MEXSAR Semi-Auto Rifle

There are two large and several smaller reasons why the MEX- SAR Semi-Auto Rifle is not longer called a PUMA. Looming large are Legacy Sports and their established Puma Firearms offerings. These include a PUMA lever action that is a clone of the Winchester Model 92, a duplicate of the Winchester Model 1886, a "mare’s leg" version of the 1892, the Model 1897 Winchester shotgun, a .22 caliber rimfire rendition of the legendary Model 1873 and, lest I omit in gross error, the Buntline revolver.

All of the above evidently escaped notice of the gun-moniker brain trust at Century International Arms in their hunt for a sexy name after shopping around for an economical, well-built, tube-fed, caliber .22 semiauto youth rifle. It also escaped several others at CIA. Owners manuals got printed and an ad campaign announcing it to trade and public came close to seeing the light of day. Oh, Sturm und Drang. What to do? Trademark infringement litigations can drag endlessly on, costing hundreds of thousands.

The solution was obvious: Don’t call the rifle a PUMA. The brain trust went back to work. I think I can simulate how they expressed their collective line of thoughts: "We’ll dream up an anagram!" "Lessee, the gun is manufactured by Mendoza. Start with ‘M’ and call it a ‘Mendoza’." "No, sounds too much like a dance." "OK, Mendoza is based in Mexico so add ‘EX’ to the ‘M’ for ‘MEX’." "How about ‘NUMEX’." "Nope, too close to ‘NOMEX.’" "OK, add ‘SAR’." " What’s that stand for?" "Semi Automatic Rifle. MEXSAR.

Get it?" "Let’s go with that!" And so they did. Introducing The MEXSAR I looked the rifle over closely despite having few doubts about quality. More than one US automaker has established manufacturing facilities in Mexico to reduce costs, expand their market and improve the quality of iron rolling out of Detroit. This little youth machine should provide long and favorable service with even decent care and maintenance. As for its accuracy, I’m not working that subjective side of the gun business.

It is up to the owner of any .22 LR to determine which ammo enables the gun to produce the best result. All rimfire guns are equal in that respect. All rimfire ammunition is not. For example, rim thick- 22 LR started life as a lightweight youth model named after a big cat but had to have its claws clipped before word of it got around. ness can and does vary from brand to brand. As far as yours truly is concerned, how to determine the best ammo for any rim fire has never varied.

Several brands must be purchased, collectively taken to a range and five rounds of each fired at a series of identical targets under identical conditions. A clean patch is run through breech to muzzle and a fouling round of the next brand on the list is fired before moving on. Tedious? It can be but it is the best method of establishing the dietary preference of an out-of-the-box rimfire gun. Over an undetermined and varying time period primarily based on proper maintenance, the taste of a given firearm can change.

You’ll get a pretty fair hint a change is needed when performance begins to drop off to a lower level and remain there. A repetition of the initial testing is highly likely to reveal a switch in brands to be the cure. By that time, however, I figure the current shortage of small bore ammunition of every description will have become a thing of the past. Ammo manufacturers are now turning out rimfire food as

fast as they can. The trouble is most of it is on its way out the door as soon as it comes off the line, with current back orders being the reason. Basic Specifications The magazine capacity of a MEX- SAR is 16 rounds of .22 LR and 17 of .22 Long. The OAL of the rifle is 40.2", barrel length is 21.25" with six grooves. Weight is 6.2 lbs, safety is manual, stock is of imported wood, finish is blue.

The safety lever resembles a rotary burner switch on a gas or electric kitchen stove and is located at the extreme rear of the receiver. Turning it fully to the right covers ared dot to indicate the rifle is on safe. A subsequent and equal turn to the left uncovers the dot. If around is chambered the rifle is ready to fire. After cycling the bolt and checking the chamber, I’ve always done one more thing before field stripping a tube-fed rifle.

It only takes about 30 seconds but it leaves me with a nice, warm feeling that there’s no way alive round can find a pathway into the breech and any chance of an accidental discharge is totally eliminated. I open the lower mag tube, withdraw the follower rod, tip the muzzle sharply downward and, using a slight shaking action, dump any live rounds within into a plastic container. The short fall doesn’t damage the ammo. It can all be used to rearm the gun when I’m through working with it.

Field Stripping Plus Major advice: Read the following paragraphs in their entirety before any further disassembly of this rifle. You’ll discover why before very long. In the past, owner’s manuals, particularly those translated by an offshore maker of firearms trying to penetrate the American market, have led me astray. Once was all it took. Ever since, I have always consulted with OEM or importer technicians in preparing disassembly/reassembly articles. I had no intention of doing otherwise with the MEXSAR.

Remove the stock retaining screw (69) and its washer from the forearm with a flat blade screwdriver. Separate the barreled action from the stock. You can’t remove the bolt without removing the bolt handle (60). Unscrew and withdraw it from the bolt. There’s more. Depress the striker release lever (30). This part is misidentified on the owner manual parts list. Note herewith that it is the striker release safety. Tilt the action up sharply and be ready to capture your striker release and bolt prizes.

Shift your attention to the bolt and all other pins mentioned from here on. If they are spit, use a roll pin punch. If they aren’t, a straight punch of the proper diameter is all you’ll need. Part 20 is the striker guide retainer. Drift it out from the top. Remove the striker (59). This is followed by the firing pin (34) and its spring (9). The spring is likely to accompany the firing pin when it is removed. The extractor retaining pin is #12. To free the extractor (36), remove its pin. Alert!

