Reader Forum

Wholesalers in Canada I’m anew member and hopefully you can help me in my request. I live in Saskatchewan within the Province of Alberta and British Columbia to the west and Manitoba and Ontario to the east. I am a gunsmith and have been sending for parts from the United States but the exchange rate, postage and extra time this costs is prohibitive. I have contacted a couple of area gunsmiths to see if they would help me to find a local wholesaler to provide me with parts to no avail.

Do you know of any wholesalers that would make acquiring needed parts in my area more affordable? If you include my email address perhaps my fellow American Gunsmith readers in Canada could advise me as well. The U. S. Federal Government has made it expensive for a manufacturer to ship his product anywhere outside the country. The expense has been increased by the involvement of the State Department to the tune of $2500.00 (USD) plus a tall stack of paperwork. Add to the expenses imposed by the U.

S. the excise taxes of the receiving country and you begin to get an idea of why you have you problem. But wait … there is hope in Ed mondton, Alberta. The operation is Western Gun Parts (westerngunparts. com). We’ve been told Irv Hein, President, and his son, Jeff, are good people to do business with. Century Arms Bearcat I have a .22 caliber rifle manufactured by Century Arms Company. BEARCAT No. 5 22 S-L-LR is stamped on the receive upper barrel.

I need a firing pin and stock for it, but I can not find if the company is still in business. Where I can purchase parts or get repair instructions for it? Century Arms is an importer, not a manufacturer. Their Vermont operation services all Century Arms imports. Call Vermont to see if they might have the parts you need for your rifle, which we believe has become a discontinued item. If it is still on their shelves, no problem. If not, they may be able to guide you to another source.

Howa Ri le Tech Question Could you please advise me as to the potential causes of an erratic firing pattern in a Howa rifle? A friend has a Howa rifle in .300 Winchester Magnum topped with a Nikon Buckmas ter 4-12X50 scope. The rifle has been grouping shots about three inches at 100 yards with every third or fourth shot low about four-inches and off a bit to the right.

After a week or two he went back to the range and the rifle shot eight-inches high for the first two shots and then dropped back down to point of aim and grouping around three inches in size. My friend states that no adjustments were made and is at a loss for a solution. He has consistently been using Winchester Super-X 180 grain Power Points. We suspect a bad scope, however, any suggestions would certainly be helpful. W.

Bradbrooke We’ll give you benefit of the doubt and assume that potential marksmanship errors have already been factored out. Before anything else is tried, check the scope rings and base for any looseness. If loose, tighten and use BLUE Loc Tite on the threads. If that doesn’t cure the disease, replace the Nikon scope with one you know to be consistently "on" and test fire the rifle.

If the replacement works, it’s a pretty sound indication there’s something amiss within the Nikon and it should be returned to the factory with a test target for correction. M1 Carbine and Sears 200 Need some directions on solving two problems. First, I have a M1 W. G. Conner Norfolk, VA Carbine, an Iver Johnson, that fails to eject. The carbine smoke stacks all brands of ammo, including US military issue ball. It has been cleaned thoroughly.

My second question is a Sears Model 200 shotgun that is a Winchester Model 1200 look alike. It unlocks upon firing and the bolt opens at least a half-inch, even when not holding the forearm. Burt Franke The gun seems to be extracting but not ejecting. Common causes for this malfunction are rooted with the ejector spring (weak, rusted, altered, damaged or substituted), elector plunger (altered or damaged), Ejector spring/plunger stuck or frozen, rusted or damaged plunger/spring passage within the bolt, short recoil.

An excellent shop manual on the U. S., 30 Caliber Carbines has been written by Jerry Kuhnhausen and is available from Brownells. It covers complete rebuilding, repair and contains technical data in depth. As for the shotgun, check the cross reference index in a Numrich Gun Parts Corporation catalog (gunpartscorp.com) to affirm the OEM of the piece. There were some 12-gauge pumps designed to allow the bolt to pop open slightly after discharge.

