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Guns are mechanical devices. Whether you prefer a Colt, Uberti, Ruger, Smith and Wesson, Remmington, Winchester, Rossi, Norinco, Marlin, Stoeger, or any number of other guns, chances are that one of them has failed. Maybe a spring broke, or a firing pin. Or maybe there is operator error (short stroke your rifle or revolver and have to cycle it again). The quest for a mechanically perfect gun will never end.
Ok, so it’s not possible to have a gun that won’t fail. Springs and parts wear out. It’s a fact of life. So why do they wear out? In the case of springs, it’s simple stretch and fatigue. After a number of compresses and releases, they just lose their “springiness.” Firing pins take a lot of bashes by the hammer, and are under a lot of stress, so they break. Sears see a lot of wear by the rubbing of the parts together. Hands move through the slots in the frames, bolts move back and forth, SxS’s open, and pump guns get pumped. Some parts are harder than the ones they rub against. All this leads to wear and eventually the tolerances get too big, or a part breaks, and the gun fails.
The real question is then “how do I make my guns last as long as possible before the next failure?” The short list of things that need adjusting or correcting are timing, smoothing out the rough spots in the gun to reduce friction, adjusting sear angles, changing or polishing springs. There are many other things that can be done such as replacing parts with more durable after market parts (titanium firing pins for one, lighter springs to reduce friction and wear and operator effort), and altering the internal geometry to parts in order to minimize the chances of operator error.
The other reason for action work is to reduce the amount of effort that it takes to work the action of the gun. Unfortunately, a lot of gunsmiths tune guns too far to the edge, and failure results. Springs are often made too light and parts get over polished and too far out of spec. Just something to keep an eye out for when you buy a used gun or send one off to a gunsmith.
So You Want To Try It Yourself
If you want to do an action job yourself, the first thing that you need to learn is how to disassemble and reassemble your firearms. If you aren’t comfortable taking a gun apart on your own, get someone in the area that’s done so to help you learn.
Once you can take it apart and put it back together, then it’s time to take a look at the parts. Do they show machine marks from the factory? Are the springs smooth or rough? What about the receiver, are the channels where the hand, bolt, hammer, trigger, etc. free from rough spots and machine marks? If not, then you’ll need to do some basic polishing.
Using some 400grit wet dry sand paper, you can very gently work down the machine marks. You don’t want to remove them all together, just take the rough spots out. If it’s totally smooth, there is no place for lube to collect, so don’t take it down far, just smooth it out a little. Stay away from the sear notch, and focus especially on those places where 2 parts rub together. For some spots (hand channel for example) you need some fine stones. You should be able to find them at a local craft store or woodworking shop, or you can order from someplace like Brownells (http://www.brownells.com).
Flat springs should have no rough spots at all. These should be polished to a real smooth surface. Be careful with hand springs (these should stay pretty stout, just clean them up) and bolt springs (again, they need to be stout, just clean it up).
Hand and bolt springs should remain fairly stout. A light hand spring will cause the cylinder to not rotate under rapid fire. A light bolt spring will keep the bolt from rising in time to catch the cylinder notch, or will result in poor lockup.
Extractor and ejector springs should remain fairly stout so that they operate during rapid fire. Making these springs too light will result in failure to clear an empty from the chamber.
Coil springs can be replaced with lighter ones, but don’t go too light. A really light main spring will cause lock time to be slow (the speed at which the hammer falls), often resulting in missed shots, catching the hammer as it falls, and primers that don’t go off with one strike.
If there is excessive creep on the trigger, sear notch cut wrong, timing off, then the gun ought to pay a visit to a qualified gunsmith. If you are unsure of what you are doing, send it to a gunsmith.
Keep some spare parts on hand in case you polish too much or something fails later on. Springs, hands, firing pins, bolts, ejectors, and extractors are good parts to keep on hand.
Further Notes on Reliability
Reliability is a big issue. Among many shooters, you’ll find heavy hammer springs (lock time and longer time before failure), heavy extractor, ejector, bolt, hand springs (improve gun operation and ensure that spent rounds get out of the gun), and after market parts (improve operation). You’ll find some changes in geometry on the internals of guns (short stroke jobs for example) in order to minimize operator error issues, stocks cut to fit, muzzles recut and crowned to improve *precision, flat springs replaced with coil springs where appropriate, transfer bars removed, and other modifications done to improve shooter confidence. |
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