Reader Forum

Stevens Crackshot Restoration I have two Stevens Crackshot Model 26 rifles that most people would have thrown away. These were my father’s and are nearly 80 years old. I’m rebuilding them for my grandson. I intend to leave one in the original 22 caliber. For the second one, I’ve been kicking around the idea of making it a .17 HMR, since both barrels need to be sleeved anyway. Will the actions and breech handle this cartridge? Despite the years of use, the metal is in good shape and the action is reasonably tight.

Please advise. Thanks. The action of the Crackshot is strong, but it wasn’t built for Magnum pressures, since there was no such thing at the time. Both your rifles are quite old and almost to the point where their metal might suffer some degree of granulation which could weaken it. The barrel for the one you intend to modify would not only require sleeving to reduce the bore size, its chamber would have to be recut since the .17 HMR is a bottleneck cartridge and unlike the straight-neck case of the .22 LR.

We recommend securing the help of a metallurgical lab to establish the metal’s true condition before proceeding with a caliber conversion. Also, be aware that what you’re considering, even if it’s possible, would reduce the collector value of the rifle considerably. Regarding the rifle you plan to keep in its original caliber, why are you thinking of sleeving the barrel? Is it shot out? Is the bore rusted to the point of being pitted?

The very sleeve that restores the rifle to shooting condition can also cause a loss of value. That’s all academic, of course, if you plan to keep the rifles in your family forever. Winchester M72 Reassembly I have a Winchester Model 72 brought in disassembled. I need info on the fire-control group. I have a schematic from Jack First and from Numrich, but they have no detail on this area. I have Wood’s rimfire book, but it’s not in there either. Can you help? Thanks.

After looking at the drawings in the Jack First catalog, we think you’d be safe in following the instructions for the Winchester Model 60 given in Wood’s Gun Digest book for rimfire rifles. Reader Requests Input Has anyone ever converted a 94 Winchester to the .357 Maximum? I imagine the cartridge guides and the carrier would have to be customized. I would be pleased to hear from any reader with info on this subject.

Ruger P94 Takedown Has American Gunsmith ever covered the assembly/disassembly of the Ruger P94/P944 in a past issue? The P345 (covered in January 09) is similar, and the P84 in Gun Digest’ s assembly/disassembly book is also similar, but the differences are not trivial. I’m not sure I’m going about the disassembly of the frame correctly, and I’m really concerned about my ability to reassemble it when the time comes.

This gun had been disassembled by the owner and he couldn’t get it to function after he put it back together. I have to assume he put the springs in wrong, reassembled parts in the wrong order, or even lost some of the parts. I’ve worked on P89s before, but the P944 is quite different, especially the trigger/hammer group in the frame. Any help you can give or resource you can point me toward would certainly be appreciated. The second edition of Gun Digest’s book on pistols shows the P85 on page 447.

The book says the P94 is similar or identical to the P85, but the P95 is not. This is one reason why we haven’t covered the P94. If you want a schematic, call Ruger’s customer service in Arizona and request an owner’s manual. J. C. Higgins Conversion I have a J. C. Higgins Model 103-18, which I understand is a Marlin Model 100. Since this little rifle is a singleshot, I had hopes of converting it to a .17 HMR or other .17-caliber variant as a project gun for my shop.

That is, until I removed the barrel-retaining pin and found that the receiver slips off the barrel with only hand pressure, essentially a slip fit. I was under the impression that the barrel should at least need to be pressed out of the receiver. There appears to have been no alteration to the barrel or receiver, although given the condition of the pin I am sure someone has removed it. The pin is .114 inch in diameter at the small end. What remains of the larger end is too mangled to measure.

My questions are as follows: 1. What is the proper receiver to barrel "fit" for these rifles, and any other .22 LR, for that matter? (I amused to seeing threads or at least a press fit with taper pin.) 2. If the current configuration of slip fit is normal for this model, is there a .17-caliber round this rifle can safely be chambered for without shearing the barrel-retaining pin and shooting the barrel off the gun? 3.

