Reader Forum

Lightening M-N Trigger I have a Mosin-Nagant Model 91-30, 1943 rifle. It has a 9-1/2-pound trigger pull. It has a very strong firing pin spring and a strong trigger spring. I would like to lighten the trigger pull to around 5 pounds. I tried to find an aftermarket trigger but no luck. Any suggestions on how I can safely reduce the trigger pull? The sear, itself a spring, partially serves to return the trigger after the trigger has depressed the sear to move its nose out of engagement with the cocking lug.

The trigger/bolt-stop spring also performs double duty on the gun. All springs mentioned are the flat variety, and would have to be thinned to lessen their tension. Instead, we suggest you approach the job from another angle. Polish the striker, striker tunnel in the bolt, sear nose, and cocking lug, and slightly reduce the sear-nose engagement surface with the lug. CZ Tech Info I would like to obtain blueprints and/ or a technical manual for a CZ-24.

If you don’t have the blueprints or technical manuals available, could you direct me to where I could obtain them? We don’t and have never had blueprints for any firearm. They would only be available from the manufacturer. Nor do we have a technical manual, by which we suppose you mean afield/factory service manual. Contact CZ-USA, at They probably won’t part with the blueprints, but they’ll lead you to an owners manual at least. Boring Classic Revolver?

I have a customer that has brought in a Colt 1st Gen WCF with a bad barrel, and he wants to convert it to .45 LC. He has a new Gun Parts .45 barrel, and wants to know if I can ream out the cylinder (very good condition). Would it be safe to do, and have you ever run an article on this? If your customer has what we think he has, it was manufactured in the midto late-1800s and is worth about $3,000even in 10-percent condition.

There’s enough material to bore out the .38 cylinder to .45, as long as blackpowder and nothing but blackpowder loads are used. We have not done an article on boring out classic revolver cylinders, however, and would not consider modifying an antique of this value. Checking Bore Diameter I have a couple of questions regarding a Winchester 73 in 44-40 caliber that I have in my possession. I got this rifle about a year ago and cleaned it all up, and it is a good functioning weapon.

I bought a box of PMC ammo for it, and shot about 15 rounds. I then reloaded some ammo of my own and shot about 20 rounds of that ammo with no apparent problems. I read an article last week and it stated that the Model 73 44-40 barrel was .427-.428 diameter. The reloads that I made were with a Hornady 180grain HP/XTP bullet that I got from my Hornady manual. I later noticed that they are .430-diameter bullets and were tested in a modern-day rifle or pistol.

The article suggested that one should have the barrel slugged to check the true barrel diameter. How does one check the barrel diameter of this rifle and does he check the muzzle end or the breech end or both? Does one have to disassemble the rifle to get the slug (Cerro Safe) out, regardless of where it is checked? It appears Technical Assistance Hotline To access AGA’s Technical-Assistance Hotline, call between 1 and 3 p.m. ET, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only.

For assistance at all that even with the rifle disassembled, there would be a problem getting the slug out of the breech end unless the barrel was removed. How big a slug should one make. Is there a simple way to make this check? Could these .430 diameter bullets create a problem by firing them in this rifle? The old, original .44 had a .444 bore diameter. The slug is not made of Cerro Safe. A soft lead slug in the appropriate caliber is pushed from breech through muzzle the bore diameter of the barrel.

This is accomplished with the Model 1873 by disassembling the rifle and inserting your pushing rod through the hammer slot at the rear of the receiver. The caliber .44 bullet of today measures .429 diameter (10.91mm). Assuming there is to be no need or intent to use loads sneaking over maximum, a .430 bullet diameter should present no serious pressure problems. Patent Numbers? Not too long ago you ran an article about writing to the U. S. Patent Office in order to get info on a gun.

I currently have a Savage Model 99, .250-3000, in shop that I would like to get more info about. The only problem is that it doesn’t have a patent number anywhere on it. Not even the classic "patent pending." I also have an H&R pistol which didn’t have a patent number anywhere on it. I know this was a firstissue production, but there were no schematics of it that I could find. It was way different from the published diagrams that I do have.

I guess my question is, how ordan email to Chick Blood, Technical Editor, at

(continued from previous page) where cana patent number be found? Could the guns have been built too early to have a patent number? (We’re talking early 1900s for both.) Is there somewhere I can look up the serial numbers by model that will tell me what the patent number is? Thanks. Virgil Meador Sterling, Virginia The .250-3000 was a featured M99 chambering in 1913, but our references on both Savage and H&R turn up no patent numbers.

We suggest you write to the NRA Museum (Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030) and request their assistance regarding the patent numbers. Otherwise, a costly search will have to be conducted by the patent office as was discussed in the article. Left-Handed Mini? I would like to modify my Mini-14 Ranch Rifle to cycle manually. I am left-handed, and the brass and action gases are bothersome flying across my face. I would also like to be able to reverse the modification.

I have not found any documentation on how to do this properly, and Ruger does not offer any, at least not by phone. I have tried to purchase an additional gas block, as I thought that would be a good place to start, but there are not any around. Numrich shows an indefinite back-order time. Your suggestions would be appreciated. What you wish for may be impossible without left-oriented parts. Ruger doesn’t produce a left-handed Mini- 14 or left-handed parts for a righthanded rifle.

Our sources tell us that no one else does, either. Since there seems to be no way to modify your rifle and reverse the modification at a later date, you seem to be left with these choices: Use the Mini you have as a bolt rifle, and load one round at a time; purchase a left-handed bolt rifle that is magazine fed; or call the Custom Gunmakers Guild and see if one of their members would be interested in taking on the project.

Without the right left-handed parts, it would be a "project." Info on 1895 Lee Rifle I have recently acquired an 1895 Lee Straight-Pull Navy Rifle, which is eventually destined to be displayed at the USMC Command Museum at MCRD San Diego. I’m dismayed to find that I don’t even know how to remove the bolt! I need help with instructions for field stripping, any maintenance peculiar to the piece, illustrations if at all possible’in short, all the info and history that may be out there.

I’d appreciate any help you can provide, since I hate to risk proceeding in ignorance. Thanks. Since the rifle was a military model, try calling the U. S. Army Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen, Maryland Russian 7.62mm Ammo I have a concern about the use of Russian-made 7.62 ammunition in American .30-caliber barrels. When I mentioned interest in acquiring a Ruger Mini 30, and expressed my intention to fire Russian 7.62×39 ammunition, a local gunsmith told me not to do so.

He said the bullets are not .308, but .311 diameter. I measured the bullets on two different brands (Wolf and Barnaul) and found this to be the case. Could this also be true of other .30 caliber loadings? I recall the incident in "The Case of the Bogus Bargain" in the December 2001 issue of American Gunsmith. I wonder if it was not only the steel case, but also overpressure due to the bullet diameter that caused the locked-up action. In my opinion, it could certainly bear a closer look.

It would definitely increase the pressure, but to what degree I can’t say. Gordon Heggenes Winlock, Washington Your gunsmith is a credit to the profession, and he’s not the first to warn of oversize bullets in Russian-made ammunition. We have no idea how the stuff gets into the States without meeting the same S. A. A. M. I. specifications all domestic manufacturers are required to meet.

Yes, the Russian-surplus is cheaper, but forcing oversize slugs down a bore too small can cause anything from a bulged barrel and swollen cases to a disintegrated receiver.