Reader Forum

Early on during my work on some of these, I attempted to correct the problems by recutting or making some changes to the engagements that had already been made by someone else. Most of these attempts resulted in the replacement of the parts. The hammer and trigger engagement is super, super critical to the ignition of the primer. Do you have or know of any good way to lighten these triggers and keep them functional?

The normal way of stoning and polishing only takes minute changes to render the gun unusable with misfires. Thanks. Don’t be discouraged. When "someone else" has performed butchery, you can never tell whether they just stroked away with a file or built up the engagement angle and then lopped it off. We did an article on the SB1 in October 03. It was based on the NEF Pardner, but that rifle is mechanically the same as the Handi Rifle and other H&R single-shots.

The article concentrated on reassembly, because almost anyone’owners included’can get the rifle apart only to be totally at a loss getting it back together. The misfires you’re seeing resulting from light hits on the primer could be due to home-grown trigger jobs. It’s also possible the hammer spring has been reinstalled incorrectly (refer to the aforementioned article). And what’s "normal" when stoning or polishing depends on the amount of abnormal attention paid to engagement angles instead of friction reduction.

You did not mention a key element’t he trigger spring. After a thorough job of reducing friction by polishing the sides of all interacting firing-mechanism parts, try nipping one coil from the spring (with a back-up spring on hand). This has proven successful at lightening the pull while not negatively affecting primer impact. Mossberg 500 Ejection Problem I have a Coast to Coast Model 660 pump-action shotgun that I bought from a friend at work.

Even though I can’t find across reference listed in the Numrich catalog or on their website, I identified it immediately as a Mossberg Model 500. I know the quality of the Mossberg name, because I have one that I shot when I was eight years old and has been handed down to me by my father. I suspect that I got the opportunity to buy this gun due to the fact that it had extraction problems from the first trip out, and l later found it had been owned by a couple of other coworkers as well.

I don’t know if this is true Mossberg, or some sort of clone or copy as disassembly and inspection showed softer, weaker, or poor-quality parts, and the receiver had a purplish hue. I have since reworked the gun and gave it a Cerama Coat finish. The gun looks and works great now, and the only thing lacking is ejection at times. For lack of a better way to explain the problem, it seems to me that the ejector doesn’t always pop the rim off the left-side extractor soon enough to get the shell out the ejection port.

I’m guessing that if it were a little farther forward, or a little more material on the face, it would give it the timing it needs to perform these functions. I suppose I could compare it to the one from my original Mossberg, and I thought about just ordering a replacement from Numrich to see if that does the trick. What would you suggest? Thank you for your time and consideration. We have no information on Coast to Coast shotguns in our files.

If the Mossberg ejector fits or can be made to fit with a slight modification, that would probably be a better solution than trying to overhaul the factory original’particularly considering your comment about the sub-standard materials used in the gun. Refinishing Rem 541-S Stock I am getting ready to refinish the stock on a Remington 541-S custom sporter rifle. The rifle has what appears to be a rosewood forend tip, but after close inspection I find that it is made of plastic.

What’s the correct procedure for stripping this stock without ruining the tip with stock stripper? Can the tip be removed and then reinstalled after stripping the wood? The simplest means is to mask off the entire tip with masking tape overlaid with clear plastic 3M tape like that used to seal shipping boxes. We don’t specifically know how the tip was attached. The factory might have doweled it in place, glued it on, or counterbored it for a screw and a plug.

Come to think of it, rosewood sounds like a pretty pricey option for along-out-ofproduction .22. That makes us think this tip may have been added later. That being the case, your guess is as good as ours regarding how it was attached. Saiga AK Problems I currently have a Saiga AK chambered in 7.62 x 39. I’m trying to remove the front sight/band in order to thread for a muzzle break/flashhidder.

The problem is the front part of the sight band must be cut off in order for the threads to be of the correct diameter, which I suppose was done on purpose in order to conform to the

(continued from previous page) Clinton "assault-weapon" ban. I’ve removed the two drift pins and have used both Kroil lubricant and a moderate amount of heat, but I can’t seem to move it at all. I’m concerned about damaging the barrel if I use too much force and/or heat. I’m wondering if it’s silver soldered or if some type of adhesive was used. Any suggestions? Thanks. We’ve seen many methods of attaching the sight band on AKs. We assume it depends on the specific factory in which the rifle was produced.

The band might be sweated, shrink fit, press fit, brazed, or soldered. We don’t, however, think yours is being stubborn because of an adhesive. We suggest you contact Keith Billado, who is a very knowledgeable "smith when it comes to these offshore AKs. He’s with Century Arms Tell Keith we gave you his name. Remington M31 Assembly I have a Remington Model 31 (Series 1941) shotgun that won’t lock up. I bought anew action bar, lock, and spring from Numrich.

Do the legs of this spring go inside the trough in the bottom of the hammer? Do both legs go over the hammer pin or under? Or does one leg go over and the other leg go under? When I got this gun, the top leg of the action-bar spring was missing. The new spring has offsets like it wasn’t meant to go down the side of the hammer and I don’t think there is room for it there. Also, I don’t know how the trigger lock should be positioned.

I got a Gun Digest assembly/ disassembly book from Brownells, but it doesn’t cover the Remington Model 31 and the NRA book doesn’t show the position of the above-mentioned parts. Can you help me or steer me to a book that covers the Model 31? I need help. Thank you.

Jimmy Ward San Saba, Texas According to an ancient Remington Field Service Manual’which is about to crumble if we don’t perform some restoration work’t he upper leg of the action-bar spring goes over the hammer pin and the lower leg goes beneath it to engage the action-bar lock. You could probably get a copy of an owner’s manual from Remington. We realize it won’t give you the whole assembly/disassembly procedure, but it might help with parts orientation.

For example, the trigger lock is placed in the back end of the large slot on the 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 dan email to Chick Blood, Technical Editor, right side of the trigger plate, with the bend in the lock toward the inside of the slot. It’s retained by the trigger lock pin. Converting a Yugo Mauser I have a Yugoslavian 98 Mauser that I would like to use to build a 7mm Rem. Mag.

I know these receivers area little shorter than the standard Mauser, but it seems as though the Rem. Mag. will still have enough room to feed without cutting any of the ramp away, which I definitely do not want to do. Do you know of any reason why this type of Mauser receiver could not safely be converted to a 7mm Mag.? I have all my receivers re-heat-treated by a business here in Salt Lake City that specialized in this kind of work. I’m relatively new at doing conversions, although I have done a few so far.

I’m looking for advice (negative or positive feedback) from someone who is more knowledgeable than myself. You didn’t mention the present caliber of your 98, but the first thing you need to do is to contact S. A. A. M. I. and check the chamber pressure of the Remington Magnum against the pressure of the round for which your rifle is presently chambered. We’re pleased, by the way, to hear that you’re having your receivers heattreated.

For the most part, Yugoslavian Mausers are well made, but workers forced to produce weapons for the Nazis during WWII found ingenious ways to sabotage what was coming off the production line. Some of these doctored rifles, quite unintentionally, survived the war, so you are welladvised to continue your habit of heattreatment.