Reader Forum

Winchester .22 Speedloader I thoroughly enjoy your magazine as there is always useful information for repair and upkeep of my own firearms and those of friends. Especially enjoyable was Ed Nutter’s "Winchester .22 Speedloader" (June 2019). Following his instructions, I found aluminum tubing of the proper size at the hardware store to hold .22 LR cartridges. While this works, I’ve found thin-walled aluminum arrows area great option. I got mine from a friend who was through with them.

I used a tube cutter to cut them to the desired length. Capping the ends was easy. Screw Protectors (SP) for 5/16-inch screws (yellow) fit tightly and stay put once installed. Green SPs for 3/8-inch screws fit tightly enough to hold .22 ammo until ready for loading, using an index finger to control the flow. source that to me, would have been very beneficial when I began my journey into gunsmithing.

The book covers topics such as evaluating yourself and your current situation, what tools do you bring to the table (abilities and capabilities, not screwdrivers), where you are with you life when you decide to undertake this career choice, what your best next steps are or should be, getting an education, moving on into the world as a beginner, what to look out for and what not to do, building or creating your personal "gunsmith persona", performing self inventories, how to work in a shop for someone else, customer service, customer relationships and support, starting your own business, and building a well-thought out knowledge resource library.

These are the highlights you will find in my book, all logically placed in order. The book is not very long as I kept only the important items that should be included and weeded out things that are less important or should be less important to you as you begin your chosen career path as a gunsmith. Not only will the book allow This setup works for tubular magazines and .22 revolvers; just orient the ammunition according to the firearm.

The primer end comes out first for tubular magazines, and bullets out first for revolvers. Mr. Nutter is right. Leaving ammo in the tube over time causes the discovery of new life forms. Ed Nutter responds. Spurring innovation; thanks for the information! Remington 32 Shotgun I’m a collector of Remington 32 shoguns and have two with bad trigger springs.

I’m particularly interested in learning more about the entire trigger mechanism. you to quickly point a prospective gunsmith in the right direction as far as how to get started on their newly chosen career path, but it also gives the beginning gunsmith a more concise and focused path forward that should assist in reducing wasted time and efforts wandering aimlessly while trying to figure out what to do and where to go next. As I always say, I certainly do not know it all.

What I do know is what I have personally learned and have now put to print for you to consider while on your chosen career path to become a gunsmith. Those of you that are already in business and making a good profit may not see the benefit of this book, but it could be a time saver source for you to point a beginning or an up-and-coming gunsmith to as a starting point and to get them smart on what is sure to come their way if they continue towards their career choice to become a gunsmith.

I know for me, I now have a product that I can reference from this day forward when asked the question, "How do I become a gunsmith?" or "How do I open my own gunsmithing business?" AG From Sergey Lyalko.

The November 2004 issue has my article "A Second Life for the Remington 32" highlighting a dedicated conversion of a Remington 32 into a "Krieghoff 32." I’d write it a bit differently today but the point remains that design problems of the 32 cannot be perfectly cured by repairs and are better taken care off by migrating to Krieghoff parts in the Remington 32 receiver. This is exactly what German gunsmiths did.

John Davidson Running The 1911 RK Campbell did a great job with "More on Running the 1911" (September 2019) on adding info to the 1911 treasure trove for gunsmiths. Relative to recoil springs, I have two suggestions for ‘smiths who do a lot of 1911 work. First, I created a table that lists spring wire diameter, the number of turns, and weight. When- Mark Wyatt

ever I buy a spring, that data gets recorded for a reference chart. Second, there is also a very useful spring measurement tool specific to 1911 recoil springs made by SDM Fabricating SDMfabricating. com). I use this tool for springs that do not fit into the chart’s database with good results. Bill Jenkins 10XcustomGuns.com From author RK Campbell. This is very useful! Thanks for sharing. Working S&W .22 Pistols I’d like to thank Brian Smith for his September 2019 article on S&W rimfire pistols.

I’m not a professional gunsmith but I like to be able to repair my own firearms. I bought two Model 422s about 25 years ago and use them for practice several times a year. I didn’t know about the existence of EWK Arms (EWKarms.com) and that info was worth the price of the subscription. Do you know if it is possible to disable the magazine safety? I have never liked that feature or found it to be necessary. Author Brian R. Smith responds.

I appreciate the kind words and am pleased that my article was of interest and assistance with your 422 pistols. Regarding disabling the magazine safety, it is theoretically possible but due to the crafty design it is not as simple as removing a particular component. The magazine safety "lever" that is depressed by the presence of a magazine in the grip frame would need to be mechanically held in place in the depressed position, presumably by drilling and pinning.

Beyond that, I don’t have any specific howto instructions because I’ve never considered disabling the safeties on 422-series pistols. This is one of those "anything is possible given enough time and money" things. While I completely concur that the magazine safety is annoying, I put up with it myself for liability reasons. Kimber Solo Carry A relative of mine won a Kimber Solo Carry at an NRA fundraiser dinner, so they only have the price of a raffle ticket in it.

The problem is the gun won’t consistently feed and it stovepipes regularly. Changing magazines did not correct the feeding problem. John F. Lewis Do you have any information on these kinds of issues and fixes for this pistol? Some of the local shops in my area (midwest Illinois) don’t want to touch this model. Steven Kern From RK Campbell. Kimber has a very specific list of ammunition for this pistol and recommend only using that exclusively.

The Solo is designed to function optimally using premium hollow-point self-defense factory ammunition with bullet weights of 124 or 147 grains. Examples include Federal Hydra-Shok, JHP, Remington Golden Saber HPJ, and Hornady TAP JHP. While other ammunition may perform well, lighter bullets and inconsistent pressures that can be found in lower-quality ammunition may lead to decreased slide cycle time and compromise function. In short, this pistol seems picky, even finicky, and even Kimber acknowledges that.

From Ray Ordorica. It’s worth noting that Kimber has discontinued the Solo. Would suggest the owner consider using something like a Kel-Tec PF9 instead. Marlin 27S Magazine I’m looking for a parts/assembly diagram and a complete magazine tube for a Marlin 27S chambered in .25-20. Any recommendations? Frederick Ludwikowski From Paul Mazan and Mark Hollensen. The only source for Marlin 27S parts we can locate is Gun Parts Corp (GunPartsCorp.com).

They have a parts diagram and list both inner and outer magazine tubes in .25-20. We recall these having a stud fitting into a dovetail under the barrel and a screw that holds the tube to that stud with a hole in the outer mag tub for accessing the screw to the stud. Based on the parts layout, it appears that after removing that screw the mag tube just pulls out of the receiver. AG