Disassembly/Reassembly of the Taurus Model 62 Rifle

In 1932, Winchester introduced an offspring of their Model 1890 and named it the Model 62. Between then and 1958, when the highly popular shooting-gallery and sporting rifle was discontinued, over 400,000 were produced. Among them, the most readily identifiable difference was in the slide handle. Serial numbers under 14,300 had a 6-inch handle with eight grooves. Serial numbers over 125,000 wore an 8-1/4-inch handle with 17 grooves.

Taurus’ resurrection of this classic has a handle 7 inches in length with 13 grooves. The ominous number 13 should have no negative effect on a purchaser. While similarities between original and the recreation are many, Taurus’ improvements have produced a rifle that’s better suited for today’s shooters. The Winchester 62 was a take-down. And so is the Taurus 62. The Winchester 62 had a half-cock hammer notch as a safety.

As does the Taurus, but Taurus has added a boltmounted manual safety lever to block the firing pin’plus a patented "Security System" that locks up the entire action and is activated or deactivated with a supplied key. Owners of the original Model 62 often experienced feeding problems with .22 Short rounds. The elevator had an L-shaped piece’call it an "extension""that was supposed to accommodate both Long Rifle and Short cartridges. It never worked reliably. The L-shaped piece is not present in the Taurus rifle.

Also gone is a barrel that’s stamped ".22 Long Rifle, .22 Long, .22 Short." The new Model 62 fires .22 Long Rifle exclusively, and does it without a hitch. The gun is currently available in .22 WMR as w t that a Whate arrel is its sole diet, and trying to feed them anything else will end up costing more than the pittance saved on ammunition.

I’ve always been shy about touch- Its forend with 13 grooves is one of the obvious visual differences from the original Winchester Model 62. ing off .22 Shorts extensively in a Long Rifle chamber, and adamant about avoiding the use of them in .22 Magnum chambers. The short, being what it is, can fire-erode the longer chambers. When the damage has been done, the brass of the longer case will expand to fill the void. At the least, extraction will be more difficult. At worst, the longer case will blow out.

And that’s nothing compared to the more serious consequences of trying to stuff a .22 down a .17-caliber bore. But hey, no one would try that stunt. Would they? To Clean an Empty Rifle Turn the lever to the "S" position. Open the bolt fully. The chamber and bore is cleaned breech to muzzle with a standard, caliber-specific rod, patches, and a quality powder solvent.

The breech to muzzle aspect can be accomplished much easier with a flexible cleaning system such as the one offered by Otis Technology, Inc. (800/ OTIS GUN). After the clean up, wipe down all exposed metal with gun oil.

Measuring only .050 inches, the pin must be removed prior to complete disassembly of the rifle. To Take Down for Transport Start with the rifle empty and the lever on "S." Place the hammer at half cock. Unscrew the knurled knob on the left rear of the receiver until it turns freely. Hold onto the barrel and pull the buttstock to the rear. The frame housing the trigger, hammer, and carrier assemblies remains attached to the stock.

If the rifle is going from place to place during very cold weather, condensation will form soon after it arrives in a warm enclosure. All such moisture should be removed, then the internal and external metal should be wiped down with a lightly oiled cloth before the rifle is reassembled. To be positive no spots are missed in the drying and lubricating, the gun should be totally taken down. Here’s the way to do it.

Detailed Disassembly The safety is still on "S." Near the threaded end of the assembly screw (#21) is its stop pin (#22). The pin, a mere .050 inches in diameter, is pushed out easily in either direction before the screw can be removed completely. You could separate the receiver from the stock at this time.

I suggest you don’t, and instead suggest you open the bolt completely by moving the forend (#57) to the rear. (The explanation will come in the next couple of paragraphs.) On the left side of the receiver, there’s a small sideplate (#19) held on by its screw (#20). Back out the screw and slide the sideplate out toward the muzzle. Locate the rear magazinering pin (#5) and drift it out left to right. Explanation follows immediately as promised. Note: There is a groove for pin #5 in the magazine tube.

Be sure it is positioned properly when reinstalling the pin. At this point, you could pull out the magazine assembly and remove the forend. As I discovered, this is not the time. The forend arm (#62) wears a lug (#63) on its end. The lug engages an angled lug on the left side of the bolt (see photo). Unless you "sneak" the forend toward the muzzle just enough to lift its lug out of engagement with the bolt lug, you won’t be able to remove the bolt.

Having accomplished exactly what I just mentioned, the magazine assembly and forend can now be removed to the front and the bolt lifted from the receiver. To disassemble the bolt, an extractor pin (#29), located atop the bolt and ahead of the safety lever, is drifted downward and the extractor taken out to the right. The firing-pin stop (#28) comes out to the left by drifting the #29 pin next to the safety lever and pin #33 to the rear of the bolt downward.

The firing pin (#35) and spring (#34) are taken out to the rear of the bolt. The firing pin bushing (#25) and its retaining pin (#26) remain in the bolt. On reassembly, the firing pin assembly must be pushed forward prior to reinstalling the firing-pin stop. This ensures that To allow removal of the bolt from the receiver, the stud must be disengaged as described in the text.

