Reader Forum

Rechambering the Stalker A customer brought me a Browning Stalker in .300 Win Mag. He wants it trued and rebarreled, and also wants to change the chambering. Will he have to stay with the .300 H&H family of belted mag cartridges or will his bolt accommodate any other chambering? (He wants .240 Weatherby, which has a .060-inch-smaller casehead diameter.) How specific are bolt faces? I’ve opened them for larger cartridges, but don’t know what will happen with smaller.

Will this bolt accept a non-belted cartridge of the same casehead diameter? Thanks. Terry Smotherman Due to the rather significant casehead disparity, the .240 Weatherby will probably not extract despite the fact that the existing bolt is able to accept a non-belted cartridge. The advice offered to us by a Browning engineer is to buy a bolt head for a standard cartridge with the same casehead diameter as the .240. Non-Extracting Brownings I need some advice regarding a problem with my three Browning Hi-Powers.

I have removed the magazine disconnector from all three, but have retained the parts for reinstallation should I ever sell any of them. The first pistol is the same as it left the factory except for this modification. The second pistol has a set of Pachmayr grips and a Cylinder & Slide extended safety. Both these pistols have pivoted extractors. The third pistol, an old FN with a 1911-style extractor, has been extensively modified.

It has Pachmayr grips, Bomar sights, a Browning factory spur hammer (1972 vintage), anew Browning factory sear, and a Cylinder & Slide extended safety. My problem is that, after firing the last round in the magazine, all of these pistols leave the empty in the ejection port sitting atop the magazine. This does not cause jams since the empty drops out of the pistol when the magazine is released, but it seems "inelegant" in the extreme.

This does not seem to be ammunition related, and it happens with a variety of factory and aftermarket magazines. Any ideas what might be causing this or how to fix it? Thanks for your help. John Collins We wish, as you probably do, that it was only one of your Brownings that was acting up. Since all three have been altered, and since we can’t examine those alterations or refer you to someone specializing in the Hi-Power for a checkup, we can only make an educated guess as to the source of the problem.

We suspect that the recoil springs in the pistols may be too heavy and are interfering with lockup of the slide stop. So try some lighter recoil springs. Also, we suggest you install Wolff Extra Power springs in your factory magazines to ensure the follower is rising high enough to activate the slide stop. Old Stevens Firing Pin I need to replace the "firing pin" on an old Stevens 15-A rimfire rifle and need some instructions on disassembly and reassembly. I can’t find anything in back copies of American Gunsmith.

Am I just overlooking the subject? If you have done something on this gun, could you tell me what issue to look in? Or if not, can you let me know where else I should look? Jimmy Thompson Bucklin, Missouri You may have a pretty rare rifle—the Stevens Maynard Jr. Despite the fact that its action is considered flimsy, it’s a rifle without which no serious Stevens collection is complete.

No article has been published here on it, but there is a book titled Single Shot Rifles and Actions which has a good sectional drawing and enough information to help you with disassembly. The book is available from De Haas Barrels in Ridgeway, Missouri. If you have enough of the old firing pin to serve as a pattern, you can turn anew one on a lathe or have it done by a local machine shop.

Lacking the old pin, send an email to the editor of the Single Shot Rifle Journal (Journal and ask him about a source for a replacement. Dry-Firing the Glock Trigger I recently purchased a trigger-reset kit for my Glock 35 from the Glock store.com. It allows you to practice pulling the trigger and return to the reset point without having to re-rack the slide. I wanted to do some dry-fire practicing in my home. After installing it, I was not too impressed; it’s not a true reset.

So I got to thinking: Is there away to take an old trigger assembly from my Glock and modify it to reset and get more of a real actiontype feel from dry-firing? Ralph Oliver In speaking with Glock regarding your query, we discovered that the reset kit is not a factory-made product. And we were not surprised when we were told that modifying a Glock factory trigger voided the warranty, while placing full responsibility upon the individual doing the work.

