Reader Forum

Intermittent Remington I got in a Remington Model 700 .30-06 last week that would not fire, according to the customer. He said it happens all the time. The firing pin drops, but not hard enough to fire, though it leaves an indent in the primer. Part of the problem I found (I think) was that the barrel, stock, and magazine floorplate did not mate properly. The customer did not own up to anything like dropping it or stepping on it or warping the stock somehow.

The screws were very tight, appearing to cause binding of the bolt. This sounds weird, I know. I did some working to make them mate better, and then went to the range. When I fired it, it fired 13 times out of 16—an intermittent problem. The three that did not fire left an indent in the primer without going "bang." I took the bolt apart and everything looked fine there. I didn’t want to touch the trigger mechanism because I know Remington seals it. Any ideas on this problem?

I can only think that the trigger mechanism is somehow screwing up intermit tently. Thanks for any ideas you can give me. Joe The four possibilities you can readily do something about area short firing pin, a binding firing pin, a damaged firing-pin assembly, or faulty ammo. If the problem is caused by something in the firing mechanism (trigger assembly) the work will have to de done at the factory or by a factory-authorized service center. That is, unless your customer wants to spring for an aftermarket trigger.

Several appropriate ones are offered by Brownells. Jimmy Cracked Cone I have one that is beyond me at the moment and hope you can help. First, remember this is a $150 gun, but one I like. The revolver is an Astra .357, 4-inch barrel, the type with the wheel in the grip frame for changing spring tension and setting trigger pull. It’s not my first choice for personal defense, but an interesting recreational gun. I fired six 125-grain Federal .357; buck and roar as normal.

Then I fired six 110-grain JHPs, which are noticeably lighter in recoil, and had difficulty opening the cylinder. I discovered that the forcing cone is cracked! Actually, apiece is missing; about a half crescent is gone from the left side. The frame and cylinder are okay. Obviously, I need a barrel, but cannot find one anywhere. What can I do? A local retired ‘smith advised me to remove the barrel, shorten it, and rethread the forcing cone. But I don’t quite get it.

I would also have to cut the ejector-rod shroud, and that seems like a lot of machine work that I’m not set up to do. I checked with quite a few places, but most say: "Yeah, we had Astra barrels a few years ago, and sold them all for twenty bucks." Any advice is helpful. At this point, I suppose I could sell the gun for parts, but it is a really neat revolver. If it was a customer’s gun, I’d probably tell him to throw it in the lake and be thankful if it doesn’t hurt him when he lets go! R. K.

If you can’t turn up what you need at a gun show or by scouring Brownells Parts Source List for out-of-production firearms, you might have to contact some barrel makers. Before you do that (or throw it in a lake), check out Brownells’ kit for facing and chamfering forcing cones. It might be possible to weld up the crack in your forcing cone and reform it with the kit. Get a Grip I hope you can help me find a set of grips to fit a CDM .22 LR derringer. The grips that came on the pistol are ivory colored.

I also need a hammer spring. Under the handle is labeled "Firearms International Corp" Washington, DC. Thank you. Charles Firearms International was an importer and assembler of guns. It became briefly associated with Israel Arms, Ltd. Presently, a company bearing the name has headquarters in Houston, Texas. They don’t make derringers, preferring to concentrate on exact duplicates of Hi-Standard .22 autos as they were once made in Hamden, Connecticut.

Perhaps Cobra Enterprises a current manufacturer of derringers, could guide you to a spring and/or the grips. Hammer-Spring How-To I have one quick question. What’s the trick to depressing the hammer spring (and keeping it depressed) on a Stevens 311 when installing anew hammer? I’m ready to make a pencil holder out of it. I enjoy the hell out of your magazine. Thanks. Danny First, fabricate a "spanner" from aluminum bar stock. Its form is basically a two-prong fork,12 inches long.

Each prong should be configured to capture a mainspring plunger and used to compress them simultaneously while the hammer(s) are being installed. The receiver should be secured between padded vise jaws that will serve, more or less, as a third hand. If the spanner sounds too difficult, a single rod of aluminum with its end configured to capture a plunger will also serve. Use of the rod requires installation of one hammer at a time. Old Remington/New Wood?

