Reader Forum

Mossberg Mag-Tube Removal I need to remove the magazine tube on a Mossberg 500 shotgun to replace the spring and follower. What’s the best way to remove the tube and what, if any, special considerations should I be aware of when reinstalling it? Thanks in advance. Remove the barrel, bolt, action slide, and trigger group from the receiver. Plug the open end of the magazine tube with a Model 500 follower or a two-inch length of hardwood dowel that fits snugly (but not too tightly) within the tube.

Secure no more than the first inch of the tube between padded vise jaws. The follower or dowel will help prevent crushing. Cut apiece of hardwood to fit up into the receiver with about 5 or 6 inches extended out from the loading slot. Using the hardwood insert as a handle, you should be able to turn the receiver off the tube. (Note: The same insert is used to install anew tube.) Brownells used to offer a metal block that was a ringer for the factory magazine tool employed at the Mossberg Armorer’s School.

They no longer offer it, and ours isn’t for sale or rent. Nevertheless, the hardwood substitute works pretty well. Remington 550 Jam I’m currently working on a customer’s Remington 550 semi-auto .22 LR rifle (First model, not one of the subsequent revisions). At least 10 percent of fired cases cause a jam condition in which the bolt returns forward, picking up the next round from the magazine, and inserting it most of the way into the chamber.

However, the extracted and ejected empty case does not make it out of the receiver, and ends up lodged between the boltface and the rear of the barrel, typically above the newly-chambered round with the case head protruding from the ejection port. The extractors (2) and ejector seem to be operating properly. I completely disassembled the gun for a thorough cleaning and parts inspection. The only problem I noted was the tail was missing from the left extractor plunger.

With the plunger in place, the extractor works fine. I polished the feed ramps at the front of the cartridge guide and at the back of the barrel for smooth feeding. I have noted that the mouths of nearly all fired cases have been flattened at the 12 o’clock position (the firing pin strike is also at 12:00 on the case rim) since the ejector pivots the extracted case mouth upward far enough to hit the roof of the receiver at the upper rim of the ejection port during ejection.

Some cases display a small crease in this flattened area as well. The ejection port appears to have been made using a large keyway cutter. This operation left semi-sharp edges where the ejection port meets the inside contour of the tubular receiver (possibly causing the creases noted above). I filed, stoned, and polished the upper forward edge to a smooth rounded profile. Unfortunately, the jam condition continues to occur on occasion with various brands of ammunition. Any known problems in this area? Suggestions?

Thanks much. Don Roberts Orland, California What you’re encountering is a problem neither unique to the 550 or any other caliber .22 autoloader. Lead buildup in the chamber is slowing down extraction. The slower extraction is slowing the bolt, and the case is slapping against the inside of the receiver. The cure is to use an extension and a .22 finishing reamer on the chamber and advise your customer to use copper-coated bullets to avoid the problem reoccurring in the immediate future.

Lead heads tend to build up too quickly when a rifle is used often. .454 Casul Conversion? I have a friend who wants to put a .454 Casul chambered barrel on a Mauser 98 action. I’m wondering if it would be worth the cost and if this is even possible. If it is possible, where can I find a barrel maker? Thank you. You didn’t mention the present caliber of the Mauser. We’d be concerned about the chamber pressure and the receiver/bolt capability, and so should you.

Contact SAAMI Newtown, CT 06470) before undertaking the conversion. If SAAMI says pressure is not a problem, there are additional factors such as case-head diameter, bolt-face suitability, and possibly the extractor cut in the breech. Your friend might decide to consider a Magnum caliber that the rifle would adapt to more easily. Homemade Stain Follow-Up I’m a semi-professional gunsmith and I really love to restore worn-out throwaway guns.

My specialty is taking old, shot-out .22 LR rifles with nicks, dings, and dents and making them look and shoot like new. Then, often as not, I somehow end up giving it to some youngster just to get another shooter hooked on the sport of plinking" thus, my "semi-pro’ status. However, I have worked as a professional woodworker, as my father did before me. Making wood stains was one of our little hobbies, so I particularly enjoyed reading Paul Mazan’s "Stalking the Wild-Walnut Stain and Stock Filler" (December 06).

