Reader Forum

Identifying Walther Model 4 I recently acquired a Walther Model 4, second modification (dovetail rear sights), serial #975xx, from the family of a WWI veteran. A German-issue holster and one magazine came with the handgun. It is chambered for .32 ACP (7.65mm). My research into this little gem shows that it bears all the normal Walther markings on the left side of the slide, plus the German markings for smokeless powder and military-issue approval.

Additionally the left side of the trigger guard is stamped "AS." My references state there should be markings on the right side of the slide; however, this piece has none. Walther was not able to provide a pedigree for the piece, citing the removal of all pre-war records from their plant offices following WWII. Would American Gunsmith or perhaps a reader be able to establish when this handgun was manufactured, to which branch of the German military it was issued, and its value as a collectible?

Start by sending a photo of the pistol to The NRA Museum (Waples Mill Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030). Include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. They can provide a confirmed ID, but they don’t give information on value. Once you know what you have, you can probably find out what it’s worth from The Blue Book of Gun Values. Kel-Tec Trigger Work I have a Kel-Tec, PLR16 pistol. This little gun is fun to shoot, but it has a 7- 1/2-pound trigger pull. What can I do to bring it down to around 3 to 3-1/2 pounds? Thanks.

If you’re able to disassemble the trigger group, deburr and highly polish all the primary elements of the firing mechanism (without altering the engagement angles). Then flush off the polish residue and lubricate lightly before reassembly. That won’t "lighten" the trigger, but will likely make it much smoother. To actually lighten the pull, check with Kel-Tec to see if you can secure anew trigger and sear spring.

Upon receipt, send the springs to Wolff Springs and they maybe able to provide lighter but fully functional replacement springs, which you can install to bring pull weight down’hopefully to not less than 3- 1/2 pounds. Proper Bore Sighting Do you know of any product on the market that would allow me to boresight a rifle at 25 yards? I don’t have a shooting range and my landlord does not want me to put one in even if it’s just to sight in rifles.

I have tried using a laser bore sight, but you can’t see the laser at 25 yards day or night. Thank you. You must be trying to work with a seriously weak laser, but let’s begin at the beginning. If you’re using a scope, make certain the rings are perfectly aligned with each other. Any deviation will cast the scope off bore and could even damage it.

When the internal ring diameter is 1 inch, alignment can be roughly judged by placing a 1inch wooden dowel to bridge the front and rear rings prior to tightening them in their base. A far more precise method is to use Brownells’ two-piece, sleeved scope-alignment rods (#080 918 000AA). Each rod is sharply pointed on one end. When the two pointed ends touch each other, your rings are lined up. These rods fit both 1-inch and 30mm rings, and they’ll also indicate clearly whether the scope base requires shimming.

If you’re not using a scope, you’re looking through iron or electronic sights. In any case, the laser you’re working with seems unsuitable. On page 329 of Brownells catalog #60, you’ll see two laser bore-sighting tools: The Site-Lite and the Aimshot. Both are caliber specific and carry lasers in excess of 600nm wavelength. The Aimshot is inserted into the chamber, while the Site-Lite goes in the muzzle. More non-laser devices appear on page 330.

The most economical among these is the Simmons, which includes individual bore spuds that fit any caliber from .177 to .50. The Simmons closely resembles the Bushnell bore-sighter we’ve used for many years, but remember this: No matter how good the bore-sighter, final sight adjustments must be made with live ammunition at a firing range. The bore-sighter will put you on paper, but final adjustments will be necessary to put you in the black. That’s an old rule that predates the laser, but still holds true today.

Replacing Mauser K-98 Sight Hood What is the secret of replacing the frontsight hood on the Mauser K-98? The owner had removed the front sight hood to clean the front sight and could not get it back on. Neither can I. It’s a spring steel that fits into a slot in both sides of the front-sight mount. Nothing I do can get the thing spread wide enough to slide into place. Any assistance would be appreciated. If there’s a secret to removing the hood, the secret has been well kept.