I am trying to locate a complete buttstock and forearm set for an old Remington Model 14-Ain .30 Remington for a customer. I’ve checked Gun Parts Inc. with no luck. Any idea who might have a set or any stock company that would have an unfinished blank set I could fit to the 14-A? Thank you kindly for your assistance. Steve Patterson Okanogan, Washington

The American Single Shot Rifle Association might be able to direct you to one of their members who has an original set. Boyds Gunstock Industries or Wenig Custom Gunstocks may have blanks that would be suitable, and either company could produce a semi-finished or unfinished set. In the latter case, it would be more economical if you had pattern to guide them so they wouldn’t have to start from scratch. Astra Cylinder Stop Can you give me any help in locating a cylinder stop for the Astra .357.

This gun is a Smith & Wesson copy, but I’m not sure which one—possibly a Model 10 or 13. I’m not sure if any parts are interchangeable. The original part is missing, so I have nothing to compare it to. Thanks. James M. Your Astra is probably a heavier frame than the Model 10 due to the caliber. Jack First lists the cylinder stop for the Astra .357 in the company’s newest catalog.

AR-15 Feedback Some comments on the question titled "AR-15 Bolt Carrier" in the November 04 issue: I checked the pictures referred to by Joe Grisafi in his question about Colt bolt carriers. If you examine the two bolt carriers illustrated on the Brownells web site, you’ll note that the carrier Joe refers to as "full moon" is in fact the bolt carrier for the blowback 9x19mm Colt Carbine and Submachinegun, not a .223 rifle or carbine. The bolt-carrier key is reduced to a simple guide lug.

There is no separate bolt, as the 9mm carrier is also the bolt; the extractor is pinned right into the bolt/carrier.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, Joe has, in fact, discovered that over the years Colt modified the AR-15 semi-auto bolt carrier from modestly extending the sear trip area in the original first-production SP1s, to longer and longer sear-trip extensions, to the full cutout Joe calls the "half moon." The details of this evolution over the years can be found in Black Rifle II by Chris Bartocci, published by Collector Grade Publications.

Essentially, Colt progressively lengthened the sear-trip area until they removed it entirely at the behest of the BATFE. The "half-moon" carrier Joe finds in the 20-inch upper he reports in his letter is the current Colt bolt carrier, which is why it is shown in Brownells’ schematic. The reasons for the changes to the bolt carrier have nothing to do with basic function. They were responses to the BATFE’s increasing scrutiny of the AR-15’s potential for conversion to select fire using [aftermarket] parts.

In principle, an AR-15 rifle or carbine should function properly with any of the semi-auto carriers Colt produced. The bolt carrier shown in the schematic is used by Colt for both 20-inch rifles and 16-inch carbines. Joe does not state whether he swapped the bolt carrier only or the complete bolt-carrier group (which never should be done, except perhaps for the briefest possible test) between the uppers in order to check function. I suspect he swapped the complete assemblies.

In either case, it’s unlikely that the gas tube or any part of the gas system in front of the bolt-carrier gas key is at fault. Something is grossly out of whack if the bolt carrier comes back only half way. The bolt gas rings could be the culprit, but not only because of gap alignment.

When disassembling the bolt carrier assembly, if the bolt falls out of the bolt carrier rather than requiring at least a little force to pull it out, the rings may be worn out, allowing the gas to escape before the gas can do its work. Make sure that the carrier key is dragging on the gas tube as the carrier reciprocates. One cause often overlooked is 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 other times, you can send an email to Chick Blood, Technical Editor, the carrier key itself. It’s not unusual for the carrier-key screws to loosen, allowing enough gas loss to prevent function. I’ve run across a carrier-key screw that was broken, so even though the head was properly staked, the head wasn’t connected to the shaft of the screw! The rifle wouldn’t function, just as Joe described. In my opinion, the configuration of the bolt carrier is immaterial to this case.

If the upper works with the alternative bolt-carrier group, the problem can be isolated to the bolt-carrier group. If the upper works with its original bolt in the alternative bolt carrier, we’ve isolated the problem to the bolt carrier. Check the carrier gas key very carefully, and make sure that the carrier isn’t binding in the upper. An AR-15 in 16- or 20-inch works fine with in-spec new parts. Remember, this is the 40th anniversary of the original Colt semi-auto AR-15 SP1.

