Reader Forum

Jammed Remington 742 Bolt I have a Remington 742 .30-06 rifle that came in with the bolt jammed to the rear of the receiver. After removing the trigger assembly, I could see that the locking lugs on the bolt head had turned and gouged grooves into the guide rails in the receiver and locked up in this position. I used a small punch and was able to turn the bolt head so that the locking lugs would disengage these grooves and return to battery. Is this normal? What caused this condition? Thanks.

The condition is normal when the rifle is nearing or has passed beyond its useful life. Similar damage can be found just behind the barrel extension. Awhile back, Remington offered a repair for the problem. (It was anew receiver.) We’ve heard rumors of a couple of riflesmiths who weld up and refinish the damage, but have no names to provide. Perhaps one of them could be located through the Custom Gunmakers Guild in their list of metalsmiths.

Securing Ruger Flash Hider What’s the proper way to keep the flash hider on a Ruger AC556 from unscrewing itself as a result of firing? Lok Tite? (I’m afraid of the heat.) Simple torque? (What value and what tool should I use to grip the flash hider?) Or do you have some other suggestion? R. K. Gad Arlington, Massachusetts We have another suggestion. There is a lock washer, available from Sturm-Ruger, that does the job most effectively.

Win 73 Sights I’m seeking a source for the front sight for an 1873 Winchester (manufactured in 1892). I’ve looked in the Brownells catalog, Numrich catalog, and VTI in Connecticut, with no success. I seem to recall another source of old gun parts being mentioned in American Gunsmith, but for the life of me I can’t recall with any certainty the name, or perhaps I’m just wandering off into a mental void. Any help you can offer would be greatly welcomed.

Melvin Speak with Frank Fosbrink at Pennsylvania Gun Parts We called him, and he says he has what you need. Detective Special Ejector Rod Could you tell me how I can find the thread pitch of a pre-1972 Colt Detective Special’s ejector rod? I would like to make an ejector rod head for one that has lost its head. Numrich only had the late-model one available and it appears to be possible to re-tap that one to fit. Many thanks in advance.

Scott If there are threads remaining on the rod, measure them with a thread-pitch gauge. Using those parameters, you can re-tap the replacement and be assured it will fit the rod. It may not fit the revolver perfectly though. and need some fine and careful reduction of its diameter. Redfield Sight Base I’m restoring a Winchester 75 .22 LR. It originally came with a Redfield 75 Olympic rear aperture sight. I picked up the Redfield sight on e Bay, but can’t find a base for it.

I’ve tried Numrich who once had them but don’t anymore. Any ideas on where I can get one or at least a drawing to make one? I am enclosing an exploded view of the Win. 75. Any help would be appreciated. Brian According to the schematic you sent, the base is on the rear sight. If we’re incorrect or the sight you purchased has no receiver base, Redfield should be able to provide you with the actual dimensions of their sight from which you can work.

Hi-Point M-09 Disassembly I’m trying to disassemble a Hi-Point M-09 in 9mm. Can you help? The only Hi-Point we’ve worked with so far is their carbine (in the September 03 issue). If you want to simulate a detail cleaning though, take off the grips, open the action, and submerge the piece in mineral spirits. Flush the fluid through the gun with a squeeze bulb every so often. After a day or so of this, dry the pistol with compressed air or a hair dryer and lightly lubricate.

New Business Advise I am putting together a business plan to start up a retail gun and gunsmithing shop in Muskingum County, Ohio, near Zanesville. I am in need of much information. If possible, I would like information or sources of information on items such as: start-up costs, demographics for gun owners in our area, places to receive grants or loans for a firearms business, legal and liability issues and/or government regulations, and anything else you can think of to throw at me. Thanks so much for your time.

Jeremy Congratulations. This is a first; we’ve never had a query such as this, but we’ll give a stab at answering at least a few of your questions—although the question of start-up costs alone could fill several pages. These greatly depend on your intended location. If you have to build a place of business from scratch, there’s land to buy and construction costs. Land and construction can be eliminated if you rent sufficient space. The space required will depend on the features of the facility.

