Reader Forum

I applied 12 more coats of Dicropan IM. After applying each coat I boiled the cylinder for five minutes, removed it from the water, shook off the excess water, and allowed it to air dry. After the cylinder dried it had a white coating which I carded off with a second degreased pad of 000 steel wool. It took nine coats before the cylinder started to take on a darker color, so I did four more applications to get the nice dark color I was looking for.

I soaked the cylinder in a water-displacing oil overnight to allow the bluing to cure. The only way I could tell the Dicropan IM-blued cylinder from the factory-blued cylinder was the newly finished cylinder did not have a drag ring caused by the cylinder latch. To finish the job I took an electric engraver and engraved the last three digits of the Vaquero’s serial number on the front face of each cylinder similar to the way Ruger does at the factory so I can tell which cylinder goes with which gun.

I have now doubled the versatility of my two .45 LC Vaqueros by providing a .45 ACP conversion cylinder for each one, and hopefully increased the value of each revolver as well. AG

Remington Trigger Issue M. H. Walker, codesigner of the Walker-Haskell trigger used by Remington, acknowledged as early as 1947 that his design was flawed after receiving reports of unintentional discharges from a select group of shooters given pre-production rifles equipped with the new trigger for testing. After confirming the flaw in his design, he wrote a memo to his superiors suggesting with a hand-drawn diagram to implement a simple fix for the fire on safety release issue, the most common of the reports.

He recognized the displacement of the connector as being the cause of the unintentional discharges and suggested a manual reset of the connector utilizing the action of the safety when placed in the safe position. The manual reset that he recommended in 1947 was designed into the X-Mark Pro trigger in 2007, sixty years later. More about this can be read in a report authored by Jack Belk, Unsafe By Design: Forensic Gunsmithing and Firearms Accident Investigations (independent.academia.edu/JBelk).

Jim Corolewski Ramsey Gunsmithing RK Campbell responds. In spite of some criticisms, the Remington trigger has served sportsmen, police and military well for many years. This doesn’t mean the system is perfect or infallible. All of the injuries with the rifle came from unsafe handling, just as injury with the Glock and 1911 come from unsafe handling. It is litigious society that is the real problem. Certainly of the millions made some had problems.

The Remington can be maladjusted and made dangerous, but it is as good a product as most and better than some. I guess it’s too bad Carlos Hathcock is no longer around to ask! Remington 51 Pistol I recently came across a Remington 51 pistol in non-collectible condition and thought I would try to figure out how it works and investigate improving the trigger pull. As presented to me, the trigger pull was heavy and rough, with several "grabby" spots.

I found a bit of disassembly/assembly help from the Internet and managed to completely disassemble and clean the pistol, leading to my questions. Has American Gunsmith ever done an article on the Remington 51? Why does the sear lock lever, which prevents the hammer from falling when the magazine is removed, have two holes drilled in it? One is for the pin which holds it in place. What is the purpose of the other hole? Can this lever be left out if I preferred the capability of firing without a magazine in place?

What is the best order of reassembly for the action components (hammer, sear, disconnector)? What components need to be polished to lighten and smooth the trigger pull? The trigger spring inside the body of the trigger seems to be the primary contributor to pull weight. Are there any cautions about shortening this spring? Yes, we have previously covered the Model 51 in August 2005. If you managed to find how to disassemble the pistol, you should reverse those steps to reassemble it.

No, do not remove the sear lock lever. Your task is to reduce friction, a common practice followed by police armorers when the officers in their respective departments complain of overly heavy trigger pulls in duty weapons. You have already partially experienced the result of friction reduction. While it actually doesn’t lighten a pull to a point where misfires are possible, it makes the trigger feel lighter because it operates more smoothly. Gun Digest publishes a book of handgun schematics.

Buy it and refer to it as we take you through a thorough polishing job. Underscore "polishing." You don’t want to remove so much metal from a pin, for example, that it subsequently no longer serves its purpose of holding components together. Having a schematic handy will make the following directions readily understandable.

Polish the stem of the sear lock, the mainspring strut, the sear lock lever pin, the sear lock pin, the sides of the trigger bow, the trigger bow recesses in the grip frame, the inner surface of the recoil spring bushing, the side surfaces of the hammer, disconnector and sear, and the inner surface of the mainspring. Now check the interior of the frame in areas that come into contact with the polished parts. Lightly touch up any rough spots or signs of rubbing.

