Reader Forum

Spanish Shotgun What do you know about shotguns made in Spain? The only markings are on the example in my shop is "Acero Cromado Especial." JR Weaver Mountain Man Gun Works Admittedly, we know nothing about a shotgun bearing the markings you describe. Our files are far from large enough to cover the entire gun manufacturing world.

Rather that have you wait while we contact an outfit that may have the information, send your request and gun markings to the National Firearms Museum, Fairfax, VA 22030 (nramuseum.org, Colt 1991A1 I am having a problem with a Colt 1991A1 that came in to me to have a new slide release, grip safety, and trigger installed, along with rebluing. Testing after the work was complete revealed the pistol won’t extractor eject.

I will admit to not test firing it before I started the work and can only assume it functioned properly. Now when fired the slide will not come back far enough for the case to clear the barrel. I have tried different ammunition with the same result. Do you think I should try different weight springs from Wolff Gunsprings? Kenneth W. Wright Wright Enterprises of Texas Point one, never assume anything about a firearm you’re servicing, including the possibility it was handed to another previously for the same purpose.

A possibility for anew or retightened ejector exists. The slideto-frame fit should be checked for drag. With proper fit, the slide should move freely to the rear when the frame muzzle end is tilted upward. In this test no assistance is to be provided to the slide and only the slide and frame are involved in the testing. Pull out the recoil spring presently in the pistol. Arrange with Wolff to test its poundage, then request one of their variable springs as a replacement.

These springs are functionable under a wider range of operating conditions than a single weight spring and far safer than dropping in a too light spring that can cause frame battering. Closely reinspect the work you

have done and check it against the same practices described in Colt .45 Automatic: A Shop Manual by Jerry Kuhnhausen. We dread to mention it but the ultimate fear of a bent frame rears its ugly head regardless. Ithaca M37 Action Problem I have an Ithaca Model 37 in the shop with an action problem. The bolt will jam after firing. If I wait a few seconds after firing around I can work the action and eject the spent hull but if I try to work the action immediately after firing, it will jam.

I have checked the slide lock and it is working normally. I have polished the chamber, thinking that the shell expansion in the chamber might be causing the problem but this did not resolve the issue. I’ve read this is a common problem with the Ithaca M37 but nothing on how to correct the problem. Richard Spencer Spence’s Gun Shop Hopefully, you didn’t go too far with the chamber polishing and enlarge it.

That being asked, we had a talk with a technician at Ithaca Gun USA, current producer of the Model 37 (ithacagun. com, Excerpted commentary from that conversation raised concerns that the headspace is off. Fitting anew barrel is the resolution. Another possibility, the action is being cycled too rapidly. A third and probably the cause of the problem is ammunition related.

Explaining that further, when an older Model 37 is fed modern shotshells, they might lack the hull strength of those produced back in the day the gun was made. This can create a condition similar to excessive headspace and the "common problem" you mentioned being the hull expands into the barrels extractor notches.

Winchester Model 12 I have a barrel chamber ring mating issue in a 1952 Winchester Model 12, 2 3/4" chamber, of introduction and to anticipate some of your questions, the chamber length is clearly stamped "2 3/4" on the barrel. The chamber ring appears to be properly seated, centered, and aligned with the receiver’s extractor cuts. The receiver was originally drilled and tapped for only one chamber-ring screw. The barrel and receiver bear the same serial number.

Both left and right extractors, springs, and plungers have been replaced by me. Snap caps fit, cycle, and extract without problem or perceptible drag. There appear to be no dry fire headspace issues. Regardless of manufacture, all fired shotshells resist extraction. The fired shell is wedged in place and can only be forcibly removed with a wooden dowel inserted in the muzzle end.

Upon close inspection of each fired hull it is clear that the barrel’s mated headspace is slightly greater than that of the neighboring chamber ring. Each spent shotshell’s brass is almost imperceptibly bulged just distal to the mating point of the chamber ring and barrel. When I first encountered the problem, on digital inspection of the mated chamber ring and barrel, a very slight, left-sided crescent of step off into the barrel was palpable.

I have since been carefully burnishing the unmated chamber ring’s inner surface with emery paper and abrasive cleaning pads to achieve a "best fit" and can no longer palpate a step off once remated, yet the problem persists. Finally, are the headspace cutters and reamers so nicely illustrated in Winchester’s 1957 Model 12 Sequence of Take-Down and Assembly Operations manual still available for purchase anywhere? John R.

Cooney, MD Checking a medical dictionary for a definition of "palpable" and "palpate" indicates you could digitally feel something, believe you have eliminated it, but the extraction problem remains. To us, this suggests an enlarged chamber. Check out the suspicion with Nu-Line Guns, a former Winchester Authorized Service Center (nulineguns.com, Ext. 5).

No idea who made the cutting and chamber tooling shown in the factory manuals but Dave Manson produces what are considered top-of-the-line these days (mansonreamers.com, Don’t panic when the phone is answered with, "Hello, Loon Lake Precision." AG