Old No7
Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2010
- Messages
- 140
- Reaction score
- 148
“Who knew” that a Kinetic Bullet Puller would help save the day as I cleaned up my older brother’s old S&W I-frame 32 Regulation Police?! But it sure did!
Long story, short…My older brother brought up both of his old 32 S&Ws to shoot recently, and he left me his vintage K32 to use for a few weeks if I agreed to clean-up his old nickel I-frame 5-screw model. Sure, I could do that! The cylinder would barely turn and the action seemed to be all gummed up, but I was pretty sure it would be an easy task.
Well, it didn’t turn out to be all that easy, but it was successful after the bullet puller was put to use! For starters, here’s what I found when I removed the side plate. Note the corrosion under the grips too; sure looks like it’s been a long time since those were ever removed:
Here’s another view of the gunk, after most of the internals were removed. It took several applications of Shooter’s Choice solvent and some scrubbing with a brass brush to get all the “hardened brown grease” out of there:
When I removed the bolt, I cleaned it up and cleaned the bolt slot well, and then reinstalled it. But when I did that, the bolt plunger (the spring-loaded pin) on the rear end compressed all the way into the bolt – and then refused to come out! Uh oh! I tried tapping on it with a plastic mallet, but that didn’t help any, so I suspended it in some Kroil penetrating oil for 10 minutes or so.
While that was soaking, I then cleaned the barrel – which was really filthy and this is a picture of all the leading that came out on the first couple of patches. Ugh, what a mess – good thing we couldn’t shoot this one while he was here!
Then I removed the bolt from the Kroil and sat it under a desk lamp – really close – for 10 minutes to heat it up, thinking that might help the Kroil to penetrate better. Then, eyeing the Kinetic Bullet Puller that was already on my bench from the last reloading session (“just in case”), I got the bright idea to wrap the front end of the bolt in masking tape to expand its diameter. Then I was able to fit it into the bullet puller and after tightening down the head and taking a few whacks… Voila! The bolt plunger came out just like it was supposed to! Whew, am really glad that worked! So I’m offering this tip in case any others ever bump up against this same issue with stuck pins or plungers:
At that point, I figured it wouldn’t hurt any to lightly polish the crud and corrosion off the plunger before reassembly, so I chucked it up into a “Hurdy Gurdy” (my late father’s name for a hand drill) and lightly polished it up some:
With that step done, and the plunger lightly oiled, the reassembly went very well. Here’s the insides after the clean-up was done. It still shows its age and the effects of some corrosion, but now at least she’s clean – and she functions well now too! It’s not as smooth as my K-frames, but she’s working like she’s supposed to do:
Here you go, with a final view of the little 32 Long Regulation Police, along side my Brownell’s screwdriver handle and the Wheeler S&W Rebound Spring tool – I’ve used that handy tool quite a bit over the last few weeks on my S&Ws and it works really well for me.
Oh, and the best part…
Remember that “other .32” that my brother loaned me? Well, he hasn’t asked for it back yet, and she is a nice old K32 that has a super action on it. It’s a lot of fun to shoot and plink with, and is very accurate. I’ve already offered him 3X the $100 that he paid for it 20 years ago, but so far, he’s not interested in selling it… Even offered him 5X…
He’s not selling… Darn it… I’m guessing he knows what that one is really worth…
But, looking on the bright side, “Possession is nine tenths of the law!” and he’s two states away! And luckily, I am well stocked on 32 components!
Tight groups.
Old No7
Long story, short…My older brother brought up both of his old 32 S&Ws to shoot recently, and he left me his vintage K32 to use for a few weeks if I agreed to clean-up his old nickel I-frame 5-screw model. Sure, I could do that! The cylinder would barely turn and the action seemed to be all gummed up, but I was pretty sure it would be an easy task.
Well, it didn’t turn out to be all that easy, but it was successful after the bullet puller was put to use! For starters, here’s what I found when I removed the side plate. Note the corrosion under the grips too; sure looks like it’s been a long time since those were ever removed:
Here’s another view of the gunk, after most of the internals were removed. It took several applications of Shooter’s Choice solvent and some scrubbing with a brass brush to get all the “hardened brown grease” out of there:
When I removed the bolt, I cleaned it up and cleaned the bolt slot well, and then reinstalled it. But when I did that, the bolt plunger (the spring-loaded pin) on the rear end compressed all the way into the bolt – and then refused to come out! Uh oh! I tried tapping on it with a plastic mallet, but that didn’t help any, so I suspended it in some Kroil penetrating oil for 10 minutes or so.
While that was soaking, I then cleaned the barrel – which was really filthy and this is a picture of all the leading that came out on the first couple of patches. Ugh, what a mess – good thing we couldn’t shoot this one while he was here!
Then I removed the bolt from the Kroil and sat it under a desk lamp – really close – for 10 minutes to heat it up, thinking that might help the Kroil to penetrate better. Then, eyeing the Kinetic Bullet Puller that was already on my bench from the last reloading session (“just in case”), I got the bright idea to wrap the front end of the bolt in masking tape to expand its diameter. Then I was able to fit it into the bullet puller and after tightening down the head and taking a few whacks… Voila! The bolt plunger came out just like it was supposed to! Whew, am really glad that worked! So I’m offering this tip in case any others ever bump up against this same issue with stuck pins or plungers:
At that point, I figured it wouldn’t hurt any to lightly polish the crud and corrosion off the plunger before reassembly, so I chucked it up into a “Hurdy Gurdy” (my late father’s name for a hand drill) and lightly polished it up some:
With that step done, and the plunger lightly oiled, the reassembly went very well. Here’s the insides after the clean-up was done. It still shows its age and the effects of some corrosion, but now at least she’s clean – and she functions well now too! It’s not as smooth as my K-frames, but she’s working like she’s supposed to do:
Here you go, with a final view of the little 32 Long Regulation Police, along side my Brownell’s screwdriver handle and the Wheeler S&W Rebound Spring tool – I’ve used that handy tool quite a bit over the last few weeks on my S&Ws and it works really well for me.
Oh, and the best part…
Remember that “other .32” that my brother loaned me? Well, he hasn’t asked for it back yet, and she is a nice old K32 that has a super action on it. It’s a lot of fun to shoot and plink with, and is very accurate. I’ve already offered him 3X the $100 that he paid for it 20 years ago, but so far, he’s not interested in selling it… Even offered him 5X…
He’s not selling… Darn it… I’m guessing he knows what that one is really worth…
But, looking on the bright side, “Possession is nine tenths of the law!” and he’s two states away! And luckily, I am well stocked on 32 components!
Tight groups.
Old No7