Beware loss of the extractor spring (10). It is small with a kingsized ambition to wander. There is more bolt work to be done. Check out the positions of the inner and outer recoil springs (13 & 14). One is speared on the striker guide and inserted at the rear of the bolt body (65). The other lives within the front end of the body and is retained by pin #38. Both springs exert pressure on the receiver end cap (53). You have to control this pressure in the process of removing the cap. An Image Reversed?

Look closer at the middle schematic. Does it not clearly indicate the safety assembly (parts 53,04,57,56, 55 and 70) is attached to the front of the bolt? Not so fast, Mr. Mendoza. This disassembly began at the back of the receiver, whereat said safety assembly is located, not at the front of the bolt where it isn’t. See what I meant about things getting lost, misplaced or readily misunderstood in translated owners manuals? Don’t

All components related to these sights are included in the parts list. Both feature high visibility elements dash out to purchase a Rosetta Stone course to resolve the problem. Being aware it exists goes along way in avoiding possible pitfalls but some of the material in this manual is definitely misleading. The MEXSAR is by no means the sole import to suffer this inadequacy. It isn’t the first and it won’t be the last. I will offer further information here on the safety assembly.

Personally, I avoid dismantling safety systems for any reason other than damaged part replacement. With the exception of insisting the red dot must be positioned on the right side of the end cap in reassembly in order for the safety to work, the MEXSAR system should not be the first one you disassemble. As this is written I cannot assure any parts would be available to repair it.

The same is true of the firing mechanism (trigger, hammer, sear, springs etc.) In the latter case, however, prohibiting parts for trigger systems is by no means exclusive to MEXSAR. These days, most other rifle manufacturers, foreign and domestic, sell trigger or trigger related components. They’ll sell you an entire, factory new trigger assembly ready to install on their rifle. But parts? No way.

Schematic Notes Not the usually-seen schematic, the center one makes it quite clear the receiver of the MEXSAR is anything but simplicity personified. It is also quite thin, thereby making it more difficult to discover relationships between the components it houses. Conclusion As shown by the accompanying photos on the opposite page, the MEX- SAR receiver houses a large number of pins. As you can see by the schematic, these pins are involved with many springs and the parts upon which those springs act.

As you cannot determine distinctly or quickly from the schematic, several of these pins are clones. For example, the striker release lever is retained by pin #61. An exact duplicate of that pin serves as the trigger pin interacting simultaneously with the trigger (29) and trigger spring (6). These kinds of relationships are present throughout the receiver. Each relationship must be studied under magnification prior to drifting any pin. Does the long leg of the related spring go under or over the pin?

How does the pin fit the part it retains? An ample supply of properly sized and identified slave pins can help making pin removal easier and, if you’re very careful, successful. Only proceed after a close examination of how an objective pin is situated in the receiver has been exhausted. This examination must include establishing how any spring involved fits over, or under, its objective, and whether said spring is, or is not, connected to a nearby component. Enter the slaves once more.

This time to gently press inward on the objective, teasing it and its related parts upward enough to allow a quick study of how each fits the other. When the fit has been committed to memory or duplicated with a casually rendered, yet accurate, drawing the slaves are used to push out the objective until a correctly sized drift punch can take over to complete the extraction.

An active gunsmith with 45 years of experience restated precisely, but far more succinctly, what I have just expanded upon regarding work on a MEXSAR receiver: "Never touch any pin in this receiver until you have made a magnified study of how it relates to each and every spring with which it is involved." That 45year vet is SO right. AG

Century International Arms MEXSAR (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 6 Trigger Spring 7 Striker Release Lever 8 Receiver Roll Pin (5) 9 Firing Pin Spring 10 Extractor Spring 1 Barrel Retaining Pin (2) 2 Barrel Band Retaining pin 3 Magazine Spring 4 End Cap Plunger Spring 5 Shell Lifter Spring 20 Striker Guide Retaining Pin 21 Trigger Guard Screw (2) 26 Barrel Band 27 Magazine Tube 28 Receiver 29 Trigger 30 Striker Release Safety 31 Trigger Guard 32 Cartridge Guide 33 Shell Lifter 34 Firing Pin 35 Bolt Guide Rail 36 Extractor 38 Recoil Spring Retainer 39 Guide Rail Pin 45 Barrel 46 Barrel Liner 47 Barrel Extension 48 Magazine Tube 49 Magazine Tube Cap 50 Magazine Follower 51 Stock Retaining Lug 52 Stock Retaining Lug Pin (2) 53 Receiver End Cap 54 Receiver End Cap Pin 55 Safety Shaft 56 Safety Lever 57 Receiver End Cap Plunger 59 Striker Guide 60 Cocking Handle 61 Hammer/Striker Release Lever Pin (2) 62 Stock 63 Shell Guide 64 Shell Lifter Pin 65 Bolt Body 66 Striker 69 Stock Retaining Screw 70 Safety Retaining Screw RM304 Front Sight Base Screws (2) RM324A Front Sight Base RM424 Front Sight Fiber Optic CU305 Rear Sight Base Screw (2) CU320 Rear Sight Base Washer RM214 Rear Sight RM227 Rear Sight Elevator CU220 Rear Sight Base RM425 Rear Sight Fiber Optic CU 325 Stock Retainer Washer CU105 Spacer CU310 Butt Plate CU331 Butt Plate Screw (2) 11 Bolt Guide Rail Pin 12 Extractor Retaining Pin 13 Inner Recoil Spring 14 Outer Recoil Spring 17 Magazine Cap Pin