If the barrel/receiver fit is not correct, is there an acceptable way to improve the fit, after which I will chamber it in .22 LR and call it a day. (If not, I have a tomato stake I will sell real cheap.) Your help with these questions is greatly appreciated. Thank you. The Model 100 was last produced in 1959. It did have a barrel-retaining pin which is shown in the Jack First catalog, Vol. 2 Due to the rifle’s age, we’d probably shy away from a Magnum conversion, unless the present metallurgical condition

of the receiver could be checked out by a lab. The conversion to .17 Mach II would give us somewhat less concern. Rely on your chosen barrel maker to advise you further on caliber choice. The proper union between barrel and receiver is not determined by tightness alone. Rather, the final correct fit is established by whether the bolt closes on a "go" gauge, but fails to close on a "no-go" gauge.

As a practical matter, our suggestion is to leave the rifle at .22 caliber, thoroughly clean and polish the bore, rub down the wood with boiled linseed oil, install anew barrel-retaining pin, and use a wooden stake to support your tomatoes. Frozen Model 88 Winchester A customer brought in a Winchester Model 88. He had fired it, ejected the empty, tried to reload, and found the lever to be frozen. I have disassembled the action according to the NRA’s Shoulder Arms Assembly book.

I found the hammer-spring pin lodged in the bolt. In the disassembly process, the pin fell out. I’m amazed it didn’t do more damage than locking up the lever. Now I have run into a problem with reassembly. How do I compress the hammer spring and insert the slave pin? There is a hammer-catch spring and a hammer spring in the Model 88. The latter part has a hammer-spring guide and guide pin associated with it, so we’re assuming that’s the pin you found.

We’re still trying to visualize how it became lodged in the bolt, unless it had been knocking around in the action unattached for awhile. We’ve located a Winchester fieldservice manual that describes spring compression and reinstallation of the hammer assembly, and we’ll send you copies of the two pertinent pages. Due to the volume of requests received, please remind us it’s the Model 88 you’re after when you send us your mailing address. Please also tell us where the pin was stuck in the bolt. We’re curious.

Rifle Questions I recently purchased a Sears Model 6C (the same as the Winchester Model 490) that has "Made In Canada" stamped on the barrel. I got it cheap (no magazine and I think it’s got a homemade stock on it), but the metal looks good. My question is: How do you take the darn thing down? I can’t find a takedown guide anywhere on the web or in any of my books. It almost looks like the barrel has to come off before the bolt comes out. Any help in that area will be appreciated.

My second question involves a Stevens 87D. The problem is, when it’s fired, the bolt will feed another round into the chamber but won’t always cock the striker. It’s almost like the striker is only half-cocked. When I pull the trigger, the firing pin hits, but not hard enough to fire. It barely leaves an indentation on the base of the case. When you pull the bolt back to clear it, another shell tries to feed in before the first live shell is extracted from the chamber.

Also, when it does fire, and I hold the trigger back, sometimes the bolt stays back, and sometimes it goes forward into battery. Any suggestions on that? I appreciate any help you can give me on both of these matters. If the Sears rifle is a copy of the 490, that Winchester went out of production in 1977. We doubt that the present entity, Browning Winchester, would have an owner’s manual, but someone in the Winchester Collectors Association might.

You can find their address in the rear pages of a current issue of Gun Digest. You’ll also find a parts drawing in Volume II of the Jack First Catalog. Among the components shown is a barrel bracket and barrelbracket stud, which are apparently the means by which the barrel is attached to the receiver. This doesn’t mean the barrel isn’t also press-fitted. And it would come as no surprise tous if the barrel has to be removed prior to removal of the bolt’just as it does with semi-auto and pump shotguns.

By the way, you might want to check with Buckingham’s for a magazine. The Stevens is probably just as old, or older, than the Sears rifle. Discuss the problems with Steve at The Small Arms Shop but don’t call him until after 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. Steve may have the parts you’ll need to get the rifle back into good operating condition. S&W Cylinder Replacement I have an old Smith & Wesson M&P that was made in 1947. The cylinder has a chamber that has an oversized portion in the front of the chamber.

