American Handgunner July/August 1982

PISTOLSMITHING
Continuedfrom page 8
••• provides handsome appearance of stainless steel
WRITE FOR
Full color Illustrated
brochure and name
of nearest
dealer
CUSTOMCOMPETITION HANDGUNS
FROM THE ACCURACY SPECIALIST,
ALPHA PRECISION
The "FIRST IN ACCURACY" is our name
• Competitive prices • Over 20 years experience.
Dependable functioning • Professional
craftsmanship •
• All work fully tested and guaranteed •
• Fast service •
• Send large SASE for details •
THIS IS THE FINISH! It protects ALL metal surfaces
by a combination of heat and chemical treatments.
The surface you see; the bore where deterioration
Is most deadly; moving parts - without harm to
close machine tolerances, without loss of temper
to springs. Far outlasts blueing. Lab and field
tested for several years. Provides like-new restoration
for favorite older guns; special good-looking
protective finish for that new purchase. Results
guaranteed! Investigate.
PPC, ISPC, DUTY, TARGET,
SILHOUETTE, AND SPORT
ALPHA PRECISION, INC., Dept. 01,1231 Sunderland, Ct.
Atlanta, Georgia 30319 (404) 458-0477
follower for rough spots. You can polish.
the follower with crocus cloth or a rag buff
until the spring slides into its fully compressed
position without friction.
Check the rearmost movement of the
slide with the spring removed and again
with the recoil spring in place. The slide
must come to rest at the same point or the
spring is packing and will probably have a
short, violent life. Grind a part of a coil
from the spring until it is the proper length.
Failure to fire can be caused by a too
tight overtravel screw. Back it off until the
pistol fires every time. Not all triggers are
fitted with an overtravel screw, so it could
be that the hump on the grip safety needs
careful stoning to allow slightly more rearward
movement.
Jar-off, or double firing, is a sleight-ofhand
act usually caused by too casual a
grip on the pistol. Lighter trigger pulls and
lack ofovertravel can allow the pistol to recoil
into the soft flesh and muscle and be
rebounded into the trigger finger, causing a
second shot to be discharged. Use a proper,
firm grip when sandbag testing and firing
normally.
Follow-down, a condition where the
hammer follows the slide down without
firing, is caused by inertia of the trigger
bumping into the sear and releasing it to
allow hammer follow. This makes an effective
single action pistol, but it is easily corrected
to proper function again by merely
flexing the middle leafofthe sear spring to
give more spring tension against the sear:
Mainspring tension and angle/fit of the
sear and hammer usually do not enter into
the cure for follow-down, provided that
the trigger job has been properly accomplished.
If a long "target" style trigger has
been installed, you may have to drill two or
three lightening holes in it to lessen the inertial
bump on the sear.
After firing, properly clean your pistol.
The only really acceptable solvent for removing
metallic fouling, from jacketed
bullets, is an ammonia preparation. G.I.
bore cleaner is as good as any. Always use a
bronze brush to scrub in the solvent, follow
with dry patches and swab the bore with
Rig or a similar specially prepared gun
grease. Do not use oil, since it will oxidize
or run off and leave the surface dry. Follow
with a dry patch. More good barrels are
ruined by use of improper solvents than
any other cause. Most solvents will do the
job with hard lead alloy bullets, but it takes
ammonia or an abrasive paste preparation
to remove metallic fouling.
Lube the top of the barrel with light oil
with you put your pistol to- ~
gether, and it will be ready to go. ~
28 AMERICAN HANDGUNNER . JULY / AUGUST 1982