We don’t recall the Winchester 1200 to be among them so you may have a wear problem with the bolt lugs or the bolt locking system. Pete Rodriguez Marlin 336 Feeding Problem I have Marlin Model 336 chambered in .30-30 in my shop with a feeding problem. The round hangs up between the carrier and magazine when cycling the lever. I’ve changed the carrier, finger lever, carrier rocker, extractor and ejector. It seems to work better but still exhibits the same problem.

John Savely We’re going to assume all related springs, such as the carrier spring,

were included in your overhaul and your cartridge guide isn’t out of adjustment (see May 2008 issue, page 16.) A rare cause for your feeding problem might be a broken or weakened inner magazine tube spring. Ergo, the cartridges aren’t reaching the guide as they should and getting hung up between tube and guide. 1917 Enfield and AR-15 A co-worker of mine has a US 1917 Enfield he got from his father. At some time before he got it, someone took a saw to the forstock.

He has asked me to find a synthetic sportier stock that will fit his Enfield. I have checked with H. S. Precision, Mc Millan, and Boyds, with no luck. Can you help me locate a stock for this gun? He has also asked me about converting it from cocking on closing to cocking on opening. I have spoken with an old retired gunsmith friend of mine that has converted several of them in years past. From his explanation it is a rather involved process.

He suggested I check to see if there is anyone who has developed a conversion kit to accomplish this job. Is there such a conversion kit available and how do I find them? Also, I have an AR-15 I built when I was studying at Trinidad State Junior College, assembled with a bull barrel that I turned. It’s an excellent, sub-minute of angle shooter, however, I would like to lighten the muzzle weight by fluting the barrel, I have had no luck finding anyone that will do the fluting job for me. Can you help?

On the 1917 Enfield, these are rapidly becoming rare collectibles. Despite the forend being butchered we’d concentrate on restoration inclusive of replacement with a 1917 original. If your friend, the old gunsmith, is willing and able ask him to perform the cocking conversion. There are no kits available but you may be reducing value since it’s a departure from the original.

The reason you may be having a problem outsourcing the fluting job could be due to the outside provider, fearing liability, does not wish to take on the task when the barrel was machined elsewhere. Concentrate your search with quality barrel makers such as Shilen, Douglas and Mc Millan. If necessary, have a legal agreement drawn up for you to sign relieving the supplier of all responsibility. We wonder, however, if you can machine a sub-MOA barrel why can’t you flute it yourself?

All you need is a ball-end mill bit combined with a strict adherence to safe barrel wall thickness. Remington 1100 A customer is having problems with his 1100 not ejecting. His magazine tube is pretty well pitted from past abuse and is letting too much gas escape from not sealing around the rings. I can put a film of grease on the tube and it functions fine, but clean it off and it does not. Is there away to remedy this without replacing the tube and if not, what’s the best way to remove and replace it?

I know this sounds crazy, but could you fill in the pits with something like Bondo and sand smooth, or something along that line? We can’t see the patch up and sanding thing restoring the union between the beat-up tube and the gas ring, piston and piston seal. All three of the latter should be replaced and anew tube installed. That’s where some real repair bucks can come your way. The tube is silver soldered in the receiver. 1400 degrees will defeat the solder so the tube can be pulled.

Due to the heat, the receiver will have to be refinished. Remington sells both tube and the tube shims required for proper alignment. Suggestion: We think Brownells still offers a lower temp/high strength sil Bob Obarska ver solder blend you could use when reinstalling the tube. Model 12 Shotgun I need a how-to on changing out a barrel on a Model 12 Winchester shotgun. I can’t find any info on this nor can I locate any tools that are made to do this either.

How much force it will take to unthread the barrel from the extension? Bill West Paladin Firearms Before you start this project we’ll assume you have a replacement barrel on hand. These are the steps described in along out-of-print factory manual dating back to when Olin Corporation still owned Winchester. They apply after the barrel and its receiver extension have been removed from the receiver.