I must admit, I never thought of using walnut hulls; that was a good one. Somewhere, years and years ago, we came across a recipe for homemade stains. I can’t take credit for this recipe, I can only pass it along, since Paul essentially requested information on other homemade stains at the end of his article. Leaves! That’s what our recipe uses’walnut leaves, cherry leaves, maple leaves, whatever. Fall leaves make beautiful stains. Pick up fall leaves, hopefully, before too much rain soaks them.

Put them in a mixture of five parts water to one part household ammonia. The ammonia

really speeds the process of extracting the color from the leaves. It stinks when you use it, but it makes a really good stain. After soaking the leaves, strain the concentrate through cheesecloth, then add a teaspoon of alum powder (from the spice section in the grocery store) to stabilize the mixture. You’ll have stain for years and years of use. Then you begin mixing colors. Walnut, as Paul noted, is very dark. Cut it with some maple, perhaps, to get a nice warm color. Put in a little cherry to add some red.

Experiment to create colors you won’t find in nature. Water and ammonium hydroxide is the only solvent I’ve been successful with. I’ve tried various alcohols, acetone, mineral spirits, and other solvents, but with no success. However, I’ve also learned something interesting about homemade, waterbased stains. While grain-raising is a problem you simply have to deal with, there is nothing like homemade water-based stain for giving wood an instant antique look.

It’s almost as effective on wood as color-case-hardening is on metal. The dull, warm color of homemade, water-based stain gives any wood the instant look of considerable aging. Nothing says authentic like putting the correct color of your own stain, followed by a handrubbed oil finish, on say, a post-64 Model 94, to make it look like it has been in your grandpa’s gun cabinet for 50 years. Okay, I know that was a lot of verbiage for a little bit of information. I hope some readers have found some of it to be useful.

Zeke Corder Kuna, Idaho Mosin Misfires I hope you can help me with a problem. I’m working on what appears to be a Mosin-Nagant M1891 that has been converted to 8x57mm. The complaint is misfires. Can you provide me with a detailed procedure for stripping down the bolt? Also, in researching my back issues of American Gunsmith, I found an article by Brian E. Capps ("Sporterizing the Mosin-Nagant," April 05) that mentions that the firing-pin protrusion is adjustable, as well as a gauge for measuring it.

In the absence of this gauge, can you tell me what the protrusion should be and how it is adjusted? I’ve found information on this rifle to be very scarce, so any help you can give me will be much appreciated. On the web go to surplusrifle.com. Find your rifle on the list. Click. On the following page, click on "Disassembly of the bolt" in the lower right of the screen. A video in Windows Media will walk you through the disassembly/reassembly.

Note that the key to proper installation of anew firing pin is to have the rear of the pin flush with the end of the cocking piece and positioned as described in the video. Also, there’s an excellent book on the Mosin authored by Lapin and available from North Cape Publications (northcapepubs.com). You didn’t mention light hits as a cause of the misfires, but if reloaded ammo is being used, you might want to check to ensure the primers aren’t seated too deeply.

Simonov SKS Information I’m considering purchase of a Simonov SKS 7.62×39 rifle. I have not found anything on this weapon in my collection of American Gunsmith, but am wondering if you covered it in an earlier edition, or contemplate such an article in the future? Which model/version (Yugoslav, Chinese, Russian, Rumanian, etc.) do you consider the preferred one to purchase? I would appreciate any information and/or Technical Assistance Hotline To access AGA’s Technical-Assistance Hotline, call between 1 and 3 p.m.

ET, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday onat all other times, you can send an email to Chick Blood, Technical Editor, opinions you could offer or sources of additional information. Thank you. There was an article on the SKS back in 1999, but reprints aren’t available for issues that far back. In lieu of that article, you should purchase a book The SKS Carbine from North Cape Publications It covers origins of the carbine, its disassembly/reassembly and repair, and gives good advice on how to select one.

