Have you bought a C&R gun with problems?

[Boom Boom]

Here are the questions:

1) Have you a bought a C&R gun that was screwed up?
2) What was wrong?
3) Were you able to fix it?

Sunday was an adventure. Fixed three of my C&R guns with new parts and handiwork.

First, plastic upper section on H&R 999 main spring assembly broke into pieces from age fatigue. I replaced most of assembly with new parts from Numrich. Easy fix.

Second, Ortgies 32ACP pistol impossible to put back together after field stripping. The firing pin spring guide was boogered up (rough edges everywhere) and way too long (per subsequent research). New one I got from from Numrich was 0.010" too long, partly because head was too round. Some quick fine tuning with Riffler files and it was good to go.

Third, bad firing pin in Polish WZ48 22LR training rifle. Firing pin looks homemade and not to proper dimensions when compared to firing pin dimensions I found online. Made a new firing pin with 0.134" O1 round bar from McMaster. Had to carefully rough cut the features with a Dremel, followed by lots of filing with Riffler files and constantly stopping to measure with a caliper. Took three to four hours but it works great.

I wish every day went as well, considering I broke a toe on Saturday.

 

[balttigger]

I bought a Zastava M57 Tokarev that is Shoot, pull down on the safety a smidge, shoot, pull down on the safety a smidge. I bent the little piece of metal that is attached to the safety lever, but it worked it's way back. By moving my hand to operate the safety, I do not keep a sturdy grip and wind up getting slide bit all the time.

 

[Alphabrew]

LOL, I have a .32 cal Ortgies also. The thing is a pain to put back together because you have to catch the spring thing in that little groove on the slide. Any slight bump when putting the slide back on will dislodge it and then the slide won't go on. I rarely take that thing apart.

All my C&Rs have been in good shape as far as broken parts go, and I haven't broken anything.... yet.

 

[Docster]

It can sometimes be a real crap shoot buying C & R. I always keep a list of suppliers of old parts just in case. As well, I'm always looking on the auction sites for old parts for my guns.

Fortunately I've been lucky in that all have mine have worked and continue to do so. I disassemble them on arrival, clean them up real good, re-assemble them and leave them that way for the most part except for routine post-shoot cleaning and oiling.

 

[Boom Boom]

LOL, I have a .32 cal Ortgies also. The thing is a pain to put back together because you have to catch the spring thing in that little groove on the slide. Any slight bump when putting the slide back on will dislodge it and then the slide won't go on. I rarely take that thing apart.

I think my .32 Ortgies came with a mangled .25 firing pin spring guide (about 0.2" too long). Don't know how the previous owner managed to get it back together that way. The gun was caked inside with powder residue, so probably reassembled once and never field stripped again. The powder residue was simple to remove and gun looks like new inside. I'm wondering if the gun tended to go full auto and/or jam for the previous owner, since those are reported symptoms if the guide is too long.

Fortunately I've been lucky in that all have mine have worked and continue to do so. I disassemble them on arrival, clean them up real good, re-assemble them and leave them that way for the most part except for routine post-shoot cleaning and oiling.

I do the same. I discovered the problems at the range. Most expensive fix was $20 for new H&R assembly. Ortgies fix was $5. WZ48 fix was $6 of round bar stock and a few hours of my time and effort. Kinda fun to fix 'em.

 

[LargemouthAss]

I have a Romanian tokarev where the slide stays back every 3-4 shots. I have put in new wolf springs and tried numerous magazines and different ammo but no matter what it still does it. Oh well for $219 it isn't the end of the world.

 

[kalister1]

A while back, when they were $500.00, I bought a M1 Garand form SOG. When I removed the upper wood, the top of the receiver was pitted, deep, maybe over .100" deep. It looked like it was put away with wet wood?
I logged it into and out of my Bound book that same day and shipped it back for a refund.

 

[ST19AG_WGreymon]

I bought a Yugo M57 from Wideners that was advertised as excellent condition. It came to me with a pitted slide. Wideners exchanged it no questions asked.

 

[bbrown]

A few years ago I bought a C&R Japanese Nambu, took it apart, cleaned it and re-assembled. A few years later I found out it has a broken firing pin tip, so I didn't break it down far enough. Didn't do the pencil test when I first got it.

Never gonna shoot it, but I keep meaning to find a replacement firing pin.

 

[bkraft]

I often by u-fix-em type C&Rs. Depending on what they need, the cost of the part + the firearm is cheaper than buying a working gun out of the gate, and I enjoy working on them.

I bought a CZ82 missing the slide release lever and slide stop spring. Getting that spring back in took a lot of patience. You can't really "see" where it's going, you just sort of have to fish around with it till it goes in.

Bought a CZ50 on GB advertised as "not working". It arrived with cracked grips, a stuck slide and the hammer wouldn't stay back upon racking (once I fixed the slide). Slide was easy, someone reassembled the pistol improperly. I ended up tearing this gun down to the frame. Found the sear to have almost completely deteriorated. Replaced the sear and all the springs while I was in there. Functions fine now. I added a set of aftermarket grips, but I'm not happy with the fit. I'll be replacing them. I need to tear it down to the frame again as it needs a complete refinish... That's for the future.

I've picked up a couple u-fix-em SKSs... not really any challenge there. One was missing the front site pin, the other had a broken safety lever.

I guess my most recent is a Walther Model 5. It's in pretty bad shape. Still deciding a course of action for that one.

