W.E.G.
Member
How I removed the magazine safety disconnect on my Browning HiPower
I don’t think I can do much better to articulate the basics of HiPower disassembly than the write-up by televiper at http://230grain.com/showthread.php?1521
Please read his tutorial.
What televiper does not adequately cover though is the issue of the ungodly-stubborn trigger axis pin. That is what THIS thread is about.
I’ll cut straight to the chase.
You need to remove the TRIGGER from the frame in order to get the magazine safety out. The axis-pin for the trigger can be a BEAST to remove if you don’t have a plan.
I didn’t really have one, but I hope the lesson I learned will serve to help others.
You need ONE SPECIAL TOOL to save you all manner of frustration with this task.
You need an AUTOMATIC CENTER PUNCH.
It’s a center-punch and a spring-loaded hammer all in one tool.
One of these:
I got mine from http://littlemachineshop.com/
In particular: http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2620&category=
“Starrett Automatic Center Punch with adjustable stroke”
I run mine on FULL STROKE most of the time.
How it works:
“This punch has a lightweight, knurled aluminum handle for a positive grip and easy handling. No hammer is required! Just hold the punch in an upright position, press the handle down, and a built-in mechanism strikes a perfect center mark every time. The force of the blow can be adjusted by turning the knurled cap.”
The best $30.50 you could ever spend when fighting HiPower trigger pins.
Two or three “clicks” from this tool will have that trigger pin moving without any fuss.
Yes, it will put a small divot in the center of the pin. Compare that to the damage to the frame that is inevitable if you try other methods, and don’t really know what you are doing (witness myself).
I originally got my automatic center punch for center-punching rivets so I could drill them out while disassembling AK-47 kits. You will find all manner of uses for an automatic center punch once you have one in your tool kit. I found a new use today.
I first tried a brass punch and a gunsmithing hammer.
tap-tap-tap-tap… Nothing
tap-tap-tap-tap- tap-tap-tap-tap… still nothing
Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap Tap-Tap-Tap… STILL nothing
TAP-TAP-TAP- TAP-TAP-TAP- TAP-TAP-TAP… BOO-YAHHHHH!!!
The tip of the punch fractured and the punch skipped across the face of the frame, leaving a nasty tattoo.
You see, this what will happen if you just wing it.
Figuring I had nothing more to lose now, I got out the steel punch and my biggest claw hammer.
WHANG-WHANG-WHANG-WHANG-WHANG-WHANG!… STILL NOTHING.
Well, except for another scratch on the frame and a mushroomed end of the trigger pin.
At this point I’m getting pretty annoyed, and I email my buddy 12-ton, and discuss mashing this thing in the Wilton vise, or the hydraulic press.
Taking a time out, it dawns on me that none of these pin-punches are getting any kind of good engagement on the trigger pin. So, why not CENTER-PUNCH the trigger pin so I can get the point of a 10-penny nail lined up on the pin? How to do it?... the Starrett automatic center punch!
I carefully placed the tip of the automatic punch on the center of the trigger pin.
Snap-snap-snap… HEY!!!!!!! The trigger pin is MOVING!
HOW ABOUT THAT.
Now, why didn’t I think of this BEFORE I scratched the frame of the gun.
Oh well, live and learn.
Once I got the pin moved just a short way, I was able to use the regular steel punch to drive the pin out the rest of the way with minimal effort. The only damage to the pin was the pin-prick mark on the right end of the pin.
I hadn’t completely learned my lesson when I re-installed the pin.
I used the “gunsmith hammer” to try to drive the pin back into place.
Everything was fine until the last eighth of an inch. Then the pin stalled, and the hammer slipped, and I got ANOTHER new scratch on the other side of the frame.
At this point, I got out the automatic center punch again and drove the pin the rest of the way in without any fuss, except for the small pin-prick mark on the left end of the pin.
If I had just used the automatic center punch throughout, I could have avoided any scratching of the frame of the pistol. This is the lesson I hope I can share with you, and that you will use to not scratch your own guns.
By the way, it’s a cinch to get the trigger and the magazine disconnect assembly out of the gun once the trigger axis pin is removed. There is a SECOND PIN in the rear portion of the trigger that retains magazine disconnect assembly. You can drive that pin out before or after you get the trigger out of the gun. I was able to easily remove that second pin without the use of a giant hammer or the automatic center punch.
Whose idea was it anyway to design a trigger so that you’ve got this big “foot” grinding against the front side of the magazine every time you pull the trigger?
The mark on the front of the mag is from that blasted disconnect gizmo dragging against the front of the mag every time the trigger is pulled. THAT is why the Browning HiPower trigger pull is TOTAL CRAP in its original configuration.
Here are the tools I used:
Basement floor covered with 70’s-era linoleum. Yes, I just laid on the floor and did it.
Two blocks of scrap wood. Lord knows how many “gunsmith” projects these bits of wood have been involved in.
The holy Starrett automatic center punch. You need one badly.
Eyeglasses – because I can’t see squat up close without glasses.
Why the earmuffs? Because before I figured out I could use the automatic center punch, I was lying on the floor with my face right next to the trigger guard, and trying to hold the gun, and the punch, and the blocks of wood, while swinging the hammer(s) next to my ear on the floor of the laundry room with the sound of the hammer-blows reverberating in my cranium like a hollow barrel.
Screwdrivers, punches, and pliers.