Taurus Model 62 Pump-Action Rifle (Specifications subject to change without notice) 1 Barrel 2 Front Sight 3 Front Magazine Ring 4 Rear Magazine Ring 5 Rear Magazine Ring Pin 6 Rear Sight Assembly 7 Rear Sight Support 8 Rear Sight Blade 9 Rear Sight Rivet 10 Rear Sight Elevator 11 Magazine Tube Liner 12 Magazine Tube the tab on the firing pin will engage the stop and aid in aligning the stoppin/bolt holes. Position the bolt with the safety lever on top facing you. The "F" should be exposed.

Under and slightly ahead of the lever tab, on the bolt’s right side, is the safety pin (#18). Drift it left to right, then turn and lift out the safety lever (#30).

Be careful not to lose the 13 Magazine Plug Pin 14 Magazine Spring 15 Magazine Follower 16 Magazine Plug 17 Receiver 18 Safety Pin 19 Side Plate 20 Sided Plate Screw 21 Assembly Screw 22 Assembly Screw Stop Pin 23 Breech Bolt Assembly 24 Breech Bolt 25 Firing Pin Bushing 26 Firing Pin Bushing Pin 27 Extractor 28 Firing Pin Stop safety spring (#31) and detent ball (#32). Nothing else remains to be taken out of the receiver. This leaves the frame. There may be one or two guard screws holding it to the stock.

The rifle I worked with had two because an optional tang sight was provided. With the screw or screws gone, pull the frame from the wood.

Use a 1/4- 29 Extractor Pin 30 Safety 31 Safety Spring 32 Safety Spring Ball 33 Hammer Spring Support Pin 34 Firing Pin Spring 35 Firing Pin 36 Carrier 37 Carrier Lever 38 Carrier Lever Pin 39 Carrier Lever Spring 40 Carrier Lever Spring Screw 41 Hammer Assembly 42 Key Lock 43 Key Lock Spring 44 Key Lock Ball 45 Frame 46 Assembly Screw Bushing 47 Trigger 48 Trigger Spring 49 Trigger Pin 50 Stock Guard Screw 51 Hammer Spring Guide 52 Hammer Spring 53 Hammer Spring Support 54 Stock 55 Buttplate 56 Buttplate Screw 57 Forend 58 Forend Screw 59 Pressure Washer 60 Forend Bushing 61 Action Slide 62 Action Lever 63 Action Lever Pin 64 Action Lever Tube inch-diameter drift to push the assembly-screw bushing (#46) out from right to left.

Don’t try to move the bushing to the right. It has a 360degree rim around its left side and cannot be driven through the frame without serious damage to both. Hold up on the drifting for a few seconds. Before the bushing has been removed, capture the hammer-spring

(#52) assembly first. Straighten out a paper clip, move the hammer to half cock, insert one end of the clip into the hole you just caused to appear in the end of the hammer-spring guide (#51), and release the hammer. Now push the bushing through and pull out the carrier followed by the hammer assembly (#41), which includes the key lock (#42), spring (#43), and ball (#44). There they will remain untouched.

On the other hand, the carrier assembly can be further stripped down for purposes of damaged-part replacement by removing the lever-spring screw (#40), the spring (#39), and the carrier Just under and ahead of the tab to the right of the letter "F" is the safety-retaining pin. lever, by drifting its pins (#38) left to right. The trigger pin (#49) is drifted in the same direction to free the trigger (#47) and trigger spring (#48). The latter is endowed with an urge to escape.

Guard it well, then pick up what remains of the frame assembly. The hammer-spring guide (#51) is held in by a pin (#33). Why it is the same number as the bolt pin (#33) we can’t say. Perhaps someone lost track and didn’t want to start from the beginning the day the schematic was drawn up. Whatever. Frame pin #33 it is. Drift it out left to right. Quite quickly, the hammer spring (#52) and support (#53) will be readily available, and then you can retrieve the paper clip.

Reassembly Tips The Taurus Model 62 doesn’t go back together as easily as it comes apart. Preassemble the hammer spring to the hammer-spring guide. Install the trigger pin and trigger. Position the carrier assembly in the frame, insert the hammer between the rear lugs of the carrier, align all bushing holes, insert a 1/4-inch-diameter slave pin (the smooth end of a 1/4-inch drill will work) in from the right side of the frame and take two aspirin. You’re about to experience a headache.

The hammer-spring support is the guts of the frame assembly. Position it and push its pin through. You have to insert the spring guide through the support, compress the spring, and swing the opposite end of guide into its groove in the rear of the hammer. To do this you must compress the spring. I did it with the aid of a flat piece of scrap metal 5 inches long. In one end, I machined a U-shaped recess wide enough to fit over the guide and narrow enough to prevent the spring from passing through.

Using the extra leverage thus provided, I was able to put enough pressure on the spring while maneuvering the guide to its seat. This was not easy and was not accomplished on the first or second try, but it can be and did get done. If you don’t have machining capability, you could probably file a notch in the end of a husky screwdriver blade and do every bit as well as I did. Maybe better. It would depend on the overall length of the screwdriver.

If I had it to do again, my homemade tool will be remade as a 7-incher or longer. That spring is no pushover. Once the guide is in place, the hammer and carrier will be held in. You can then push out the slave pin with the bushing and continue the reassembly in reverse order. I