If you want to dry fire your pistol frequently, use a snap cap of the proper caliber. This will avoid the risk of punching a hole in the breechface. Enlarged Marlin Chamber? I have a Marlin 1894 in .44 Magnum. I didn’t notice a problem while shooting this rifle, but in preparing the cases for reloading I discovered something I wanted to ask about.

Shooting new off-the-shelf Winchester 240grain flat-point jacketed cartridges, I found the primer is formed back into the firing pin hole so it is a depression with a ridge ring around it. I thought that was a sign of high overpressure. The pin depression is about half that of my Ruger Blackhawk with the same ammo. One rifle-fired cartridge had split down the side, and another split about one third of its length in the middle, and all of them have a mark resembling a crack forming down their

(continued from previous page) side. All of the fired casings also show a bulge about 3/16-inch ahead of the rim, as though the chamber does not fully support the cartridge. Do you think I have a damaged rifle that needs anew barrel or serious repair work? Would a chamber casting tell me anything useful? I’ve never used Cerrosafe, but I’ve read about using it. Thank you for any suggestions or help you may be able to provide.

Steven Douglas address You are correct about primer set-back being an indicator of excessive pressure. The splitting, cracking, and bulging can appear with any pressure and indicate an enlarged chamber. We suggest you make a chamber cast with Cerrosafe (Brownells) and measure it against SAAMI chamber standards for the .44 Magnum. Instructions come with the product and are very easy to follow.

Then get ready to call Marlin to inquire about anew barrel, and don’t forget to ask the turnaround time they’ll need to install it. IJ Pistol Problems I have an Iver Johnson Model TP22 pistol with several problems. First, it occasionally "stove pipes." And second, at the top of the magazine, it fails to extract the fired casing. When it does so, it doesn’t feed a second round, although when cycled by hand, it does.

The gun cocks and fires after a failure but, of course, the pin is falling on an already-fired cartridge. It appears that the cartridges at the top of the magazine are lying flat rather than at an upward-tilted angle until four of the seven cartridges are removed from the magazine. Then the pistol functions as it should until the magazine is empty. Any ideas? I intend to disassemble the gun and give it a thorough cleaning before ordering (or attempting to order) any parts (if they are available).

Any idea where parts and/or magazines for this weapon can be obtained? I know that Iver Johnson has been a non-entity for some years. Thank you. Don D. Strickland To say you have "problems" with this pistol may be something of an understatement. This pistol model, a PPK look-alike, went out of production in 1989. If you’re using high-velocity ammunition, the gun may not have been designed to cope with it.

This can result in the action functioning too rapidly or "short cycling" and frequently trapping a spent shell between the bolt and breech faces before it can exit the ejection port. This condition can usually be resolved by or post a letter to American Gunsmith Reader Forum, Merritt Island, FL 32954. switching to standard-velocity ammunition. As for the apparent condition of the magazine, it sounds like it’s a wreck from lips downward, and the spring has weakened too much to be serviceable.

We doubt you’ll find a magazine from the usual sources, Gun Parts and Jack First, for example. Brownells publishes a parts-source list for out-of-production guns that’s available at no charge. You might also try Firearms International, Inc. High Standard Sight Removal Please help. A customer wants me to scope a High Standard Supermatic Trophy with the bridge rear sight. What’s the secret of getting the rear sight off? Thanks in advance.

James Parker Hartford, Wisconsin If you have the schematic, you have the secret. On each side near the bottom of each slide support there are one large and two small holes. The small holes are for pins that engage matching holes in the frame. These pins are not to be driven inward until and unless you establish they can be drifted inward without damage to internal parts. This is determined by removing the slide.

If the latter will not pass between the supporting legs of the rear sight, you have to tackle the two-piece pin that fits the large hole. The pin’s head on the left side of the sight unscrews to free the pin on the left side. On occasion, the left pin can be pulled from the right because someone forgot to thread both pin’s shafts. It depends on where the pistol was made. We’ve been told that this was not uncommon with pistols made in the Hartford facility.