Amateur Lesson Learned

[Johnm1]

There is something to be said about going to school. After the fact I read this about making a leaf spring:

"The grinding was done very slowly in order not to overheat or burn the metal. At no time was the heat produced by grinding sufficient to color the steel"Quoted from Firearms Assembly II the NRA Guidebook to Handguns

I figure the concerns about generating heat should have been considered in my task and it wasn't. Another lesson learned.

One thing I don't get is that steel is welded all the time and that generates a lot of heat but the steel isn't 'burned' or 'overheated'. What is the difference? The leaf spring that I read about was made from drill rod with a high carbon content. I have no idea what the part I was working on was made from, but I doubt it was drill rod. Is it the specific content of the material that makes the difference?

 

[film495]

I've bought spring stock and made some - well, complicated to me, springs that were not available for a few firearms, but you've taken things a few steps beyond anything I've done. It is fun to figure out how an old gun is supposed to work, and to make it do that again.

 

[Johnm1]

I've bought spring stock and made some - well, complicated to me, springs that were not available for a few firearms, but you've taken things a few steps beyond anything I've done. It is fun to figure out how an old gun is supposed to work, and to make it do that again.

It is fun to bring something back to working condition. I am a little disappointed that I ruined a piece by making a completely uninformed decision. Especially because it is a fairly rare piece. That said, I learned a lot in this operation.

First - Pins and pin holes need to be looked at first. I suspect that the sear pivot pin I replaced would have corrected the problem had I noticed it first. So this whole operation of adding material may have been for naught had I diagnosed the problem correctly in the first place. Pins are pretty easy to make.

Second - although I didn't learn this one the hard way, I suspect springs can be almost as important as pins. So look at them first. The are cheap relatively speaking and may bring the performance back.

Third - I learned how to join two pieces of metal. And to add material to a piece of metal. The MAPP Pro/Oxygen torch is fairly easy to learn using the Nickel Silver brazing rods. I have no illusion that brazing with Nickel Silver (N/S) is a strong as electro welding, but the pieces I practiced on can't be broken apart with a sharp hammer blow. The torch is inexpensive but the consumables are expensive as the oxygen is only available in 1.4 oz. bottles and it only last for about 10 minutes of actual torch time. At $10/1.4 oz. you want to not waste time on the torch. I'm still researching the nickel silver brazing rods and how durable the final piece would be. Oxy/Acetylene may have been a better choice though I can get a very small flame with the MAPP Pro torch that I'm not sure I could do with Oxy/Acetylene. The nickel silver rod is made up of copper, nickel, and zinc in approximately 55%, 18%, and 27% and I think it has a final hardness between 95 and 100. The piece I was working on only had small forces in a sliding motion on it and I figure it would have worked. But I would have liked to have tried a finished piece to see if it would last. It wouldn't work for a sear surface or any surface that is required to be hardened or anything that was subject to the forces of firing. I understand that N/S does not harden well. A N/S material that also has a small amount of iron can be hardened, but not straight N/S.

I understand nickel silver is also known as 'German Silver'. So I think I could cast it for small things like sights and such.

I am going to take the lesson learned about pins and work on a Marlin 1892 that I can't get to feed properly. I suspect the carrier pivot pin is the issue there. So, I learned things. Cost myself a part and in general conversed with some really nice people. Overall, not a catastrophic outcome.

 

[Johnm1]

Well, this sucks. Someone sniped my bid in the last seconds and outbid my replacement part. I don't have a replacement for the damaged part.

The search continues.

 

[3Crows]

I usually find it best in the long run if I acquire the knowledge and tools and do it myself. I am not ever or at least rarely happy with work done for me be it automotive, aviation, guns or whatever be the case. So I do it unless it is something entirely mundane and not requiring any skill. Yes, tools are expensive but tools usually last a lifetime so they are a one time outlay.

Plus I tire of taking a gun (or again whatever) to a specialty shop and hearing it will take months, or it will not work, or what I want done is stupid and I should do it some other cheap/half axx way instead of the more difficult, more costly in time and effort correct way that I would supposedly be paying a professional for. And then insert all the axx scratching tobacco spitting and excuses. In that amount of time and frustration, I do it myself.

My dad bought a sporterized Mauser project gun and it had a straight bolt (the department stores used to sell these things by truckloads). He wanted it bent so it would clear a scope. He got nothing but frustration from the professionals and the usual axx scratching and excuses why it could not be done. Now this was in (still barely) the era of normalcy and reason, I simply took the bolt to HS metal shop and disassembled it and bent it and then machined a flat for more scope clearance. Problem solved. Nowadays I would have just done a scout scope install but in 1971 I did not have that concept in my head yet. My brother has that rifle, I have another just like it still with the straight bolt, maybe I should------.

 

[Johnm1]

I usually find it best in the long run if I acquire the knowledge and tools and do it myself. I am not ever or at least rarely happy with work done for me be it automotive, aviation, guns or whatever be the case. So I do it unless it is something entirely mundane and not requiring any skill. Yes, tools are expensive but tools usually last a lifetime so they are a one time outlay.

As I get older I find myself on the other side of this equation. I must admit that I been lucky in having a series of really good, honest, knowledgeable car mechanics over the years. I used to do all of the mundane tasks myself but now that I'm a little older, I can justify the cost against my time and effort. Though I do understand your point.

I can understand the rest of your concerns though.

 

[3Crows]

As I get older I find myself on the other side of this equation. I must admit that I been lucky in having a series of really good, honest, knowledgeable car mechanics over the years. I used to do all of the mundane tasks myself but now that I'm a little older, I can justify the cost against my time and effort. Though I do understand your point.

I can understand the rest of your concerns though.

At 66 yo I really would prefer to do as you but my OCD kicks in big time.

 

[Johnm1]

At 66 yo I really would prefer to do as you but my OCD kicks in big time.

Last year after I got my deer on opening morning and had no one to help me load it and skin it, I must have said to myself "I'm getting too old for this kind of stuff" (only I didn't say stuff) a dozen times. I find myself saying things like that a lot more often. I believe my OCD has actually been a blessing for most of my life. I'm pretty sure it got me where I am today. But today I just can't do the things I could when I was 24.

 

[film495]

A lot of older things are not wanted and sold for a low price. Many firearms are collectible, so - they aren't free - but, a lot of them are not crazy. To me getting my hands on an old machine that has basically been abandoned, is like a free college textbook. Yeah, the crazy ones that people have to pay $300 dollars for, but - the old machine is more fun and it lasts longer, and well - just better.

 

[Johnm1]

Would someone be willing to post a video for me? I do not have a photo hosting site and prefer not to have one if I can avoid it. I have a short video of how the action functions properly. I suspect my technical writing skills left some wondering how the thing actually works. Come to think of it, after seeing it, you gotta wonder what they were thinking'.

Send me a PM and if you are willing to accept a 1.6 MB video file and post it for me, I'll send it along.