On the rare occasions we’ve been faced with a too-tight front-site hood, the following technique’t hough not a "quickie""has proven to be a safe means of spreading the gripping rails apart without damage: Turn down a hardwood dowel or round of coldrolled steel to give a tight fit inside the hood ring. Secure that assembly, hood downward, between padded vise jaws. The insert will help to prevent crushing the hood. The "clamping" section faces upward and clear of the hood.

Using some form of wedge’possibly a cold chisel or wide-blade screwdriver’s pread apart the clamping edges, checking the fit to the front ramp frequently. Whatever you do, don’t

use heat. Heat will take the spring out of the spring steel, and if you go too far in the spreading you’ll end up having to purchase anew hood. Now, pray tell, why did your friend remove the hood in order to clean the front sight? The sight could have been cleaned with any good-quality solvent on a pipe cleaner or a .17-caliber phosphor-bronze bore-scrubbing brush. Hamilton Rifle Drawings I have a Hamilton rifle in my shop and I can’t find any info on it. Can you help me find a schematic?

I don’t know if parts are missing. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. The Hamilton Rifle Company was established in 1898 in Plymouth, Michigan, and ceased all production in 1945. We can’t say how old your rifle is, since you made no mention of a model number, but the last Hamilton, the Model 55, came off the line between late 1941 and early 1942. (And only one was made.) In any case, as far as we know, there are no schematic drawings in existence.

If there’s a patent number on the gun, however, you can secure a copy of the patent’which normally contain many drawings’by sending a check for $3 to the U. S. Patent Office, Certification Branch (1213 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20231). Installing an Ambidextrous Safety Is there an issue that covers the installation of the Wilson Combat ambi thumb safety on a 1911 pistol? If not, what are the instructions? Thank you for your help.

You didn’t say whether your M1911 is a Series-70 or Series-80, but we’ll assume you ordered the appropriate ambidextrous thumb safety for the pistol you’re working with. Regardless, the instructions for installation are provided by Wilson Combat and include an advisory to secure the services of a gunsmith experienced with doing the job. This advice is not given lightly, since these are not "drop-in" parts by any stretch of the imagination.

They interact, or are supposed to, with vital components in the back of the pistol like the sear, hammer, plunger-tube assembly, and even the hammer pin. A significant amount of fitting to close tolerances is demanded. This precludes the use of tools like the Dremel or coarse files. As a result, there is no simplified method of going about the task.

Custom gun makers and manufactureremployed gunsmiths often spend up to a year acquiring the skill and knowledge before actually tackling the installation of an ambidextrous safety on a customer’s pistol. As long as you’re prepared to invest the time and study before moving onward, purchase both volumes of Jerry Kuhnhausen’s Shop Manuals on the .45 ACP (available from Brownells). If you are not, seek out a gunsmith familiar with the job or ask Wilson Combat to handle the installation.

Storing Beretta Double I’ve just purchased a Beretta 687 shotgun and don’t want to store it with the hammers cocked. I place a snap cap in each chamber, but when I pull the trigger, only the bottom firing pin goes forward. When I shoot the gun with ammunition, both barrels fire with no problem. What’s going on? Will Holden Centerville, Maryland Your shotgun has what’s called an inertia block that shifts under recoil to activate the other hammer for your selected firing sequence.

On your tangmounted safety, you have a barrelselection device, which allows you to choose which barrel you want to fire first. To select the under barrel to shoot first, shift the selector over so that one red dot is exposed. If you require that the over barrel shoot first, move the selector so that the two red dots are exposed. By shifting this selector back and forth, you can pull the trigger on each chamber and relax the firing-pin spring tension.

Another, simpler method to get the inertia block to shift over is to hold the forearm of the shotgun in your left hand tightly and, with the heel of your right hand, whack the butt end of the recoil pad smartly. This jolt will shift the inertia block over so that the other hammer is activated, allowing the trigger to be pulled and thus relaxing spring tension. Using this method, you won’t inadvertently reset the selector to fire the wrong barrel first.