The case has to be punched out with a hammer and punch. My question is: What do you have to do to replace a cylinder? I’ve read Jerry Kuhnhausen’s S&W book, and it doesn’t say anything about cylinder replacement. Thanks. There’s nothing in the Kuhnhausen book for a very good reason: S&W will not sell a replacement cylinder to anyone other than an authorized factory service center. Your old M&P revolver will have to be returned to Smith & Wesson, but call them first to make certain they can install a replacement.

Unplating an M-1 I’ve inherited an M-1 carbine that has been electroplated in nickel. I would like to know the best way to remove the plating so I can refinish it more like the original condition. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated. Brownells shows a product in their catalog that strips off plating. Once the stripping is done, you’ll probably be facing another problem. Originally, the carbine was Parkerized, and

(continued from previous page) that’s nothing like hot bluing. There are some bluing services that offer Parkerizing as well. Brownells would have a list of them, and one is listed in the article in this issue that begins on page 14. Saddlegun Disassembly? Can you advise me where I can get the disassembly instructions for an Ithaca Model 49 Saddlegun? It’s a singleshot, lever-action .22-caliber rifle. Thank you. The Saddlegun was last made by Ithaca in 1979.

As you know, the original Ithaca Gun has gone out of business, and we have nothing on that model. There are a couple of possibilities, though. Ithaca Gun USA is the new entity, and they may have information on your lever-action. A second possibility would be Sharps Guns, Ltd. in Canada. They have parts for out-ofproduction Ithacas. Locked-Up Ruger I purchased a used Ruger MK III auto pistol. It’s in the fired position and will not cock. I have tried to disassemble it, but I can’t remove the mainspring housing.

It seems to be held internally, and will not budge. I’ve tapped on the bolt-stop pin, but to no avail. I think the previous owner put it back together wrong when it was cleaned. And when it wouldn’t fire and he couldn’t get it disassembled, he sold it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. It’s too bad the original owner of the pistol previously didn’t see our October 05 issue, where disassembly and reassembly of the Mark III was covered.

We think it’s likely the hammer strut was positioned incorrectly, and somehow the previous owner managed to force the takedown lever at the rear of the grip frame back into its upward position. This would not only jam the pistol, it would make future takedown nearly impossible due to damage. We know of no simple solution and fear that significant damage may have been done. We suggest you contact Ruger and arrange for factory attention to the problem.

Marlin Model 44 Problems I have a Marlin Model 44 pump shotgun with an action that’s very hard to work. I’ve had it apart many times and can’t determine why it’s so difficult to work the slide. Also, the sear will not release the hammer to fire. Have there been any past articles on how to work the Marlin Model 44 or is there a manual on assembly/disassembly for this particular model? This gun went out of production in 1933.

There is no schematic we’re aware of, no disassembly/assembly manual, and no article has been published in American Gunsmith. However, a difficulty in operating most pump guns is usually due to bent or burred action bars and/or similarly affected action-bar receiver ways. Since you’ve had the gun apart a few times, we assume the sear/hammer problem isn’t due to a deposit of fouling. Unfortunately, any parts you may need will have to be found in the aftermarket.

Smith & Wesson Safety I have an S&W Model 1000 20-gauge that has a safety locked in the "on" position. How do I get this apart for inspection/repair? I have it out of the gunthat was the easy part. It looks much like the Remington configuration. Thanks. We also have a new Model 1000 on hand, but we’ve been unable to pursue an article on it because S&W can’t provide a suitable schematic. We’re told there is a good possibility the Model 1000 will be discontinued.

That should not affect factory service on Model 1000s already out there’not as long as the supply of factory parts holds out. In view of the uncertainty regarding the future of this shotgun, we advise you to contact S&W customer service and have their repair technicians tackle this job. ican Gunsmith, address your email to ta letter to American Gunsmith Merritt Island, FL 32954.