M1006 in for some spa treatment

[BMCM]

Ahoy there Gents,

I've had this M1006 here for a while. It's been sitting on the shelf while we waited for the new sight set to come in which by chance was delivered yesterday. Seems Trijicon's canned delivery time for out of stock sight sets is 4-6 weeks so I'm pleasantly surprised when stuff shows up in 3 weeks

This was a recent acquisition by the owner. It had some issues and wasn't running right so it was sent to me for sorting out.

First order of business was to make some parts. The original recoil spring guide assembly was long gone and the gun was assembled with a Menck buffer. So a couple weeks ago I made these parts out of some hardened 416 stainless...

To replace that thing and restore to factory condition...

So now that the sights are in, I'd better get going on this before the owner gets riled up. The goal here is to restore appearance & function to factory++ condition.

Oh, and peaking of riled up... I don't mind some minor cleaning here and there now and again but... This piece is really REALLY dirty. Look, I don't expect every gun sent to me to be squeaky clean but at least have the courtesy to clean the thing before sending it to me. I know of some guys that add on some hefty charges for working on a dirty gun and some others that will outright refuse to work on a dirty gun.

Ok, enough bitchin', on with the show... So here's what we got...

Pretty yucky but I note the old version of the 23019 ejector, the trigger play spring is the two fingers version bent out of shape, sideplate is the 10699 part and seems to be ok grip pin was missing so there was really nothing securing the rubber Hogue grips to the frame. The grips could be pulled off the back of the frame as an assembly

Bits of brass and a few copper brush bristles amongst the goo...

Expected to find a bunch of goo on the firing pin but it was actually ok...

Slide flats have been wiped on both sides. Cratering around the rollmark is sanded smooth...

And the laser etch lawyer warning on the starboard side is gone...

Yeah... there's this thing called a brass punch that will prevent one damaging stuff like this

None of that stuff is especially shocking however, this is somewhat baffling... I find a lot of denting sort of random on the upper surface of the frame rails on both sides...

And here...

This dent here, among others...

Is peened such that its rolled over to the side of the rail...

The only thing I can think of is some ill conceived and poorly executed plan to peen the frame rails as some halfassed means to tighten the slide to frame fit. There's nothing going on with the slide that might have caused this. I only see some slight burnishing caused by the few high points bent up on the frame rails. On occasion I've seen some damage on other guns on the right side rail top caused by a protruding extractor pin impinging on the frame rail or by a large burr protruding from that pin's bore hole but, this damage is not that. This was done intentionally by someone with a hammer or hammer & punch pointless, utterly pointless

I'll carefully stone down the few high points to smooth things out after cleaning & degreasing but before blasting.

The slide is over by the lathe right now marinating in some Kroil in preparation for bumping off the old sights then that gets the degreaser treatment as well.

Bench & deadlift training tomorrow so I'll get to pulling the sights and some cleaning but not much more. Probably will be media blasting on Thursday.

More to follow.

Cheers
Bill

 

[JohnHL]

Bill, if you ever grow weary of smithing, you might consider diplomacy...

Ascribing the high minded intention of "frame rail peening" to the hammer mechanics of bubba is an example of euphemistic kindness the likes of which we shall rarely witness.

My guess is that a slide got stuck on that frame, and somebody tried to hammer it off.

Now it may not have been the slide you currently have, although both frame and slide appear to show ample signs of "history".

Many has been the time, when disassembling something somebody before me had been in to, I have been motivated to ponder the rhetorical question, "What were they thinking?"

Which always engenders the inevitable response, "They weren't."

John

 

[robrossk]

Can't wait to see finished product. I am sure it will be AWESOME.

 

[18DAI]

Note to self - CLEAN the gun before shipping it to Master Chief! Roger that.

Thanks for what you do for us BMCM! Best regards, 18DAI

 

[Sevens]

Bill, if you ever grow weary of smithing, you might consider diplomacy...

Bwahaha, this made me laugh, I needed that!

I read the first half of the sentence and thought you were alluding to his fantastic pictures and logging of thoughts and observations. I believe BMCM writes sock-knocker tutorials. But yes, I hadn't even considered his diplomacy skills!

 

[Erocksmash]

Another 3rd gen brought back by the master!
Good job sir!

 

[BMCM]

Ok, made some progress today and things are looking good. Soaked the slide and frame in a bucket of degreasing solution for a few hours yesterday. With all the gunk cleaned off you get a better look at the overall condition and can better assess what needs doing to restore it to factory condition which is our goal here.

With the major components all cleaned up you can see an obvious disparity in the finish between he slide & frame. What doesn't show up well, probably due to my work light, is the frame has a dull grey appearance to it and the surface profile or texture is quite coarse.

And...

That coarse grey finish... I think the frame was blasted with pure aluminum oxide media of around 60 - 80 mesh. Here's an image with a spare M1006 slide I have where you can clearly see the difference between the factory finish and what's on this frame...

