Reader Forum

Notice We will no longer respond to inquiries that fail to include specific model and manufacturer information. There have been a number of queries with incomplete or inaccurate elements. This delays the response due to a misidentified manufacturer, model, and lack of sufficient information. There are sources readily available to secure this data.

For example, see the Cross Reference index located inside Numrich Gun Parts Corporation catalog for the name of the maker of firearms formerly sold by Sears and Montgomery Ward. Blue Book of Gun Values carries model numbers as do the annual Standard Catalog of Firearms published by Gun Digest. Thank you all. Recoil Reducers I’m working on a 98 Mauser chambered for .375 Ruger and want to reduce the recoil to make it more enjoyable to shoot.

I’m thinking of those reducers that go in the buttstock and have mercury in them. Will those things work? I know I’ll have to drill a hole in the stock. What is the proper way to install it? The only way to reduce actual recoil is via a reduced powder charge in the cartridge. A .375 rifle is otherwise going to keep pushing back on you like a .375 rifle. What you are seeking to accomplish is less felt recoil.

Articles such as the mercury content one you are considering are known to accomplish this by altering the old, eons-established rule, "for every action, etc." They add resistance to that reaction, providing more for it to overcome. This reduces the intensity of the reaction. It may still be equal to the action but the force of the action has been reduced. Therefore, the reaction is likewise lessened to equal it. We further believe these devices cease being referred to as "reducers" immediately.

In reality, they are absorbers. Once you have chosen yours, contact its manufacturer for detailed installation instructions pertinent to your specific rifle. We have to inquire. What are you planning to take down with your ‘98 Mauser? No water buffalo is hunted in the lower forty-eight. If that fact takes you to the forty-ninth state in search of a trophy Alaska Peninsula brown bear, well sir, aim well. Savage 187N I have a customer the bought a used Savage 187N rifle marked "22 H. S. Short, Long, Long Rifle.

Auto." He wants to shoot .22 Short but it will not cock after firing. I have polished the bolt and the lifter to reduce friction. To reduce friction further, I shimmed the rear of the trigger assembly up, trimmed a few coils of the breech bolt spring (not the hammer spring), and polished the chamber. So far, no progress. It will fire but not recoil far enough to pick up the next round nor cock when extracting the fired case.

I have an identical 187N and have swapped the hammer and spring assembly and still the same problem. Both detent plungers are good and there is no wear or chips on the cocking surfaces. Dwight Baxter David Cunningham Dave’s Gunsmithing Service Your customer may have purchased someone else’s headache. Our search leads us to believe it is a Savage/ Springfield 187 but there’s no listing of it in The Standard Catalog of Firearms.

However, Numrich Gun Parts Corporation (gunpartscorp. com, shows a Model 187A with a schematic and may have parts suitable for the "N." Our primary conclusion is ammo oriented. The Shorts aren’t strong enough to overcome the resistance of both springs. You have already chopped the recoil spring, so take a coil off the hammer spring. If the problem persists, examine the bolt raceways in the receiver.

Any roughness should be ironed out and the result lubricated by applying hydraulic oil laced with a tablespoonful of molybdenum disulfide and shaken. It’s the same stuff Indy winner Andy Granatelli used in his STP oil treatment product. Super slippery. Trigger Spring Relief This concerns the fifteen pounds of pressure required to depress the trigger on a H&R .32S&W top-break, hammerless five-shot revolver. The original trigger spring broke and I have a replacement from Numrich.

The owner has arthritis in his right hand and can only depress about seven pounds maximum. I understand there is no foolproof way to anneal the spring without a precision furnace, but is it possible to use a heat crayon as a gauge for the temperature? If not, do you have other methods that will work? Robert Schaffer Try to encourage patience in the heart of the owner. Send the spring to Wolff Springs (gunsprings.com, and ask if they can provide a lighter one of the same length.

If not, ask about the proper annealing temperature for the subject spring. If the response isn’t positive, have the spring returned, cut off one coil, reinstall the spring, and check the pull. Still too high? Cut off one more coil and recheck. Better still, do the cutting on the replacement and duplicate your operation when you have the original back in hand.

Through you are correct about a precision furnace, if Wolff can provide the safe annealing temperature, call Brownells for a bottle of Tempilaq, which is applied as a thin smear to surface to be treated and melts sharply when the desired temperature is reached. Try the compound on the replacement, check the result in the gun, then duplicate the annealing on the OEM part.

Star 9mm Largo How can I install an ambidextrous safety on Star Model A 9mm Largos? We’re not aware if Star pistols, direct clones of the M1911, were ever produced with an ambidextrous thumb safety. Contact Sarco, Inc. (e-sarcoinc. com, If an ambi-thumb safety ever existed on a Star there may beapart available and you won’t have to fabricate one by lengthening the thumb safety of a M1911.

In any case, the right hand grip panel on the Star will have to be relieved to enable the safety to function and a means of detaching/reattaching the right-hand thumb piece devised to enable disassembly and reassembly. Moly-Coated Bullets I have been shooting molybdenum disulfide-coated bullets from my Model 700 .17 Remington and can never clean the barrel to bare metal. There always seems to be moly on the patch despite wearing out four brushes and using 300 patches.

Is it normal for moly to absorb into the barrel? Are you purchasing coated factory ammo or coating the bullets yourself? Our reason for asking dates back to the use of molybdenum disulfide in an oil additive as a friction reducer in car racing engines. In use, the moly compound bonded with internal metal engine components. Once the bond had been made there was no means of breaking it down and no great desire to do so. So it was with high performance racing engines, so it is with your caliber .17 Model 700 barrel.

John Fitts If spotless cleaning patches are the primary objective in your target shooting, change your ammo and have your present .17 caliber barrel replaced, or replace the barrel with a .22LR barrel and run non-coated bullets, testing which brand of .22LR ammo your Model 700 prefers. We recommend Remington perform any barrel replacement to avoid any warranty cancellation. Galesi Fabarm Shotgun I have a Galesi Fabarm O/U 12 gauge shotgun that I believe was made in the 1970s on my bench and I need some help.

The ejectors do not function and I can’t see why. The customer states that he had a new Paul C. Jewett firing pin installed recently and that the ejectors have not worked since. I suspected some ejector trip rod malfunction but they appear to function properly. The ejectors themselves move without restriction. What’s missing seems to be the cocking function. I have no information on this design and have been unable to discern what linkage is not functioning for the ejectors.

Jon Fory Defense U., LLC With an import as old as the one on your bench we can only offer some advice. We are publishing your query in the belief other readers are better informed than we. Direct your browser to Fabarm’s website (fabarm.com) and you’ll find a link for User Manuals. The company maintains an English-only site for U.

S. sales and service (fabarmusa. com) and can be reached by phone at Smith & Wesson SW40F I have a completely disassembled and detailed stripped Smith & Wesson Model SW40F and need to locate a reference to reassemble it. I had purchased this firearm as-is at an estate sale and haven’t found anyone local able to reassemble without paying a high fee. Videos I’ve watched about this pistol don’t cover disassembly and reassembly far enough. The slide is the greatest challenge with the firing pin and ejector.

Michael Ziebell This pistol is an early version of the S&W Sigma with a design so close to the Glock that the latter brought a lawsuit against S&W. In The Gun Digest Book of Automatic Pistols Assembly/Disassembly there are illustrated instructions that should resolve your quandary. As this situation demonstrates, anytime a firearm is detail disassembled, make a note of each step taken. AG