We see no trigger spring within the trigger on our schematic. If we did, we’d strongly advise it not be cut. The same is true of the mainspring. Instead, contact Wolff Springs (gunsprings.com, to see if they have lighter ones for the Model 51. Remember, the 51 in .32 ACP or .380 can rightfully be considered among the ancestors to modern personal defense pistols. A target gun it ain’t and never was.

Steve Johnson Winchester Model 100 I have a Winchester Model 100 in .308 that was brought in with the complaint of fired cases sticking in the chamber. After thoroughly cleaning the chamber fired cases slip in and out freely but upon firing the empty cases remain loose in the receiver causing a jam. The ejectors seem to have plenty of tension, so I removed the extractor (which felt gritty) and cleaned/lubed it. It still feels a little gritty but now will stovepipe the spent round.

Is it possible the extractor was damaged when the cases were sticking in the chamber or is there something else I’m overlooking? Bart Holland Point one: If the owner has disassembled the rifle, failure to reassemble the gas system properly may have re-

sulted. See The Official NRA Guide To Firearms Assembly for details. Point two: Is reloaded ammunition being used? Ammo failing to equal factory specifications for internal ballistic performance, otherwise known as weak fodder, frequently causes short cycling in a Model 100. Your mention of stove piping leads us to suspect the presence of ammunition less powerful than factory cartridges is involved.

Point three: Regardless of how the ejector(s) seem to be, replacement may be needed after all else mentioned here has been eliminated. Ithaca Hammerless I am in need of the reassembly procedures for Ithaca’s hammerless double barrel shotgun. I have called Ithaca Gun Company directly and the said it was a 1903 but has no idea how to reassembly the gun. It come out before they started using coil springs. We think what you have a Lewis Model. If it is further identified as "1 Special" it has Nitro Steel barrels.

Serial number range for the Lewis Model was 55000 to 1236000. There likely isn’t away to obtain a schematic or owner’s manual. Contact Brownells Technical Services tech@ brownells.com) to see if they can lead you to a gunsmith aged enough to be familiar with a Lewis. Stripping Stock What can I use to strip a Remington 700 stock? I tried two strippers, which loosens things up slightly, then smears all over the stock. I can’t get the old finish out of the checkering.

Before plunging blindly ahead with advice, we’d need to know what was applied to finish off the stock at the factory. Contact Remington Customer Service and provide the model and serial number of the rifle. Ask them to identify the finish coat on your rifle stock, about the stock finish, and the best solvent to remove it. Ask if this solvent would have a bad effect on the underlying wood. It may require more than one application of the stripper to accomplish this.

Purchase anew stiff bristle toothbrush and have it standing by to clean out checkering. All remaining stripper residue must be removed from the stock before application of anew finish. Gary Jones Bluing Cana matte gun blue finish be made glossy? Vice versa? Should internal action parts be blued? I’m especially thinking about parts that need a high degree of polish for smooth operation. I could polish the parts very smooth before bluing, but does the bluing process then roughen that polished surface?

Steve Johnson Yes, if you remove all existing finish, highly polish the bare metal. degrease and reblue. Vice versa is the same conversion without the base metal polishing. Could be that a light application of clear, matte finish Dura Coat will dull things down enough to suit you. No, just polish and clean. Bluing will only roughen the polished surface when the substrate is rough or has somehow become rough in the process of application. M1 Garand I have a new stock for an M1 and can’t get the upper handguard off.

It seems I need to do something with the gas tube (slide forward) to clear the band. Any help would be greatly appreciated as that part of disassembly is not in any of my manuals. Rich Lee Kelly Davis Start with a dull screwdriver and a block of soft wood. The screwdriver is used to back out the gas cylinder lock screw, after which you unscrew and remove the gas cylinder lock and begin removal of the cylinder by lightly tapping on the bayonet mount with the wooden block.

Note, on Garands with modified gas cylinders, the modification shows up as a cut from the front sight to the lower splines. On these rifles, the front sigh screw must be loosened prior to moving the gas cylinder forward. Failure to do so may damage both the cylinder and the barrel. AG