With the frame all cleaned up we get a better view of the dings & dents on the rails...

This sure looks to me like someone was beatin' on it

In preparation for blasting, I scuffed the frame a bit on some 400 mesh silicon carbide paper to flatten the surface profile a touch. Once something has been blasted with that coarse a media there's not much you can do to undo that but you can minimize it to some extent by knocking down the high points of the surface profile. I also turned a 'cork' of sorts out of some delrin rod to plug the barrel bushing and masked it off to protect that part from the abrasive media.

And here we are fresh from the blast cabinet...

And cleaned of all media washed & dried. The finish isn't a perfect match but it's pretty darned close

I'll get after cleaning the small parts tomorrow and perhaps reassembly.

Cheers
Bill

 

[stansdds]

Certainly looks like Bubba tried to tighten the slide-frame fit. Unless it is a bullseye match pistol, I have found tight slide to frame fitting to be of little practical value, but some of the articles in gun rags and on the internet would have people believing that it is of utmost importance.

I remember back in my IPSC/USPSA days of a match on a very cold, wet, snowy/icy day. I showed up with an old military issue M-1911-A1. Some of the guys with custom built race guns wanted to see the old war horse. They commented and snickered at how it rattled when shook. Well, their finely tuned, ultra tight, match pistols choked in the icy conditions. My war horse had zero malfunctions. There was no snickering at the end of the match.

 

[18DAI]

I recall being told, by a very talented gunsmith who once shot for Beretta, that slide to frame fit was not as important as barrel to slide fit.

He claimed that people were missing the boat tightening up the slide to frame fit while ignoring the barrel to slide fit. He said alls they were doing was screwing up reliability when the pistol got dirty. Regards 18DAI

 

[Erocksmash]

I recall a very talented gun smith above has told me the same 18....

 

[huthike]

Following this interesting thread and learning a lot.

Sounds to me like that gun has needed a lot more than just a spa treatment!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JohnHL]

Barrel to slide fit should more accurately be described as barrel to sight fit.

As long as the barrel returns to the same place relative to the sights the pistol will be consistent.

If the barrel returns to the same place relative to the frame but variable to the sights, the pistol will be inconsistent.

Barrel to frame fit only matters with frame mounted optics.

John

 

[Sevens]

I’m going to log my vote for this is not a clear-cut “only one answer applies and all else are wrong.”

I get a lot of pride and enjoyment from the extreme feel in the slide to frame fit of my S&W Performance Center Limited pistols and my Model 52’s which fit, feel the same way and (in the case of the PC guns) also can be seen in the fitment at the rear of the slide as it mates with the frame... the lines nearly disappear.

Now these guns are accurate as hell but I will not argue that it is due to slide to frame fit because it is the sum of MANY things. But if you haven’t handled a true PC semiauto or a 52, you owe it to yourself to experience this.

At the same time, I’m 110% certain that I am not dumb enough to attempt to somehow make a slide and frame fit more tightly LONG after the build of the pistol!

Thirdly, or wherever I am at, the guy who formely built the original Coonan pistols told us straight away that they would liked to have made the Coonan tighter than they had settled on but it simply wouldn’t work, they found that the .357 Magnum was applying enough torque with each shot that the slide would bind under the fury so the guns all shipped with a “looser” feel than many would like or might have expected, relative to the price tag.

Hell yes, the subject 1006 was absolutely abused and whoever did it was a criminal. But at the same time, I will definitely defend the juicy love that gets squished out of my 952 and 3566 when you remove the dragging magazine and just gently move that slide on the frame. It’s functional art, the result of a master craftsman.

 

[Sevens]

If you open your gun safe and can’t pull out at least one handgun that will excrete “juicy love” then the best is yet to come!

 

[GaryS]

Just kind of a wild guess here, but I've heard of "Briley Bushings", but never heard of a "Briley Slide."

The old incarnation of the Performance Center probably had a good idea of what was important and what wasn't.

I recall being told, by a very talented gunsmith who once shot for Beretta, that slide to frame fit was not as important as barrel to slide fit.

He claimed that people were missing the boat tightening up the slide to frame fit while ignoring the barrel to slide fit. He said alls they were doing was screwing up reliability when the pistol got dirty. Regards 18DAI

 

[BMCM]

Well... Got everything cleaned up in detail today and tended to a few things that needed a bit of extra attention...

All squeaky clean now and ready for assembly...

Someone had been here before me but didn't to a very thorough job so I finished it...

Re-cut & beveled the crown...

On the drawbar plunger, turned a 'bullet' point on the front end & polished it...

Stoned the foot on the disconnector...

Stoned & polished the hammer radius above the full cock relief...

Also going to swap in an updated 23019 ejector...

I did a few other things as well... Lightly stoned the sides of the drawbar, and disassembled the slide stop to clean the gunk outa there.

