Reader Forum

Custom Ruger I was very interested in Paul Mazan’s article on customizing an ugly pistol ("Ruger P-Series Custom Touches", September 2013.) It was very well written and informative. I like the work he did on the frame, trigger, guard, and slide release. However, he totally ruined the lines of the slide by grinding them off, removing the decocker and giving it the look of parts missing, then coating it with the appearance of black spray can paint. Maybe a professional finish would make it look better?

I appreciate the effort that went into the project but, sorry, it’s uglier now than it was before. Author Paul Mazan responds. Thank you for the kind words on the work I did on the frame, trigger guard and slide release. I am sorry you did not like the work done on the slide or the finish. The great thing about customizing a firearm is that you have control of the work done and can simply not do those things that you dislike.

The concept of the article was more along the lines of things you CAN do to a Ruger pistol and not necessarily things you SHOULD do. If that was not clear it is my fault. Regarding the finish, I think I mentioned in the article that whatever alloy the P89 is made of would not blue. I chose to use an air activated epoxy finish because I know it to be tough, waterproof and chemical resistant. My job at the time, as a Armored Car courier, required me to be out in all weather with my duty gun.

Since that includes working on ATMs outside, the gun was often exposed to rain, snow and freezing temperatures so a waterproof and scratch resistant finish were a high priority for me. There are any number of other finishes available that might give you a finish more to your taste. This particular pistol is not a decocking model. It is equipped with the hammer drop safety so no safety parts were removed nor are any missing.

I would not alter or remove factory safety devises or advise anyone else to do so due to the liability issues that would crop up. I did, however, severely bob the hammer in an effort to reduce lock time without reducing reliability. Thank you so much for taking the time to write and tell us both what you liked and disliked about the project. That kind of input is important to me and helps me to write articles that address the readers needs. Headspacing I inherited a Remington Model 71 in .32 caliber.

The brass splits when firing, a sign of a headspacing issue. The usual cause is an eroded chamber but using Cerrosafe makes a casting that appears OK. Alan Woodard What are the tolerances for this rifle? Is there another likely cause, such as the breech not locking up correctly? Can I cheat by partial resizing the brass? Are brass jacket bullets causing too much resistance and causing a pressure spike?

We spent a couple of hours going through Roy Marcot’s book, Remington: America’s Oldest Gunmaking Company, considered the richest reference for firearms produced by the company since its inception, Standard Catalog of Firearms and The Blue Book of Gun Values before giving up and calling a Remington company historian. We quickly found out why we found no mention of the rifle. Remington never made a Model 71.

This leads us to suspect the true identity of your rifle, assuming it is a lever action, is a Winchester Model 71 made 1936 – 1958. The problem with that assumption is Browning resurrected the Model 71 in a limited edition circa 1987. This raises another problem. It was chambered only for the .348 Winchester. If, somehow, a caliber .32 cartridge has been touched off in a .348 chamber, the operator was fortunate nothing worse that split brass was the result.

We are amazed the spent case could have been extracted without the help of a light hammer being applied to a brass rod or hard wood dowel inserted down the bore. Feel free to make a Cerrosafe cast of the chamber remembering it will shrink slightly after being removed.

As for chamber tolerances, in the United States all manufacturers of firearms and/or ammunition must meet those established by The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI) Call and request the chamber specifications for the .348 Winchester and measure your casting against them. Note, there may be a charge for duplication and postage. Finally, do no reloading, do no shooting, do nothing more to or with the rifle until you know for sure what you’re shouldering.

Rust I read somewhere of a chemical that turns a rusted surface into something akin to a Parkerized surface but can’t find where I read of it. I have a flintlock that someone tried to rust blue and failed. The owner is not particular. Steve Brown Michael D Kent Hardware stores used to carry an aerosol spray that transformed a rusted surface into one suitable for overspraying with Rustoleum thereby preventing further rusting. It worked great on rusty drain pipes but we never tried it out on a gun.

In your case, we’re going to assume the flintlock had been freed from rust, polished and degreased before the bluing attempt was made. If not, it may explain the failure. From what you have told us, we can’t visualize the rifle’s present condition but since the owner is "not particular", discuss the advisability of abandoning another attempt at a rust blue finish and applying instead a highly serviceable coating. In the February 2006 issue we reported on the nearly indestructible Dura Coat.

Recently, one of our staff-

ers took in a venerable single barrel Mossberg 283 .410 gauge bolt action shotgun. It’s once blued barrel wore a coat of rust from end-to-end with deep pitting near its receiver end, in addition to other points along its length. This raised two concerns. The pits had to be smoothed out and the barrel polished or a bluing job would look pockmarked. Many of the pits, particularly those close to the receiver, would require a considerable amount of metal to be removed.

Would this, then, weaken the barrel to a danger point? The staffer believed it might and convinced the owner use a double application of Dura Coat instead, providing a smooth surface by filling the pits and providing a very nice looking military dark gray Parkerized appearance. Of course, there was no comparison in cost between the rebluing versus coating so Dura Coat was chosen and the customer was delighted with the result.

As for the choices open for the old flintlock, there are over 90 standard Dura Coat solid colors to choose from. Though it calls for a base coating of any color, white is recommended, and metallic blue should be considered. On the other hand, an application of Dura Pearl Red over Dura Coat Matte Black comes close to a professionally done deep browning job. Before making a final decision, call Steve Lauer at Discuss the project with him and don’t fail to inquire about his new Shake ‘N Spray Dura Coat kits.

Each contains what’s required, including a can of compressed air, for a couple of guns and cost only $29.95 as this is written. Union Paci ic Firearms As a researcher and collector of Union Pacific Railroad firearms I read with much interest your discussion on Parker Brothers double barrel shotguns. This refers to a number of such guns used by UPRR. I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me which model of Parker these were.

Was it the model with the lifter bar in front of the trigger guard or was it opened by using atop lever? I am guessing that they were exposed hammer style. Was the stock grip over straight or pistol gripped? Were the barrels standard sporting gun length or shortened? We wish we could, Reader Heinrich, but our technical adviser on the matter of a "Gross of Parker Doubles" never got to see a single one of the SNs in order, boxed and unfired Parkers hiding in the attic of his customer’s Grandpa.

After begging the former gunsmith, now turned adviser, to install choke tubes in one or more of the collection, and being turned down, said customer adorned the premises only to return a day later with the news the guns were still en-wrapped and covered with preservative grease. The news was accompanied with a loud request for an valuation and a denial to allow the ‘smith to peek at the collection.

Despite this, our adviser researched several model possibilities before contacting an equal number of second opinion sources such as the NRA Museum and the curators of Arms and Armor at both the Smithsonian and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bottom line, the gross of Parkers bearing sequential serial numbers was priceless. The owner was advised to portion the collection out to various museums and enjoy the advantage of a sizable tax deduction for several years.

This, our adviser was told, the owner-grandson did very soon afterwards. That distribution was accompanied by the "grateful" Grandson’s refusal to present his adviser with one, just one, Parker double as a token of thanks for his contribution to unexpected, lifelong financial independence. Sigh. Mauser Sights How are Mauser 98 sights installed? Are they press fit with a temp differential or soldered? Jim Codling Carl Heinrich It depends on where the rifle was made.

The answer might be found in the book Mauser Bolt Rifles, by Ludwig Olsen. The rifles were produced in plenty of places including Germany, Spain, Turkey and occupied Europe during WW II. In factories located in Yugoslavia, for example, Mausers were deliberately sabotaged by the slave labor being forced to build them. AG