There are many aspects to standard firearms repair services:
- Mechanical and Safety Inspection
- Full Disassembly, Clean and Oil
- Removal of Barrel Obstructions/Stuck Chokes
- Shotgun Barrel Dent Removal
- Action/Trigger Repairs and Tuning
- Manufacture of Unavailable Parts and Springs
- Sight/Scope Installation and Bore Sighting
- Flintlock and Percussion Lock Repair and Tuning
Mechanical and Safety Inspection
Clients often bring in a firearm they have just purchased at a gun show, pawn shop, or through online auctions that they wish to have evaluated for function and safety before chambering that first live round. I will examine the firearm to determine if all of the factory safety features are functioning correctly and test the fire control system, feed mechanism and general condition of the barrel to determine if any obvious problems exist. Frequently small parts or springs can be lost when gun owners disassemble their firearms for cleaning or out of curiosity…sometimes these parts are incorrectly replaced and the issue passed along to the new owner. On older firearms I pay particular attention to the locking systems of the action, firing pin condition and protrusion, and headspace to determine if safety concerns exist.
Full Disassembly, Clean and Oil
By far the most common customer request with older firearms is to have the gun thoroughly cleaned. This to solved many of the malfunction issues clients come in with…particularly with semiautomatic and lever action rifles. The problem is that many of these firearms do not lend themselves to proper cleaning due to the complexity of the action. When I perform a full disassembly, clean and oil, I break the firearm down to its component parts, determine if any parts are excessively worn and need repair or replacement and then completely remove all the grime and loose rust that may have accumulated over the years (sometimes decades!). The components are then lubricated as required and the firearm reassembled and tested for function and safety. Very often the mere act of a thorough cleaning will eliminate some of the problems the owners encountered before they brought the gun in.
Removal of Barrel Obstructions/Stuck Chokes and Breechplugs
There are all kinds of ways objects can become lodged in a barrel, cartridges can become stuck in a chamber and sometimes shotgun chokes refuse to give up their grip on the threads in the barrel. A diligent shooter may find that in the process of cleaning the bore, a slightly tight cleaning patch coupled with built up fouling can cause the cleaning jag to fail. Frequently a buildup of light surface rust in that favorite waterfowl gun’s or rifle’s or pistol’s chamber will cause shells to stick so tightly that they jam up the firearm and can even cause damage to the cartridge extractors if too much force is applied. This can get even scarier when magazine full of bargain basement ammo is being run through the gun and a “squib” load is encountered that has little to no propellant and causes a bullet to lodge in the barrel…another round through that barrel could be disastrous! In this last case, a barrel replacement may be the only course of action….if the rest of the firearm, and the shooter, are still intact! The popularity of inline muzzleloaders has brought is’t own major spectre … stuck breechplugs! The nature of the firearms components and the propellents used today can really cause trouble, but thats a tale for another day. Regardless, these types of issues are typically not simple fixes and often require special tooling and equipment to facilitate the cure.
Shotgun Barrel Dent Removal
Shotgun barrels are by and large made to be as light as possible to allow for effective wing shooting. Dented barrels are not uncommon in the fine double guns of the past and even some of the single barrel pivot guns made over the course of the last century. Shotguns can get away with much thinner barrels walls than rifles since they are comparably much lower pressure firearms than centerfire rifles. There are various types of dents that can be effectively repaired…but there are others that are not and should not! Various methods are used in dent removal and sometimes several different ones need to used on the same dent! In some cases, the barrels will only require a bit up touch-up to make the damaged area disappear and some cases may require rebluing. Most modern single barrel pump and semiautomatic shotguns are not as prone to being dented due to the improved metallurgy of the barrels to handle those higher pressure 3″ and 3 1/2″ loads. Typically, if one of these barrels becomes damaged, it is often more cost effective to replace and fit a new barrel than attempt a repair.
Action/Trigger Repairs and Tuning
“Smooth and Tunes” and “Trigger Jobs” are common requests from dedicated target shooters and avid hunters who want to eke the last bit of performance out of their favorite firearms. Lets face it, the majority of firearms made in the last 150 years were machine made! Rough or loose actions and sloppy triggers can result from wear or just poor manufacture and fitting processes. A typical smooth and tune involves removing as much roughness as possible from all friction bear surfaces to make the firearm action and fire controls work smoothly. This is handwork that uses a combination of abrasives, polishing stones and sometimes files to obtain glass slick surfaces that eliminates any perceivable drag when the components are functioning properly. Classical trigger jobs focus more on the components of the fire control system, for example triggers and sears. However, some aspects of a smooth and tune can provide great improvement to trigger function and feel. For instance, removing remnants of burrs from the stamped metal trigger bars on that scrape their way through the plastic frame of a contemporary handgun can take a half pound off the trigger pull without even addressing sear surfaces!