 

[c33m0n3y]

I replace all the springs that are available from Wolff on almost all of my used guns, but the two below were a bit special in terms of the work I had to do:

- Sauer & Sohn Mod H (38) (.32 ACP) : First, the slide was hanging up upon retracting it. Mind you, SOG forgot to mention this on their website... It took me a while to figure out what to do: replaced the recoil spring, looked at the rails, the barrel... I finally decided to widen the bottom of the barrel opening just a hair with a Dremel and that completely fixed the problem, and the widening is not noticeable. Then (and more of a challenge), as I reassembled the gun I noticed that the cocking-decocking lever would not work. Opened again and I found the spring split in two. In all truth, I think I did that when I was reassembling the gun, as the original spring was made of a very thin piano-wire material and I must have pinched/crushed it when using my rubber mallet to drive in one of the pins. I quickly found that replacement springs were simply unavailable in the entire planet. After much thought I decided to get replacement springs made by a professional spring manufacturer (of course, in a lot of 100). They turned out fantastic. I kept 4 for myself and ended up selling the rest. I still get emails from people looking for springs from 2-year old ads It's a cool gun because it has East German police (VoPo) markings in addition to the WWII Eagle/N proofs. It is a fun shooter, too.

- Colt Pocket Hammerless .32ACP: I bought this from a PA dealer, and it was advertised as having a malfunctioning slide hold-open lever, so it was discounted significantly. The gun was in great shape for its age, with no pitting, but it was very dry and had some evidence of fine surface rust in some areas. I read about how hard it was to put them back together, but I decided to go ahead anyway. I took it all apart, cleaned and oiled all parts, replaced the coil springs (except the 2-piece firing pin spring - I've been unable to get the pin out, and it works fine, so if it ain't broke...), and then starting to put it back together. It was a four-hand job to get the hold-open lever and pin in and still keep the sear and hammer in right, so I had my 9 year old help me with the extra 2 hands. I did get it all back together and it all works fine now. It is a great shooter now, and a proud addition to my growing pony stable.

 

[Stevearado]

Got a Portugese M1904/39 Mauser Verguero last year. The rear tang screw is stuck, and ended up breaking off in the tang. Once the stock was off, I found the barrel sererely rusted/pitted under the wood. I got a new barrel for it, and will try to get with a gunsmith about replacing the barrel and getting the broken screw out of the receiver tang.

 

[K31]

None I ever bought would float.

 

[LostSoul]

I have a M1 carbine that's a jam-o-matic. Still haven't figured it out.

 

[Bob A]

Yugo Tokarev pistol from SOG. A sort of Frankenpistol that just didn't function. Sent it back and they sent me one that worked. No complaints from me on the transaction.

 

[somd_mustangs]

1) Have you a bought a C&R gun that was screwed up?

Oh yeah, many. Worst is below...

2) What was wrong?

Lots of little things and some big ones, like the pistol below

3) Were you able to fix it?

Yup. Some took longer than others, and I'm not clever enough to make my own parts, so required finding original parts. Each one has been a learning experience... the only one that's defeated me (for now) is a H&R Reising Model 60 replica that refuses to feed properly.

This poor Colt 1902 Military is an early model with the front serrations and was beat to heck and just a mess in general. It did come with the original, hard-to-find "Sept 1884" magazine so that offset some of the pain. The most obvious problem was the barrel with a "slight bulge." It was also missing the takedown plug and had a homemade slide lock, the recoil plug was installed backwards (plug inside frame vice up front, which leaves the spring in direct contact with stuff it shouldn't be), the frame pins that go through the barrel links were very loose and obviously Bubba replacements, the trigger flopped around like a dead fish, the grips were worn smooth and the right side of the frame was all bent up underneath the grips. I couldn't do anything about the finish loss but was able to find another barrel and pins, takedown plug (repro) and slide lock that I had to steal off a parts gun along with the grips. Straightened the frame as best I could with a drift and wood block. Swapped out the mainspring and multi-spring from the parts gun too, and now this thing runs like a Swiss watch. Very accurate and fun to shoot with a light crisp trigger. It started out looking like a lost cause and now it's one of my favorites.

 

[Boom Boom]

Ugh. As someone who owns a 1902 Military, those photos are painful for me to look at, especially for a "nail file" version. Congrats on getting it to work. Huge accomplishment.

 

[somd_mustangs]

Fortunately I have two other "nail files" in 85-90%, and they're consecutive S/N's to boot. This one I bought specifically save it from certain death and fix it up as a shooter, thinking it was just a barrel swap. I love these early Colts! I haven't had the courage to shoot my 1900 yet but the 1903 Pocket Hammers get a work out every once in a while... the other handful of 1902's stay in the safe.

 

[DennisCA]

Only had one (3 actually-same dealer) a M1916 Spanish Mauser;
1st one was so beat up I didn't to take a chance on shooting it.
Guns 2 & 3 had a issue where the casing wouldn't come out after firing it.
(tired different ammo - same result)
Finally just gave up and sent the one back and asked for a refund.

 

[Troublesbrewin]

I’m resurrecting an ancient dead thread - because I’m running into tons of issues lately.

First a recent H&R - 929 I think. Bought it about a month ago, got to the range and every third round or so went bang! Took off the grips when I got home and sure ‘nough bits of plastic fell out....Checked here and YouTube and found the issue being the main spring hammer terminal end, plastic from the 70’s disintegrating. Bought a metal replacement at gunpartscorp.com - works pretty well now.

I took two old Hi Standard Model B semi auto’s that same day....both had extractor issues. Back to the bench, I just cleaned them up real good. Range test is on the schedule.

Now I have another H&R this one is a .32 S&W model 732 I expect the same main spring issue on this one. I also have another Hi Standard Model B on the way. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

When I bought the H&R main spring I also got some trigger/sear springs for old Italian black powder revolvers - got those fixed up too, these were inherited when my brother passed a year and a half ago. I’m just getting to them now- I’ll give an update once I get them out to the range.

I’m a sucker for “gunsmith specials” love getting C&R pistols for about $100.00