So, my old record-holder in this regard was a Ruger Mark III. A non-intuitive design, coupled with ongodly tight tolerances, made that experience akin to doing a brake job on an 18-wheeler.
But now there is a new candidate, in the guise of a Marlin Levermatic .22. (Actually a JC Higgins model, but the same as the Marlin model 57).
The inner workings of this monstrosity are a Rube Goldbergian nightmare. Multitudes of tiny parts and tiny springs are sandwiched incongruously between two massive steel sideplates and set into a thick wooden stock. This thing weighs almost as much as my AR. The parts diagram doesn't quite do it justice:
View attachment 899925
Indicative of the design (non) philosophy that went into this thing is the part known as the "safety slide," or part #61. Perhaps you think a "safety" means a plastic button with a red circle at one end, with a ball detent to keep it under tension. Maybe even a sliding button of some sort. No, THAT wasn't good enough for Marlin. They produced this:
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Just look at that thing. (For scale, it's about 1.5 inches long and 1 inch wide.) I wonder just long it took to make each one? Where they stamped out in one piece, or did whomever the boss like least get the job each Monday to make these all week?
I have to say that anyone that has field stripped a Ruger Mk I, II, III pistol probably had a hard time reassembling. Also agree with the Marlin rimfire rifles giving people fits when it comes to having to replace the buffer or any other part in the fire control group.
Hard agree. Pre-internet (well, the way it is now with this sort of info) we COULD NOT figured out how to get it back together. Paper bag, gunsmith. Looking sad.
Several pocket pistols with detents that fly off. I added this to the website even:
But otherwise, always went well with thinking hard, documenting steps, etc. Even full disassembly of obscure autoloaders.
I have expressly avoided taking apart revolver lockwork, though.
Browning BPS is not user servicable.
Remington Nylon 66. Total pain in the ass compared to many modern designs.
The funny thing I found about reassembling my Rossi 92 after replacing the ejector spring was, I watched a video, saw how it should be done, did the same thing several times and it didn't work. Doing it again, like magic, it worked. No idea why it didn't work the previous times.Rossi 92. It wasn't complicated to get it back together, but I need 3 or 4 hands to do it.
And that is if you can even get the NAA screws loose. Hardest screws I have ever dealt with regarding difficulty in general and not damaging in particular.I used to take S&W revolvers apart and clean them for people in my agency, so I figured how hard would it be to do the same with a NAA mini revolver? This pre internet and digital cameras.
Maybe if you have more than two hands the size of the people from Lilliput you can do it. I didn't, so back to the factory and $25 poorer. They had a policy in place for this, so it must have been common.
One thing I've learned is to do the initial take down on any gun, if possible, inside a large ziplock bag. Flying springs at least won't disappear to Never Never Land.
I didn't find it all that bad when I took mine apart a few years ago, not that much harder than an 870 or 1100.
The funny thing I found about reassembling my Rossi 92 after replacing the ejector spring was, I watched a video, saw how it should be done, did the same thing several times and it didn't work. Doing it again, like magic, it worked. No idea why it didn't work the previous times.
I guess sometimes the planets just align and that's that, don't ask why.
Well, two members have already beat me to the Nylon 66. When I removed one of the initial screws there was ominous "boing" inside. It went to the gunsmith.
My second horror was a Winchester 190. Thank God, there was a YouTube segment. Even then you need two screwdrivers to compress a spring. With your third hand...
Beat me to it. It was a total train wreck for me when I took my Dads Mohawk Brown 66 apart!Remington Nylon 66. Total pain in the ass compared to many modern designs.
My grandfather gave me a black and nickel one. No manual..... Not sure if it would help put that archaic contraption back together or not.Beat me to it. It was a total train wreck for me when I took my Dads Mohawk Brown 66 apart!
Stay safe.,