To separate the barrel from the extension requires fabrication of an offset drifting tool which can be made from 1/2 x 7-inch bar stock. A true flat is ground on one-inch of one side at the end of the work piece. A 5/16" copper plug with rounded head and beveled edges is centered and pressed, or soldered into the flat. The portion of the bar that has been ground flat and that now includes the copper plug must be bent at a 90 degree angle. The opposite end will receive impact from a hammer as described later.

Danny Griner Insert a hardwood dowel to prevent crushing and secure the barrel between padded vise jaws with the magazine tunnel in the receiver extension upward. An offset drift is inserted into the hole with the copper plug placed and held in contact with the strongest portion of the extension near its base. Viewing the extension from the barrel thread end, the tool is struck with a hammer to start the extension moving counter clockwise. Afterwards, it can be unscrewed by hand.

You may elect to grind the above mentioned flat in the round stock to a length longer than one inch, bend

the stock before the copper plug is installed, or solder in two plugs. A longer flat could "spread out" the hammer impacts somewhat and help protect the extension from being damaged or knocked out-ofround, but this is up to you. Ruger MK II I never thought I would never need help with one of these, but I seem to be up against a bit of a wall. A Ruger MK II target model was brought in with the main spring housing partially installed.

It can’t be fully installed, but it’s really bound up and will not tip out for removal. I removed the mag latch, hoping to get a better look after the grips were off, but no luck. I thought about removing the red dot sight and rail with the thought of drifting out the receiver locking pin. I’m in no rush to apply force because there should be no reason to, however, the whole thing is really jammed in there. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I know as a last resort I could have him send it back to the Ruger Service Department but I really would like to win this one! We appreciate and sympathize with your will to win. Most likely your customer failed to tilt the muzzle downward when trying to reassemble the pistol. As a result, the hammer strut failed to swing forward against the front of the grip frame. This caused the mainspring assembly to be blocked.

Perhaps this frustrated the customer and the situation was forced considerably but to no avail, thus causing the jammed up condition. Factory jigs are normally used to disassemble the mainspring assembly. These jigs prevent the very powerful mainspring from transforming the detent ball at its base into an extremely dangerous projectile. Our best advice is to place a phone book on your bench top. Tilt the muzzle down, pull the trigger and rap the muzzle against the book.

This often jars the hammer into its fired position and the mainspring housing can be removed. The rapping may have to be performed more than once. If it fails to help, allow wisdom to surpass lost pride and ship the pistol to Ruger’s Service Department in Arizona Mike Solomon Sportsman 48 Ejector I have a Remington Sportsman 48 in my shop that needs the ejector replaced. I can’t seem to get the old one to budge from its place. Any ideas or suggestions that may help?

Paul Hickey The ejector is brazed to the Sportsman barrel extension. Remove the magazine cap, forend and barrel. Heat ONLY the area of the extension to soften the brazing material. Remove the ejector, clean out its slot and braze in the replacement. Ancient Marlin Woes Okay, so in a moment of weakness, I bought a single-shot Marlin Model 10, most likely of pre-WWII vintage due to the lack of the date stamping on any metal. After the initial cleanup it appears to have been worth the forty dollars I paid for it.

Here’s the rub. Upon firing, the extractor will slide over the case rim and not extract the spent case. If you push down on the forward edge of the bolt on the extractor cut in the bolt head, it will grudgingly work but you can tell it doesn’t really want to. I have tried five different types of ammo, thoroughly cleaned the extractor, bolt and spring, checked the chamber for cavitation due to shooting 22 Shorts and everything appears to be as it should.

Is my only choice to replace the extractor and spring and hope for the best, or can you recommend a teeny adjustment that will solve my problem? Thanks for your time, ‘cause you guys have saved me a ton of it over the years! C. J Groote The "teeny adjustment" might be to build up and reform the tip of the extractor but Gun Parts shows they have parts for the Marlin Glenfield Model 10. Check with Marlin Customer Service to assure compatibility. AG