Removing an AK-47 Front Sight I purchased a Century International Arms AK-47 Bullpup and want to install a C-More or Docter optical sight. Like all AKs, the front sight is so tall that I will be looking right into it with the sight. I removed the small muzzle break (it’s a standard left-hand thread) but I’m not certain how the front sight is secured. There are two pins in the front sight which I can remove (I think), but I’m not sure if the sight itself is swaged on, soldered on, or held in some other fashion.

Could you please advise me on this? Thanks. You’re right, You can remove the two pins. Precisely how the sight is attached to the barrel can vary, though, depending on the factory where the AK was manufactured. The importer, Century International, should be able to tell you how yours is affixed. Shotgun-to-Rifle Conversion? Is it possible to create a double-barrel rifle in .30-30 caliber using a "Hunter" shotgun s/s action? I’ve been told "yes" by one gunsmith and "no" by another.

Anything is possible, but this is not a project most gunsmiths would undertake. We’d suggest the services of a

(continued from previous page) gunmaker/metalsmith instead of a gunsmith for this conversion. To locate one, contact the American Custom Gunmakers Guild Spot Bluing? What’s the best way to touch up bluing or rust spots on gun metal? I’ve read all of your articles on the subject in the past few years, and have tried a number of products, but I can never get the color to match. Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Lincoln Reeder Phoenix, Arizona Unfortunately, you’ll never get a perfect match when touching up a bare spot on a blued gun part. You can, however, get a decent color and the rust protection that a firearm needs. There are a number of "cold bluing" solutions on the market, and every gunsmith has his favorites and keeps them close at hand. For a quick and reasonably dark touchup, try Birchwood Casey’s Super Blue or Brownells T-4. These solutions are applied cold, and with a few applications will give a decent color.

Be careful not to contaminate the bottle of solution by dipping a used applicator in it. To avoid this, pour a little of the bluing solution into a bottle cap and dip your applicator (Qtip) into the cap. If you need to blue a screw head or the end of a pin, you might try simple heat bluing. This requires a little bit of practice, but with a small propane torch you should be able to get either a good black color or the royal-blue color found on screws and pins on many expensive double guns.

The trick to heat bluing is to go slowly. As the part heats up, it will first turn a yellow "straw" color. From this point, it will turn blue very quickly, then black. If you go too far, you will lose the black color, but it can be easily repolished and done again. Some gunsmiths like to quench freshly heatblued parts in linseed oil. For a more durable dark touch up, we like Brownells Oxpho-Blue cream.

This solution is intended to go on cold, but we have had great success by heating the part with a propane torch and applying the bluing solution to the metal at the point where the liquid just sizzles when it goes on. Care must be taken not to overheat the steel, since many older firearms have softsoldered ribs, sights, and barrels. The best temperature for the steel part is probably just under 200 degrees.

Apply the solution heavily with a shop 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, at rag and rub it in well. Immediately after applying the bluing solution, card the metal thoroughly with 00 steel wool. With a clean rag, reapply the bluing solution sparingly (while the barrel is still a little warm).

This second application should give you a good color and a reasonably durable touch up. We have used this method of touch-up bluing after soldering front-sight ramps onto barrels when a complete hot blue could not be sold. The Oxpho-Blue and heat method can be used to reblue an entire firearm if necessary. You can get a very good finish by first glass beading apart (a shotgun barrel, for example) and then heating it evenly and carefully with a torch while holding it on a chamber mandrel in a vise.

Then pour a large amount of Oxpho-Blue cream into a shop rag and apply it quickly from end to end. Card the entire barrel with 00 steel wool, and reapply the solution. This can be a handy method of returning some value to a used gun, or as a fast bluing alternative after resoldering a rib on an old double-barrel shotgun. Sharpen a Reamer? Is it possible to sharpen a reamer that’s gotten dull? If so, what’s the proper way to do it?

Miles Dumond Falls Church, Virginia The correct way to sharpen a straightflute tapered reamer like Brownells' long forcing-cone reamer is to stone the top surface of the blades. However, you should be aware that this practice will change the dimension of the finished forcing cone. Since this dimension is not critical on a longchamber forcing cone, careful stoning of the top surface should revive the tool.