Reader Forum

New Ammo for Old S&W? I recently acquired a Smith & Wesson .32 Hand Ejector Model of 1896 or .32 Hand Ejector 1st Model in .32 S&W Long, serial number 16939. Since it was probably made about 1900, is it safe to shoot this with modern smokeless ammunition or would it be better to just retire it? Any advice in this matter would be greatly appreciated. There are distinct differences between the 1896 and the HE 1st Model. The ’96 is the first swing-out-cylinder revolver made by S&W, and had no thumb piece.

It was produced from 1896 to 1903 and chambered for .32 S&W. The serial number of your S&W .32 Long indicates it was made in 1903 or 1904. The cylinder stop of these revolvers is located in the bottom strap rather than the top strap, and the cylinder is released by moving the frame-mounted thumb piece forward. At one time, both the .32 S&Wand .32 S&W Long were blackpowder cartridges. The former used 9 grains, the latter 13 grains. Later, both employed smokeless powder as a propellant.

Rather than hanging up your gun, we suggest you speak with a couple of powder and/or bullet manufacturers regarding blackpowder-equivalent smokeless loads. But don’t fire currently manufactured factory ammo until the manufacturer assures you it is safe to do so. A further check on pressures might also be in order with S. A. A. M. I. Newtown, CT 06470) Misfeeding Marlins I have three Marlin Model 1892 and 39 rifles in of various vintages that do not feed from the tube magazines through to the chamber. Any ideas?

Thanks. It would be helpful to know whether you have a Model 39, 39A, or 39AS, but with any of these we’d be suspicious of the cartridge stop. That is, unless you’re dealing with something like a bent magazine-tube receiver throat, a damaged follower, or a usedup magazine spring.

These possibilities could also apply to the Model 1892, which has a cartridge stop called the "magazine cartridge cutoff." We tend to believe, however, that you’ll find the cause for your feeding problems by conducting a close inspection of the magazine-tube assembly, with special attention paid to its back end. What Are These Things? Can you identify the items in the attached photograph? The top three are plastic, with tapered edges. They are marked A, Z, and C.

They taper in different directions, A&Z taper toward the rounded end and Ctapers toward the straight end. The lower piece is steel and is marked C SX on one end, and Z DX on the other end. When inverted, the ends are marked Z SX & C DX. Benelli has not responded to my two email requests to identify these parts. Thanks for the help. Go to Benelli USA on the web. Click on "parts & accessories." Under that, click on "miscellaneous," and scroll down. The parts are shims.

The group reproduced here is used to adjust stock drop, change the sighting plane of the gun, and adjust it to a shooter’s physical characteristics and shooting style. The other photo you sent shows the "Comfor Tech" shims, which are used to adjust both drop and cast-in or cast-out. All of these shims are model specific. Remington M513 Trigger Job I’m looking for an article on doing a trigger job on a Remington 513T target rifle. It has a 6-pound pull now’ hardly a match trigger.

I’ve never done a trigger job on a 513, only on the 40X, and I would like to bring it down to 2 pounds or less. Thanks. Larry Krause Mountain Home, Arkansas We haven’t done an article on the 513 yet, or anything about working on its trigger. Though, sadly, the rifle went out of production in 1969, there are still a good number floating around. One club we know of uses the rifle in its 50-participant junior program every year.

The main reason we haven’t covered it is because complete information on disassembly/reassembly appears in Brownells Encyclopedia of Modern Firearms (along with instructions for a large number of other out-of-production guns). If you have the book, you’ll note that the firing system of the 513 presents no great mysteries. The sear is attached to the trigger and engages the firing pin.

Polishing the sear/firing-pin engagement angles and, possibly, cutting one coil off the trigger spring should be all that is necessary to lighten the pull. The book, by the way, specifically addresses how to adjust trigger travel on the 513. If you don’t have a copy of the book, borrow one. If you can’t manage that, Brownells still shows it in their catalog. No, it’s not cheap, but it will spare you much grief when an older rifle comes in your door.

Franchi Firing Pin I need a firing pin for a Franchi Black- Magic Game Model 12-gauge semiauto, which appears to have been imported by American Arms. I tried

(continued from previous page) the usual places including Numrich, Jack First, and Bob’s Gun Parts, with no luck. I believe it could be duplicated if I had the whole pin or the specs. Any help would be appreciated. Henry Smith Ft. Worth, Texas Unfortunately, gun manufacturers don’t give out blueprints for gun parts. Adding to the complication is the fact that Franchi shotguns are now brought in by Benelli USA Hopefully, they’ll be able to steer you to a complete firing pin for your American Arms-imported Franchi.

It’s worth a call to find out. Unsafe Ithaca Safety I have a problem with an Ithaca model 37 12-gauge pump shotgun. The gun came into my shop in bad shape. The slide was jammed and unable to operate. On taking it apart, I discovered the hammer strut was bent in a Vshape, so I ordered a replacement. The new part came and was straight, so I installed it. So far so good. Now the shotgun would operate but while doing safety checks I discovered that the hammer would release when the safety was in the "safe" position.

Checking the safety showed some wear, so I replaced it and its spring. Still the hammer would drop when the safety was on "safe." I checked the trigger and it too was worn, so anew trigger was ordered. Still the hammer was dropping when the safety was on’with only moderate pressure on the trigger, I might add. I recut the trigger-sear notch in the hammer. No help there. So I got out an Ithaca from my personal vault and took it down. I noticed right away that the hammer strut on my Ithaca had a bend in it.

The new one I ordered from Gun Parts was straight. My question is: Are there two different hammer struts, one for old models and one for new models? Or are you suppose to bend the strut to fit when you install it? And could there be some other reason why the hammer will drop with the safety on? The safety on the Model 37 blocks the trigger, not the hammer, so you need to consider other possibilities for hammer drop/slippage.

These would be a worn sear nose, a weak trigger spring, a bent slide stop, and/or a broken hammer bar (strut). We have no history indicating an engineering change in the hammer bar. All schematics in our files show a straight one. You may want to inquire about such a change with the current manufacturer of the Model 37, Ithaca Gun USA Technical Assistance Hotline To access AGA’s Technical-Assistance Hotline, call between 1 and 3 p.m.

ET, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday once at all other times, you can send an email to Chick Blood, Technical Editor, at H&R Indexing Problems I have in my shop a nine-shot H&R .22-caliber rimfire revolver, Model 939, serial #U18885. There is one position that does not come into alignment and lock in the cylinder-stop assembly. (It doesn’t rotate far enough.) The lever that rotates the cylinder seems to have some wear, but it functions properly on eight of the nine chambers. I suspect the problem is in the extractor.

My questions are: 1) how to identify the problem tooth on the extractor; and 2) a possible fix for the problem (peening or whatever). Looking in the Gun Parts catalog, it appears the cylinder and extractor are sold as a complete unit. If at all possible, I would like to spare the customer this expense. Thanks. Production of this revolver ceased in 1982. It was called the "Ultra Sidekick," and was an extended barrel, vent-rib version of the Model 929.

You can identify which cylinder has the problem by cycling the gun one cylinder at a time and marking which chambers do not fail to rotate completely. Insert dummy rounds or spent .22-caliber cases in all cylinders to prevent damage to the firing pin, hammer nose, and chamber edges. More often than not, timing problems indicate a high ratchet.

In your case, the ratchets are integral with the extractor/ejector star. (See Gun Digest’s book on disassembly for revolvers in order to separate the star from the cylinder.) An article in the September 02 issue covered the tooling and techniques required to swage down a high ratchet. The same article touched on timing problems due to the revolver hand. The same tool used to swage a ratchet is used for adjusting a hand by bending it.