FYI: If we were in the market for an SKS, we’d lean toward the Yugoslavian, Rumanian, or Russian. S&W M422 Breakdown Could you tell me where I can find disassembly/reassembly instructions and an exploded view of a Smith & Wesson Model 422 semiautomatic pistol? Dennis Johnson Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Both your requests are answered by the folks at Gun Digest Their book on disassembly/reassembly dedicated to semi-auto pistols includes the S&W Model 622, which is a stainless-steel version of the 422.

And their book of exploded gun drawings includes the 422 along with 974 others. Ruger 10-22 Refinishing I’d like to know what to use to strip the old paint off a 10-22 receiver and what type of paint to use to refinish it. Thank you. Ruger has used various coatings on their receivers over the years. At one

(continued from previous page) time, that included one containing Teflon. They no longer use the Teflon coating, which was very difficult to remove. The factory tells us that in recent years they’ve been employing a baked-on enamel paint. Regardless of the coating, they advised that the use of harsh paint strippers could damage the metal substrate. They suggested using fine glass beads to blast off the old coating and then applying the baked-on enamel of your choice.

Keep in mind that the oven-curing temperature should be kept below that which could weaken the temper of the receiver. Most bakeon enamels, such as the ones available through Brownells, do not require a high-temperature cure. Gunstock Finishes I was hoping that you had a good stock finish or a recipe. I’m having a hard time finding one I like. I’ve tried all kinds and none of them give me a finish that I or my customers really like. Any help will be appreciated.

You weren’t very specific about what you like in a finish. Glossy? Satin? Textured? The classic stock finish results from several coats of handrubbed oil, which is allowed to dry between coats. It is a slow laborious process, including multiple sandings, feathering, and pore filling of the wood. Hand-rubbed oil finishes can range from glossy to satin or even flat, but oil doesn’t lend itself well to textured stocks. Textured finishes can be achieved by other methods, such as sprayed-on coatings.

Browning BDM Disassembly I recently received a Browning BDM in the shop for bluing. I am unable to locate any disassembly instructions on this model. I looked through my past issues of American Gunsmith and didn’t find it there, nor do any of the DBI books cover it. I’ve had other Browning pistols apart, but this one has only slight similarities to them. If I have to, I can do it without guidance, but it would sure save a lot of time if I have some technical information to go on. Can you refer me to any such info?

Thank you. The BDM is similar to the BDA, for which take-down instructions appear in the DBI book on auto pistols. There are some differences worth noting, however. The BDM has a SIG-Sauerlike locking system wherein the barrel engages with a single large lug in the slide’s ejection port. There is also a disassembly lever on the left of the frame which must be rotated downward to remove the slide. The slide stop differs from the usual Browning lever with only a small lip protruding from inside the frame.

This pistol has been out of production since the late 1990s. That’s a shame, we think. It was quite slim for a high-capacity combat handgun and had a switch on the frame making it possible to go instantly back and forth between semi-auto and DAO. Marlin Model 60 Trigger Do you know of a replacement trigger or trigger parts for the Marlin Model 60 that will produce a lighter pull? Have you done an article on this? There are no kits or special parts available that we know of.

The action of a Model 60 is complex and a difficult animal to deal with. We wish these popular rifles could be retrofitted with the newer Marlin 900-Series trigger, but unfortunately they cannot. See the article in the April 05 issue before attempting any changes. You may be limited to polishing all shared contact surfaces, including the pins.

And there is something else that’s known to greatly improve the "feel" of the action: Highly polish the firingpin assembly tunnel within the breechbolt and the firing pin itself. Winchester Safety Switch I have a customer with a Winchester Model 88 who wants to change the safety from a left-handed to righthanded operation. Is this possible? And what’s involved in doing it? You’ll have to perform some disassembly, since the safety is housed in the trigger guard, along with its plunger and spring.

You can switch the safety button from left to right by grasping it in one hand, rotating it 90 degrees in any direction, and pushing it out. In doing so, you must use a punch to ensure you don’t lose the spring and plunger. The punch will capture the plunger, so leave it in the hole. Push the punch out with the safety when you reinstall it. Rotate the safety 90 degrees. If it has engaged the plunger correctly, the safety button will remain in the guard.