Its all good I reckon.
I don’t think I can do much better to articulate the basics of HiPower disassembly than the write-up by televiper at http://230grain.com/showthread.php?1521
Please read his tutorial.
What televiper does not adequately cover though is the issue of the ungodly-stubborn trigger axis pin. That is what THIS thread is about.
I’ll cut straight to the chase.
You need to remove the TRIGGER from the frame in order to get the magazine safety out. The axis-pin for the trigger can be a BEAST to remove if you don’t have a plan.
I didn’t really have one, but I hope the lesson I learned will serve to help others.
You need ONE SPECIAL TOOL to save you all manner of frustration with this task.
You need an AUTOMATIC CENTER PUNCH.
It’s a center-punch and a spring-loaded hammer all in one tool.
One of these:
I got mine from http://littlemachineshop.com/
In particular: http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2620&category=
“Starrett Automatic Center Punch with adjustable stroke”
I run mine on FULL STROKE most of the time.
How it works:
“This punch has a lightweight, knurled aluminum handle for a positive grip and easy handling. No hammer is required! Just hold the punch in an upright position, press the handle down, and a built-in mechanism strikes a perfect center mark every time. The force of the blow can be adjusted by turning the knurled cap.”
The best $30.50 you could ever spend when fighting HiPower trigger pins.
Two or three “clicks” from this tool will have that trigger pin moving without any fuss.
Yes, it will put a small divot in the center of the pin. Compare that to the damage to the frame that is inevitable if you try other methods, and don’t really know what you are doing (witness myself).
I originally got my automatic center punch for center-punching rivets so I could drill them out while disassembling AK-47 kits. You will find all manner of uses for an automatic center punch once you have one in your tool kit. I found a new use today.
I first tried a brass punch and a gunsmithing hammer.
tap-tap-tap-tap… Nothing
tap-tap-tap-tap- tap-tap-tap-tap… still nothing
Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap Tap-Tap-Tap… STILL nothing
TAP-TAP-TAP- TAP-TAP-TAP- TAP-TAP-TAP… BOO-YAHHHHH!!!
The tip of the punch fractured and the punch skipped across the face of the frame, leaving a nasty tattoo.
You see, this what will happen if you just wing it.
Figuring I had nothing more to lose now, I got out the steel punch and my biggest claw hammer.
WHANG-WHANG-WHANG-WHANG-WHANG-WHANG!… STILL NOTHING.
Well, except for another scratch on the frame and a mushroomed end of the trigger pin.
At this point I’m getting pretty annoyed, and I email my buddy 12-ton, and discuss mashing this thing in the Wilton vise, or the hydraulic press.
Taking a time out, it dawns on me that none of these pin-punches are getting any kind of good engagement on the trigger pin. So, why not CENTER-PUNCH the trigger pin so I can get the point of a 10-penny nail lined up on the pin? How to do it?... the Starrett automatic center punch!
I carefully placed the tip of the automatic punch on the center of the trigger pin.
Snap-snap-snap… HEY!!!!!!! The trigger pin is MOVING!
HOW ABOUT THAT.
Now, why didn’t I think of this BEFORE I scratched the frame of the gun.
Oh well, live and learn.
Once I got the pin moved just a short way, I was able to use the regular steel punch to drive the pin out the rest of the way with minimal effort. The only damage to the pin was the pin-prick mark on the right end of the pin.
I hadn’t completely learned my lesson when I re-installed the pin.
I used the “gunsmith hammer” to try to drive the pin back into place.
Everything was fine until the last eighth of an inch. Then the pin stalled, and the hammer slipped, and I got ANOTHER new scratch on the other side of the frame.
At this point, I got out the automatic center punch again and drove the pin the rest of the way in without any fuss, except for the small pin-prick mark on the left end of the pin.
If I had just used the automatic center punch throughout, I could have avoided any scratching of the frame of the pistol. This is the lesson I hope I can share with you, and that you will use to not scratch your own guns.
By the way, it’s a cinch to get the trigger and the magazine disconnect assembly out of the gun once the trigger axis pin is removed. There is a SECOND PIN in the rear portion of the trigger that retains magazine disconnect assembly. You can drive that pin out before or after you get the trigger out of the gun. I was able to easily remove that second pin without the use of a giant hammer or the automatic center punch.
Whose idea was it anyway to design a trigger so that you’ve got this big “foot” grinding against the front side of the magazine every time you pull the trigger?
The mark on the front of the mag is from that blasted disconnect gizmo dragging against the front of the mag every time the trigger is pulled. THAT is why the Browning HiPower trigger pull is TOTAL CRAP in its original configuration.
Here are the tools I used:
Basement floor covered with 70’s-era linoleum. Yes, I just laid on the floor and did it.
Two blocks of scrap wood. Lord knows how many “gunsmith” projects these bits of wood have been involved in.
The holy Starrett automatic center punch. You need one badly.
Eyeglasses – because I can’t see squat up close without glasses.
Why the earmuffs? Because before I figured out I could use the automatic center punch, I was lying on the floor with my face right next to the trigger guard, and trying to hold the gun, and the punch, and the blocks of wood, while swinging the hammer(s) next to my ear on the floor of the laundry room with the sound of the hammer-blows reverberating in my cranium like a hollow barrel.
Screwdrivers, punches, and pliers.
Its all good I reckon.