If an AR-15 malfunctions, the cause is never arcane. Simply isolate the problem and repair or replace the faulty component. Working on these rifles is more like old-fashioned auto repair than gunsmithing, but without the hand-fitting. Just use good parts from a reputable supplier! Walt Kuleck Fulton Armory Thanks, Walt. We’re looking forward to seeing your troubleshooting article on the AR-15. We know you’re busy, so we and our readers will try to be patient. Stuck Live Round? Yikes!

Here’s a good one for you: I have a client that brought in a Remington 700 Sendero in 7mm Magnum with alive round jammed into the chamber. He was given some reloads by his cousin (ain’t family wonderful?) and he really tried his best to cham

(continued from previous page) ber the first round, with no success. The bolt is almost but not quite far enough forward to rotate it down into the locked position, and he tried to unstick the bolt and extract the round by using a hammer on the bolt handle. His hammering was vigorous enough to have left dents on the knob, but failed to budge it. My feeling is that the cousin probably only neck-sized some fired brass from his own rifle, and my client has the "wedgee from hell" as a result.

I immersed the receiver in a jug of WD-40, and plan to keep it there for at least two weeks to dud the primer out, and I think I’m going to pass on the hammer-on-the-handle option when I start to do the extraction.

My thought is to use an arbor press to put pressure to bear on the bolt handle. (I’m hoping that this will apply enough force but gently enough not to damage the bolt or rip out the extractor.) This seems like a better idea than putting a rod down the bore and trying to tap the round out of the chamber that has the mass of a bolt clamped behind it; I just don’t trust the situation enough to want to get my body parts in line with a potential discharge.

Does this sound like I’m on the right track, and do you have any helpful hints? Since this is going to put a dent in the elk hunt (this fellow lucked out on the draw for next week), I doubt he’ll try shooting someone else’s reloads again. But, of course, the world is full of folks with friends who own reloaders. Anyhow, I appreciate any input and wisdom you can pass on. Bill Rather than giving you a short answer here, we’d prefer that you read an article we ran on removing stuck live rounds in the March 98 issue.

If AGA Customer Service can’t provide you with a reprint of the article, let us know and we’ll mail you a copy. And, given the friends-with-reloading-equipment problem, we’ll consider revisiting the subject of live-round removal in a future issue. Mismarked Savage? I recently had a Savage Model 219B, marked. 22 Hornet, in my shop with what the customer described as a broken firing pin. Upon inspection, I discovered that the firing pin was missing and the firing-pin stop was bent back into the action.

This should have sent up ared flag right away, but I was eager to see if I could duplicate the problem. I ordered a rifle firing pin and firing pin screw from GPC. After installing the new parts, I test fired the gun. The firing pin broke and was sent back into the action with enough force to break the firing-pin screw and cock the hammer. The primer was penetrated.

I won’t go into too much detail here regarding all the experimenting I did attempting to come up with the right firing-pin length and hardness, but I made enough metal shavings for my wife to knit a heating stove had she had been of mind to. Having failed to come up with anything that would fire the gun without the results mentioned above, I decided to slug the chamber. My slug didn’t even look like a .22 Hornet, and it didn’t match the specs for a. 222.

I hate to bring this up, but could the gun have been marked wrong? I dimly recall a bulletin appearing in an NRA publication regarding Savage having marked some chambers wrong. Could the gun have been chambered for the Savage .223? The customer took the gun to another gunsmith and was told that the gun was worn out. No, I didn’t charge the customer for all my work. I had fun doing it. Thanks for any input you may have. Johnnie E. Boggs Gassaway, West Virginia Anything is possible.

The probability of mismarking is a question that would be best answered by Savage or the Savage historian. Call Savage and ask for help or for the phone number of the historian. Measuring Headspace Is there a simple example of Remington 700 headspacing? I am confused with how some gunsmiths get their dimensions. Thanks for the help. Love the magazine. Jim Some gunsmiths use shims they fabricate after measurement experimentation.

The "no-wasted-effort" practitioners among us use "go" and "no-go" gauges of the proper caliber. The answer on proper headspace comes quickly and easily. If the bolt closes on ago gauge, you have no problem. If it closes on a no-go gauge, a headspace problem exists. These gauges are available from Brownells, and should be part of your tooling inventory.