Manufacture of Unavailable Parts and Springs
Many of the firearms that come into the shop are 50 to over one hundred years old. These firearms are classic examples of workmanship that one rarely sees in modern guns, but just as we get old and start breaking down, so do they. When I started tinkering around with firearms in the 1970’s, I had the great advantage of having one of the nations leading firearms parts shops only 20 miles away. I could go over to Numrich Arm (now Gun Parts Corp (GPC)) and find anything I needed to bring an old gun back into working order and seeing the operations of Auto Ordinance (which was right next door at that time) did a lot to kindle the gunsmithing bug in me. All the leading parts houses today have thick catalogs and web sites where you can track done many missing pieces, but the wells are running dry. More often than not, when I call GPC or Jack First I’m told the obscure part for that old gun I’m fixing is out of stock…with no indication that it will ever appear again. Luckily, I’m not an armorer, I’m a gunsmith! In most cases I can replicate most parts, springs or screws that I need if they are not available from other sources, and hand fit these parts to make the firearm functional and safe once more. Many parts can be repaired by TIG welding to build up worn or broken off section of a part which is followed by hand fitting and heat treating as required for the proper function of the item. On some old hammer locks and muzzleloaders, I’ve had to forge new mainsprings or lock parts to replace ones that were lost or broken. It is often a lot faster and more cost effective for the customer if I can find and order replacement parts if they are available, but when that avenue is closed, it might be time to fire up that forge or lathe!
Sight/Scope Installation and Bore Sighting
Many folks enjoy tinkering with their firearms and probably the number one activity is mounting a new scope or sights on their firearm. This can be satisfying and a lot of fun! I always enjoyed it! There are a few times when this type of project is best left to a gunsmith with the proper tools and experience. A very popular sight related modification that has grown in the pasts five or six years has been mounting Red Dot or holographic sights on shotguns. One can see this for a rifled barrel slug gun without any real question…but many turkey hunters are asking for this so they can have an aiming aid for their smoothbores. Many “Turkey” guns are actually coming drilled and tapped for sight based these days. But those shotguns from the 1990’s and before typically were not. This is NOT a home workshop project and needs to be done carefully with a high level of precision. On some shotguns, there are places you can drill a hole…and places you’d better steer clear of! The same would hold true of older rifles that were manufactured for iron sight use. These receivers are often heat treated steel …several burned up drill bits and broken taps later … the fun disappears fast! Even those nice simple looking dovetailed sights you find in handgun slides and rifles can be next to impossible to remove without heavy duty sight pushers to get them to budge… anyone who has ever attempted to move the rear sight on a Kimber .45 should be nodding at this time. Many of these sights are pressed in at the factory with several tons of force using hydraulic or classical arbor presses…at the high end of a interference fit for sure! SO, the take home here is that although sights seem trivial and simple…sometimes they are not! I’m more than happy to help you with these.
Flintlock and Percussion Lock Repair and Tuning
Traditional muzzleloading firearms and inline muzzleloaders need help too! One of my passions has always been the flintlock rifle and fowler. Little did I know know when tinkering with them at an early age, that I would see an almost identical mechanism in the fine sidelock double guns. The mechanisms of these 18th century firearms are not unlike most other firearms: hammer, sears, triggers, all the same rules apply. For a flintlock or percussion gun to work at its optimal performance, the locks need to be tuned and polished like any other firearm. Many folks buy a flintlock or caplock rifle and accept the” fizzz…boom” as the normal and correct function of these old front stuffers….Nope! By far the most common guns that come into the shop are kit guns made by several manufacturers over the last 30-40 years that just didn’t have the attention to detail when it came to fit and finish of the firing mechanism to be reliable. I’ve had the opportunity to tighten up, smooth and tune several rifles and pistols and had customers comment that they fired so fast and smooth that they didn’t have time to flinch. There are several excellent manufacturers of traditional muzzle loader kits available today that someone so inclined and with modest mechanical skill can have a great time assembling…these, be forewarned will cost you about the same as a brand spanking new Winchester Model 70! I have had folks bring me kits they purchased to assemble and finish out for them too. One of my true passions is building custom flintlock firearms from the ground up based on clients desires and intended use… if you want to go that next step up. Feel free to give me a call and we can chat!