Will it have an attached range? Will it have a separate working area for your gunsmithing services? These along with other start-up costs

will have to be determined based on your plans, and you are in far better position than we are to determine what those might be, since you’ll be the one dealing with local real estate and construction people. Most economical of the options open to you is to operate from your home property, but whether you can or not depends on local zoning ordinances and your neighbors. Wherever your firearms/gunsmithing business is located, you’ll be required by Federal and other authorities to have a security system.

In our opinion, the best of these systems is hard wired and central-station monitored, so if an intrusion or fire occurs in your absence local fire and law enforcement departments can be dispatched promptly to the scene. You must have an FFL (federal firearms license) and will undoubtedly need a state license to retail firearms.

The former must be applied for from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives This federal agency publishes and will provide a preponderance of information regarding the regulations/ requirements placed upon you as a dealer, including safety and security data. They also publish a thick volume (ATF5300.5) of state laws and local ordinances regarding firearms, but these are not always up to date. Back to start-up costs.

Certain of these, like investment in inventory, can better be determined after you make a study of your marketing area. Is it heavily populated by hunters? Check with your state or county hunting-license issuing authorities. Are there many or few shooting clubs reasonably nearby? Check with the NRA. Most established clubs are affiliated with it. Anticipating a question: No, there is no license issued solely for gunsmithing.

A gunsmith receives a firearm and technically takes legal possession of it in order to perform work on the gun. He may or may not offer it for sale. Still, it must be logged in and out of his permanent record books just as it must if he were a dealer. In other words, by law, a gunsmith has to have a dealer license. A gunsmith must also have tooling, much of it specialized, enabling work to be accomplished on firearms.

Obviously, if serious machine tools are to be purchased, they have to be figured in the start-up cost category. Their cost, along with other tooling purchased expressly for your business, can be written off over a period of time for tax purposes. So, for that matter, would be the cost of installing a security system, or a firing range, and maintaining it according to environmental regulations. Insurance is fundamental and, unfortunately, expensive when firearms are involved.

Don’t enter the firearms business without it. The AGA can help you out with this. As for liability, there seems to be no way of totally escaping it these days. Have a consultation with a local attorney familiar with gun laws. He or she may charge you a few hundred dollars for the chat, but might save you thousands or hundreds of thousands down the pike. Stevens Basketcase A gunowner has attempted a repair of his Stevens 87A, .22-caliber semi-auto rifle.

In the process, he broke the cartridge-guide spring, and removed the lifter and lifter spring (as well as the lifter pin and washers).

I found a replacement cartridge-guide spring, but I now have the following problem: I don’t know exactly how the cartridge-guide spring installs, nor do I know the correct positioning of the lifter. (There are holes in both ends of the lifter.) It appears obvious how the lifter-spring installs, however, the washers have "shoulders" on one side and I’m not sure the function of these, or whether they are installed toward the lifter or 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, at outward toward the housing. The parts schematic I have shows the individual parts, but I don’t have a reference on the installation of each part. I’m suspicious that the gun would not recycle due to a worn-out extractor, but can’t really prove that until I can get it properly reassembled. I think this is what prompted the owner to attempt a repair.

Any help you can give will be appreciated. Tom The front hole of the lifter has two spurs. They are installed facing downward and rest on the bolt. The washers you mention are bushings or spacers, and their shoulders fit inside their holes. As for the guide spring, it would be easier for you to see the full explanation of its installation for yourself rather than have us repeat it here. Go to this website: Scroll down until you find .22 rifles. There, the whole procedure is explained.

