Reader Forum

Parts Source List As was mentioned in these pages but may have been missed, your Technical Editor, Chick Blood, has been getting all too many "undeliverables" from his email responses to reader inquiries. In each case, copies of queries received are retained and a double check on the email return addresses are found to match those appearing in the original query. Nevertheless, a small stack has built up regarding the need for parts. Most are from readers who have struck out with Gun Parts or Jack First.

To those readers and all others suffering a similar fate, do not give up. Brownells offers, at no cost, a multi-page parts source list for out of production, or no longer imported offshore produced guns. Making a call to Montezuma, Iowa, is all you have to do to receive that list. Add it to your permanent files. It’s further recommended that you keep track of the long distance calls you will be making and add their estimated cost to your service charge.

When he was open to the public, Chick used to secure a fee to cover these expenses before accepting any old timer of a gun, one whose importer had gone out of business or was originally made overseas and was missing parts up front. Remington Nylon 77 I have a Remington Nylon 77 with a magazine that doesn’t latch completely. I would like to clean it thoroughly but am unsure what to use on this firearm as it has a plastic-like stock. I have not found any assembly/disassembly diagrams in your magazine.

Any help that you may lend would be appreciated. You wouldn’t have found an article for the Nylon 77 in this publication as we have never done one, only on the Nylon 66. The 77 went out of production in 1972 while the 66 lasted through the late 1980s. We checked Brownells web site for a schematic on the 77 with no luck but Auction Arms (gunauction. com) turns up a reproduction of the 77 instruction manual available for purchase.

Also, your search engine will lead you in several directions for information, parts and the like when you point your browser to NylonRifles.com. As for the polymer stock you’ll have no reason to be concerned if you contact Cylinder & Slide, Inc. (cylinder-slide.com) for a bucket of their Universal Dunk-Kit cleaner, safe for steel and polymer alike. We recommend quick action on the instruction manual.

H&R Revolver I have an H&R revolver manufactured in Gardner Massachusetts, Model 733 (SN: AX0006XX) chambered in S&W .32 Long. The cylinder will not turn when the trigger is pulled or when the hammer is cocked. It seems the cylinder arm is coming up and out, but not far enough to engage the cylinder. I would lean that this cylinder arm is worn too far. I will try Brownells for parts first, but it may come that I’ll just scrap the weapon.

The cylinder arm you refer to is called a hand or pawl, depending on the manufacturer of the revolver. Your description indicates it is seriously worn and no longer contacts the cylinder ratchets. The spring which moves it forward into contact could have grown too weak to do its job anymore or could be broken. You’ll probably be wanting replacements for both. There-in lies your biggest problem.

The original manufacturer, H&R, is no longer based in Gardner, became H&R 1871, was absorbed by Marlin and, about two years ago, was swallowed up by what is now The Freedom Group along with Marlin, Remington, and more. Even if you could contact the Verlin present entity, we couldn’t provide a phone number. Beyond that, we have every doubt such a contact would be fruitless since the present entity didn’t manufacture the gun.

To be brutally honest and frank, we believe The Freedom Group has erected its own version of an "iron curtain" or, more accurately, spread an iron blanket over its acquisitions. If we didn’t have a few direct line phone numbers remaining in our files we have yet to uncover new ones for the acquired companies. We fully intend to melt down or unravel said curtain or blanket during our SHOT Show visit. Meanwhile, contact Brownells for a complimentary copy of their Parts Source List for out-of-production firearms.

If it does turn out to be the ratchets, getting them back up to specs equals brain surgery. M1917 Scope Mounting After reading the December 2011 issue I noticed in the article "Scope Mounting The US Model of 1917 Eddystone/Enfield Rifle" by Norman Johnson the rear screw hole of the front scope base is positioned in the top receiver locking lug. On any two locking lug action no holes should be drilled into the lugs.

In Europe any action drilled like this is automatically rejected as being "out of proof" and is considered unsafe to use. We don’t know what the SAAMI regulation is but it’s better safe than sorry. There is ample space to position the screw holes further forward. Wayne E. Barry The recent article on scope mounting the M1917 clearly shows pictures of a tapped hole in the rear of the front receiver ring.

Unfortunately, this is a problem because the rear portion of the front receiver ring includes the locking lug seat that supports the bolt lugs. In a M1917 receiver this would include about the last 0.420 inches of the front ring. Receivers drilled

through the bolt support can be ruined by the screw hole and the practice has long been considered unsafe and unnecessary. See an admonition by authors Wallack and Hawley on pages 90-91 in The National Rifle Association Gunsmithing Guide. Avoidance of the bolt support zone also allows an open hole for easier tapping and permits spot annealing for those receivers that may require it.

Drilling and tapping holes in bolt action rifles should be done only after careful measurement to identify no-drill areas such as locking lug seats, and in the case of M98 Mausers, the inner shoulder used to headspace the barrel.

Kuhnhausen’s The Mauser Bolt Actions: M91-M98, A Shop Manual identified the remainder of the front receiver ring as a "safe drilling zone." In the case of the M1917 and M1914 Enfields the front receiver ring excluding the lug support and all of the rear ring would be considered a safe drilling zone. This leaves plenty of room for standard hole patterns and allows the use of mounts such as the one piece M70-AH, which can use the existing rear sight hole in appropriately contoured receivers.

For those that lack access to a milling machine Weaver-style front bases can be used on same-height receiver rings. Blank M98 Mauser bases also can be cut to proper length to cover milled slots (which can be filled by soldering a steel insert in place) in those receivers that have them. Author Norman Johnson responds: As indicated in the article, the same scope was remounted using the existing 6-48 size screw holes using a tap to clean up the existing threads.

Loctite Threadlocker was used to lock the new screws in place. Aside from aligning the bases, the scope was essentially re-mounted on the rifle just as it was brought to me. I do not know who the original gunsmith was who performed the work on this rifle. The customer has used this rifle quite extensively without incident. I will, however, pass this information on to the owner of this rifle.

In an effort to be thorough, I explained in detail the work I performed to the rifle as reported in my article to Dave Bennett at the Brownells Technical Department. When asked if he saw any problems with this, he said the scope mounting as done would have no weakening effect on this very strong action regardless of rearward screw placement. He further commented on this exceedingly strong action and that one could do virtually anything you want with it.

Winchester 24 In a past issue of American Gunsmith you published a problem I was encountering with the lack of a cocking lever spring on a Winchester 24 double shotgun. As I learned, the key to the issue was that the cocking lever pin, which also retains the torsion cocking lever spring, had either been cut off flush with the sides of the receiver, or this particular model variation was built without a cocking lever spring.

Once I obtained the correct (longer) pin to retain the cocking levers and spring the correct orientation of the spring became obvious. Harold However, regarding the real complaint of difficult opening and closing of the gun, the cause was narrowed down to extreme tension between the forend hanger lug, forend iron and the barrel pivot portion of the front of the receiver.

Once the interfering fit of the forend iron window and the barrel forend lug was gradually relieved the barrels began to open and close more reasonably and smoothly. Proper adjustment here made for a good fit. Don Evidently, the Buckinghams (Trenton, TN) contact we suggested worked out. Good. Often, with this type of specialist that limits inventory to one or a few obsolete lines, small parts such as pins tend less to be tossed into the wrong holding bin.

Secondly, most doubles that develop a resistance to opening and/or closing do so because something is binding. Discovering exactly what is causing the annoyance usually occurs after an application or two of indicator fluid or, lacking that, a dark color magic marker. AG