Reader Forum

Winchester M97 And Crack Shot I have a Winchester Model 1897, serial number 625XXX. The corner of the hammer is broken. Are these available and where can I buy one? I also need a schematic as well for disassembly as I don’t think this one has ever been cleaned. I also have a Crack Shot made by J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co., serial number 47X. The bore is pretty much worn out, the rifling is rough and parts are missing.

I believe it is missing a nut on the receiver’s left side as the lever on the right side just rotates. No casing, ejector or firing pin moves. Are there parts available? I’d also need a schematic on this one as well. Richard Vandenberg Spokane Valley, WA On the M1897 see the Numrich Gun Parts Corporation (gunpartscorp. com, and Jack First Gunshop (jackfirstgun.com, catalogs. The old Stevens could be beyond help if intended to serve as more than a wall decoration.

In our opinion, the best way to approach its revival for any purpose would be via the American Single Shot Rifle Association (assra.com, Its membership is composed of deeply dedicated lovers of single shot rifles, part providers and those who specialize in servicing them. Further, try to glom on to a copy of Single Shot Rifles and Actions by the late Frank de Haas. It contains a schematic and a couple of pages dedicated to your side lever Crack Shot.

We understand copies might still be available from de Haas Barrels, Ridgeway, MO If that is no longer the case, a member of the ASSRA can borrow a copy from the organization’s extensive archives. Parts Sources I own a Luger P08 1916 Exfurst 9mm. Can you tell me where I can buy parts? I only need a couple small parts like springs and grip screws. Any info you can provide would be much appreciated.

Herbert Duncan If Numrich Gun Parts Corporation gunpartscorp.com), Armory Parts Exchange apexgunparts.com) or Jack First Gunshop (jackfirstgun.com, don’t list them, contact Brownells brownells. com) for a free copy of their Parts Source List for out of production firearms. Warm up your fingers to do a lot of walking. Budget Sporter Building A Custom Sporter On A Budget by Paul Mazan in your April 2013 issue was a spot on report. I have built two rifles on Mauser actions and two on 1903 Springfield actions.

I used Timney triggers and Weaver ring and base sets. All shoot great. The point of writing this note was to tell you of a good find I made several years ago. This would be the use of refurbished Nikon scopes. Three of my builds were varminters, so I mounted one 5×20 and two 8×32 scopes, all the $450 range. The .220 Swift first group was 0.69 inches and the .270 was 1.36. Both Natchez and Midway sell refurbished optics. Hope this will someone to find good glass without taking out a mortgage.

Author Paul Mazan responds: Thank you so much for the kind words on my recent article. It is always wonderful to know that something I’ve said or done has been of interest to another shooter. I honestly had not considered using refurbished scopes but that is a great solution to keeping the cost of a custom rifle in check while still getting atop notch scope. That is one piece of information I will not only pass on in the future but will take advantage of when I’m in the market for anew scope.

Barrel Extension I have two questions after reading The Relationship Of Barrel Extension Diameter To Accuracy In The AR-15 in your March and April 2013 issues. Aurora, OR Can you explain what you mean by "barrel extension timing?" I was going to put a recoil buffer on my M1A rifle but was told by other shooters that it would affect rifle timing. Can you comment on this?

George Bruno Author Joe Carlos responds: I know that a lot of hobbyists and just general shooters who don’t even work on guns read this publication, so I am trying to tailor my style to accommodate that audience as well as the professional gunsmith, like myself, who work on these things every day. The gunsmiths may be wishing that I would eliminate much of the supporting text designed to make the material understandable to those who don’t do this stuff for a living.

Obviously in this case I wasn’t specific enough, however. My bad! Your question about timing is a good one and I should have covered it better. I believe that came up with regard to taking one barrel extension off and substituting another in its place. I think I said that if you do that with garden varieties of extensions your chances of getting it to "time up right" is usually pretty poor.

I recall saying that if I substitute one BAT Machine extension for another BAT, however, that timing has been real good even though I have them from several runs. Bill Vickerman "Timing" an extension back up to a barrel that has the gas port already drilled is just a matter of getting them to line up the same at what is called "Top Dead Center" on the barrel. In other words, the barrel extension locator pin needs to line up

with the gas port right at the top of the barrel. If that fails to happen the gas port will be to the left of center, as you look down the barrel, in a barrel that is "over timed" and to the right of center on a barrel that is "under timed." Intuitively, a lot of folks say, "Well, if you ‘under time’ the thing just put on more torque and it will finally move into alignment.

Or if it is ‘over timed’, just back off on the amount of torque and things will line up." Unfortunately, there are limits on both the low end and top end of allowable torque that prevent this kind of repair unless misalignment of the barrel extension and gas port are very minor. Too little torque and the barrel can actually start to unscrew from the extension in the completed firearm. Not something you want happening!

The problem with a mistimed extension is that when you put the front sight on you may have function issues with insufficient gas. There is a hole in the front sight housing that captures the gas from the gas port and feeds it thru the gas tube. Obviously, if the gas port is off to either the right or left of center with regard to the front sight you run the risk that the gas hole in the front sight housing will fail to line up with the gas port in the barrel and the gun will not get enough gas to function right.

Fortunately, when Stoner designed the gun he took minor misalignments into consideration and he made the hole in the front sight housing a little fatter than the gas port hole to catch small alignment problems. I perform some further minor modifications to improve this even more. As far as using recoil buffers in the M1A, I go way back with that gun and got all my President’s Hundred tabs as well as my Distinguished Rifleman badge with it. I used the mercury recoil reducers and never had a lick of function issues.

I like to see them stabilized in the stock so they can’t shift back and forth, however. If you push the buffer all the way forward you can cut a wooden dowel rod to fill the extra space at the back. A more permanent solution is to run hot glue from a hot glue gun down to fill the void if you are absolutely sure you aren’t going to want to remove the buffer. The stock of the M1A has two of those holes drilled and I always ran two of the mercury units.

If I didn’t make this timing business clear, I have a follow up article in queue where I show some pictures of how to check timing in extensions that have been taken off and then put back on that might make it more clear. Swivels And Scope Mounting I was always taught to drill for a onepiece mount, which is two holes in the front ring and one in the rear.

These three holes can always be used later if someone instead wants to use two piece bases as the two screws in the front base and one in the rear will hold any scope without drilling additional holes in the receiver. Also, a comment on Installing Sling Swivels On A Hunting Rifle (February 2013.) I have had several rifles come in where someone had used screws in the forearm instead of the screw with the nut that goes inside the barrel channel. Sooner or later the screw will tear out and the rifle will fall.

You can sell them anew scope or stock or barrel, depending on how hard the rifle falls. Gary Kruger Author Wendell Deaner responds: Thank you for reading my articles and taking the time to respond. However, I must stand my ground on this scope mount issue and say that, as far as I am concerned, if amount has two holes that is what I will use. I do not believe that the scope will be mounted as strong as it could be if amount (such as a Weaver) is mounted with only one hole.

Of course, the scope mounts will look as though they are strong but that is not the case. Also, I never advocated using a wood screw in the forend of a stock. I think if you Acraglas it in this method could work. I agree with you that it will fail eventually. I think you have come up with a novel approach to drumming up new business, but I’ll stick with the tried and true. AG