But its always fun to learn and you can say you did it yourself.
I think there is, in some quarters, a feeling that any male resident in this country who is old enough to be out of dippers is also old enough to “fix guns.”
This comment is not met to slam those that do have some experience in working on other mechanical devices, but rather point out that fixing different kinds of things does require different skills and experience, and these attributes don’t always cross over from one to another.
What I have seen on too many occasions is that someone with no specific background decides they can save time, trouble and money by doing whatever is required themselves. Sometimes they can, and sometimes they can’t – but if the job is blotched the gun ends up in some retailer’s used gun case, or on a table at some gun show. To be honest I have sometimes profited from this. For example:
One time I followed a like-new Colt .357 Magnum revolver, offered on a popular Internet auction. The description among other things stated that something was wrong because the cylinder was freewheeling and not locking up as it should. Mentioning this was a kiss-of-death as until the very end there were no bids except for a very low one I placed. Needless to say I won.
When I finely laid hands on the piece I discovered that indeed the description was correct, and so disassembled the lockwork to see why. It turned out that someone had taken it apart, and reassembled it with a small spring turned backwards. When they couldn’t get the gun to work right the dumped it through the auction and took a considerable loss. I turned the spring around, and surprise, surprise – the revolver worked fine. The repairs cost me nothing and took about 20 minutes.
On the other hand, I was confronted with a Smith & Wesson I couldn’t fix because someone had decided to unscrew the barrel without the necessary blocks to support the frame. The result was a bent frame, and a scarred barrel with impressed checkering left by some bench vise jaws.
All too frequently someone starts a thread concerning an internal problem, and other members jump in with posts recommending that he “pop the sideplate” and fix it himself. Apparently none of these members consider if the individual is qualified to do this, and I specifically remember one instance where someone followed the advise, but failed to remove all of the screws that hold the sideplate to the frame. No, I couldn’t fix that one either, so it was sent back to the maker who did repair it by replacing the badly bent and battered sideplate and then submitted a reasonable but substantial bill.
So I am not saying that folks cannot fix their own gun(s), just that they should do some learning before they touch a screwdriver.