Tomorrow we'll be fitting & installing the new sights. Get the extractor pinned on and gauged to see if I need to mess with the spring force or adjustment. After those things are tended to we will be ready for assembly.

Cheers
Bill

 

[JohnHL]

If you open your gun safe and can’t pull out at least one handgun that will excrete “juicy love” then the best is yet to come!

I think you might be over oiling your weapons.

John

 

[stansdds]

If you open your gun safe and can’t pull out at least one handgun that will excrete “juicy love” then the best is yet to come!

I think you might be over oiling your weapons.

John

LOL!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BMCM]

Ok, time to start putting this old girl back together. First off is get the new sights fitted and bumped on. I used a big DMT bench stone to adjust the dovetail bases. I used to use a pillar file for this but things go much faster with the DMT stone. But...one must be very careful as you can't put any of that metal back. And... flip the sight 180° frequently so you don't cut a bevel into the base and wind up with an installed sight thats tilted at an odd angle ...

Front is already bumped on now to do the backsight. Note there is not a molecule of oil in sight. These parts and this area should be bone dry...

Ok, sights are on...

Some brass 'crayon' marks from the punch I used. I'll wipe those off later with some copper solvent...

But first I'll apply a tiny bit of Loctite 290 and allow that to wick through the joint...

Next we get after the extractor. Installed here and evaluating reach using a dummy round. hangs onto the dummy ok so it looks like the original extractor was fitted correctly...

But, when we gauge the tension we're a bit shy of 5lbs. We need this to be in the 6-8lb range...

I tried a couple different springs but could not make weight so, we install a 0.010 shim under the spring and that got us to 6.5lbs. I'll leave it thus until we test fire to insure reliable extraction.

Firing pin and safety body installed. Note no lube here either...

Top end is all done with new guiderod assembly and factory recoil spring...

Now we get after the other half. Did a little deburring of the camming lugs. The big spring on the Menck buffer unit did not exert very much pressure at installed length with the breech in battery so upon firing, things would head aft rather briskly and beat the snot out of these lugs on the way

Dressed the rails with stone before blasting to flatten the high points...

First we drop the trigger into place then install the drawbar plunger & spring into the spring bore, after that the first component that we need to wrestle with to install is the drawbar. A tiny dab of Brownells action lube goes in the 'V' notch here on both sides where the trigger hooks engage...

And another tiny dollop on the front end where it engages the drawbar plunger...

Installing the drawbar is a little tricky. You press it forward against pressure from the drawbar spring & plunger taking care not to catch the trigger play spring on the frame. Once the drawbar is in position you lift the trigger up from below to engage the drawbar then align the trigger with the holes in the frame to get the pin in. With the trigger pin installed, the pin is held fast to the trigger and rotates in the frame so a tiny bit of FMO on each side to lube the pin is appropriate.

Now that the trigger & drawbar are installed, next is the disconnector. A dab of action lube on the foot and drop it in place. Note, with the frame upside down, the disconnector foot must be under the drawbar...

Until the sear is installed, the disconnector can easily fall out so the sear is next. I leave the frame siting upside down and manipulate the sear into position by reaching in through the sides of the gripframe. A drop of FMO on the sear pin and insert it from the left side. Note the groove on the sear pin extends out the left side. Don't put it in bassackwards

Now we need three hands so the frame gets clamped in my swivel vise in some soft jaws. Slave pin inserted from the right and the firing pin safety lever then the sear release lever installed. You'll want access to the trigger while getting the sear release lever in, pulling the trigger moves the sear forward out of the way of the lever and eases getting it lined up on the pin.

Next up, the hammer goes in. A light smear of action lube above the fullcock relief and grease in the three notches, throw, pickup & full cock...

With the hammer installed and resting on the slave pin next we install the new ejector and advance the slave pin all the way through the frame...

Now were gonna supplant the slave pin with the hammer pin that's incorporated into the sideplate. A drop of FMO goes here then work this pin in from the left pushing out the slave pin. Once you have the side plate in, lay the frame on it's right side on a flat something like a bench block or such to support the sear pin while you snap the legs of the sideplate onto the sear pin. I've only ever used my thumbnail for this but whatever means... Never EVER stick anything in between those prongs and pry...

And the frame is all assembled...

Oh wait, forgot the mag catch

I'll bet you think I forgot about those red dots on the frame huh? Nope Need some alkyd enamel paint, some acetone, a swab and a toothpick.

Wet the swab with acetone and wipe out the dimples. Then after mixing the paint well, get a teeny tiny droplet on the end of the toothpick about this big...

And apply to each dimple. Might need to work it around a bit to fill it in and you only want enough to fill up to about flush with the side of the frame. The paint will shrink quite a bit as it dries...

Not going to mess with it any more tonight. I'll clamp that back in the vise to cure overnight and finish up tomorrow.

Cheers
Bill

 

[Sevens]

Watching each caption and picture is so soothing!