep it.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

When taking gripstraps off my single actions in my den with a rug, I always drop a screw and it rolls way farther than the laws of physics should allow. And this is on a rug. And I always do it again.

 

[MR .44 Spl]

I learned very early in life my limitations with disassembly of guns. Ye olde Marlin Model 60 taught me well. It's amazing how many parts there are in those little rimfire auto's. The two main lessons I learned were:
1.) Don't work on any gun you don't have a detailed guide for.
2.) Realize when you're going to be in over your head....before you get there.

Number 2 is more important than number 1. I've learned to go slowly when disassembling a firearm, and to make sure I understand how the mechanism works before I take it apart.

And I'll second everyone on the Ruger Mk II. I can completely strip a S&W revolver without too much sweat, but the one time I took apart my Mk II, I swore I'd never do it again.

 

[Muley Gil]

Don't EVER take apart an H&R revolver....that's all I'm going to say.

The trick to reassembling H&Rs, handguns and shotguns, is making slave pins to hold parts in place as you slide other parts in place.

I made my slave pins out of nails.

Cylinder releases on Charter revolvers are a bugger with that little spring and plunger.