The site is maintained by the Small Arms Shop in Florida, which is also the place Savage Arms always refers anyone seeking parts for out-of-production Savage firearms. The shop is run by Steve Simon, whom we frequently call on for assistance in responding to readers’ questions on old Savage rifles. Sweet Sixteen Barrel Swap? Maybe you can help me. I have a customer looking for a 28- or 30-inch barrel for a Browning A-5 16 gauge Sweet Sixteen full-choke made in 1965.

From what I could find out, all A-5 barrels interchange. I think even the screw-in choke Invector barrels will interchange. I have looked in the normal places ( Numrich, Brownells, Jack First, and Bob’s Gun Parts) but

(continued from previous page) have come up empty. Can you help me with this? Thank you. G. W. Guns A 16-gauge Auto-5 barrel is interchangeable with any other 16-gauge Auto-5 barrel, regardless of when the gun was made. At least, so say the Browning engineers we contacted regarding your query. They added that a barrel setup to accept Invector choke tubes to begin with would still accept them.

As for locating another barrel for the Sweet Sixteen, call Brownells again and request a free copy of their Parts Source List for out-of-production firearms. Sig Trigger Job I recently purchased a Sig Mauser in .40 S&W caliber, and I’m interested in working the trigger pull. The take up is exceptionally long, and the pull is more than I’m accustomed to. Have you done any articles to date that might help, or plan to do any? W. M.

We don’t know the weight of pull to which you have become accustomed, but we believe you are referring to the M2. It is built by J. B. Sauer in Austria as a military/police weapon, imported by Sigarms, and unlike any other Sig pistol in its design. We covered disassembly/assembly in the September 02 issue. The gun is striker-fired, with a DAO trigger tied to a trigger bar that acts on the sear (catch) to release the firing pin (striker). Pull can be lessened by polishing the amount of sear contact with the striker.

This would involve the top of the sear and/or the sear tab on the striker, and smoothing up all contact surfaces between the trigger bar, frame, and slide. You should also polish the striker tunnel in the slide, the striker, and the sides of the trigger in lightening the pull. Shortening the take-up by shortening the trigger bar isn’t practical, since you can’t shorten the bar without modifications to the frame. You could try fitting up a trigger shoe to the trigger.

It wouldn’t shorten actual take-up, but might fake your trigger finger into thinking you had. 1911 Sight Problem I have just completed working on a 1911 parts gun for a guy. It’s an Essex Arms receiver with a who-knows-who upper. I did an entire job, including refinishing the slide. The gun functions flawlessly, but doesn’t shoot well at all. I installed high-profile Millet adjustable rear sights matched with the recommended The gun shoots six inches high at 25 yards and won’t shoot a group.

The original barrel that came with the gun was a poor-quality 7-inch number that extended past the lug. The lug says "National Match," but who knows. I recut and crowned the muzzle and the slide is nice and tight. It has a full-length guide rod and a buffer. I then installed a 5-inch genuine National Match barrel and lug and, it still shoots high. I have no more down adjustment in the rear sight. Any solutions? Mind you, this is the kind of customer who gripes over every nickel and dime that goes into his guns.

Thanks for the help. Disregard any cries of poverty from the customer, who handed you a mess he overspent for in the first place, and install a higher front sight. If that fails to resolve the problem as far as groups are concerned, you’d better check the frame and slide against Colt specs. This can be done, slowly, by measuring Springfield, Kimber, or other M1911 slides/frames known to be up to spec against those you’ve been handed. Brownells used to offer a set of blueprint drawings for Colt specifications.

The measuring job would be faster and easier if you had them on hand. Locked Up 97 I have a Winchester 1897 that locks up when I pump the action. (It locks open). When I move it back and forth several times, it will close. I can’t see what’s causing this. Maybe you can give me an idea. Thank you. Ronald After a couple of consults with former Winchester Authorized Service Center personnel, the consensus opinion focuses on the action bar and its related components.

The bar may be bent, be wearing a burr, or there may be some minor damage in Also, the action-slide hook could be loose, and the action-slide locking parts might be worn and in need of replacement.