Reassembly Help... Need Tip / Trick - or a Swift Kick in the Pants

Discuss work on firearms; whether that is making yours from the ground up, milling an 80%, putting together a kit, or fine tuning a trigger job.
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BigNate
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Re: Reassembly Help... Need Tip / Trick - or a Swift Kick in the Pants

#16

Post by BigNate »

baja wrote: May 3rd, 2023, 3:55 pm
BigNate wrote: May 3rd, 2023, 1:55 pm He was actually an incredible guy - but his mind was gone. Korean War Marine - Purple Heart and Bronze Star X2. I suspect that the condition of this gun was a function of his mental decay. I wish I had known him when his mind was still there (he is a friend of my parents).
I had no idea, Sorry to hear that.
No worries man... you couldn't have known - and if I'd gotten them from someone else and found what I found, I'd have had the exact same thought.


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xerts1191
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Re: Reassembly Help... Need Tip / Trick - or a Swift Kick in the Pants

#17

Post by xerts1191 »

Carry On !
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BigNate
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Re: Reassembly Help... Need Tip / Trick - or a Swift Kick in the Pants

#18

Post by BigNate »

OK - I got it back together last night. It took a bunch more attempts and two sets of hands - and my soft keyboard-warrior fingers are raw this morning as I type this... but it is back together. :-)

The fix went like this:
1) Make a tool that goes into the receiver from the bottom with a leg that fills the space in the receiver where the bolt gets inserted (pics below).
2) Compress the spring and the spring guide pin into the bolt
3) Push the back end of the bolt with the compressed spring into the receiver releasing the end of the pin into the tool to keep the spring and pin in the bolt.
4) Push the whole mess back into the back of the receiver - maintaining pressure on the bolt and tool to keep the pin in the bolt.
5) Hold the bolt in the back of the receiver with a drift and rotate the tool out - letting the pin come out of the bolt and seat in the recess at the back of the receiver. It took a few tries to figure out how to do this slowly enough and with the right pressure on the bolt so that the spring didn't "pop".
6) Continue to hold the bolt back at the back of the receiver while putting the charging handle into the bolt and then screwing deflector (which serves, with the charging handle, to keep the bolt from coming too far forward when the barrel is installed) back to the receiver with two tiny screws.

Once this was done - the rest of the assembly could continue.

I'll say this - I can't see how this could be done by a single set of hands without some very specialized tooling. I agree with the guy in the video - I have no idea how zee-Germans that engineered missed that this assembly is / was a colossal mess for the typical gun owner. Unless the intent of the manufacturer is that the gun owner should never pull the bolt and clean it - this is a really bad design.

So - the tool...

The tool... took a piece of 1/2" round stock, bent it 90 degrees (ok - bent it about 95 degrees and had to bend it back) - then drilled the end of the short leg to cant the surface to the inside so that the pin would not slide out/off. Ground the sides down such that it was narrow enough to fit into the receiver through the opening where the fire control group / trigger assembly seats...
Tool.jpg


The tool in the receiver waiting for the bolt / spring / pin assembly...
ToolInReceiver.jpg
Last edited by BigNate on May 5th, 2023, 8:55 am, edited 3 times in total.
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delta6
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Re: Reassembly Help... Need Tip / Trick - or a Swift Kick in the Pants

#19

Post by delta6 »

:bow-yellow: Good job :clap:
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baja
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Re: Reassembly Help... Need Tip / Trick - or a Swift Kick in the Pants

#20

Post by baja »

Ahhhhhh, finally, right?
Congrats
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