About to undertake restoration of a 12ga Winchester 12 trigger and receiver

[Tokarev]

The trigger's tip is currently worn and the hammer can go off with a touch of a trigger even with safety engaged.
From the look at the trigger group there seem to be several possible ways to repair the trigger:

1. Anneal the tip, then micro-TIG weld up with piano string, quench and grind to the spec.
2. Anneal the tip, then slightly bend it up, quench and grind to the spec.
3. Anneal the tip, then slightly bend down, braze on some metal (a metal saw blade comes to mind), quench then grind to the spec.

Considreing that I also have to repair the firing pin retractor broken in the middle and the receiver has to be welded up where the bolt lug approaches ejection window, the 1st method sounds like the best option.

The firing pin extractor can be brazed back together without any problems, but I can also make a new one out of a lathe parting tool. So the trigger is the main issue.

I don't know how to weld, but can braze. My son just graduated from the welders college where he did 80 hours of TIG, he would have to save some ca$h for his own TIG machine with a pencil torch and wires before he could help me. He says with a good small torch he could weld up all 3 items.

What do you think?

[Blackwater]

I'd wait and do it right, so you won't have to do it over again. Murphy's Law says this would be when you LEAST need it to go wrong, too, and need re-fixing.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I'd say a contribution towards the son's TIG welder would pay you in the long term.

[lancem]

Maybe buy a replacement, parts are still plentiful for model 12's.

[loveruger]

I have a complete trigger group for a Model 12. Send me your address and I'll mail it to you.

[loveruger]

I have a complete trigger group for a Model 12. Send me your address and I'll mail it to you.

[Tokarev]

Loveruger,


I too love Ruger and appreciate the offer! Sending you a PM. And the next paycheck will be used to pay for the pencil torch we agreed. That should open the world of opportunities for the projects!

Thank you!

[Tokarev]

We started to train and prepair for the repair. Today my son spent 2 hours kneeling on the concrete garage floor, first figuring the amperage settings of his new Lincoln 210MP in TIG mode, then he welded up the shaft of a bench grinder severely beaten/eaten by rust.

Some pictures of the part in progress:
Attachment 153315Attachment 153316Attachment 153317

Lessons learned:

1. touch start sucks;
2. tungsten eats through Al2O3 grinder disks like through butter;
3. ground clamp supplied by Lincoln with 210MP is a piece of c..p.

Off to eBay/Amazon for a better ground clamp and another diamond disk (I have one and it is too narrow for grinding tungstens quickly and comfortably, I use it for the HSS drill bits etc).

[John 242]

I would like to caution against welding or brazing any critically heat treated parts, like a trigger's sear surface, unless you really know what you're doing. Heat treatment of a sear needs to be right or the gun can become unsafe very quickly.

If you get the sear nose angle wrong, or the amount of engagement wrong, the gun will be unsafe.

If you're an expert and know exactly what you're doing, then please excuse me. I would hate for someone who's not an expert to unknowingly create an unsafe firearm.

It seems like you're going to have a replacement part before too long, thanks to a very generous offer from a fellow member. If that doesn't pan out, MGW has Winchester Model 12 triggers in stock, or check with Numrich, Wisners or Jack First.

I use a silicon carbide "green" wheel, on a bench grinder, to sharpen my tungstens. Chucking them up in a cordless drill helps get a nice pointed tip; spin the tungsten as you hold it to the wheel. I'll sharpen the entire package so I can quickly swap tungstens if I contaminate my tip, especially when welding aluminum.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I think getting a replacement part should be the easiest way to deal with this. But if the troublesome area of the trigger is adequately backd up with steel, I believe I would reduce it and silver solder a piece of high speed steel in place. That wouldn't be softened by silver soldering heat, and could come from an all hard hacksaw blade or a lathe parting-off tool blade.

[Tokarev]

Can't legally ship gun parts from the USA to Canada anymore. Out of luck.

[John 242]

Can't legally ship gun parts from the USA to Canada anymore. Out of luck.

Any Canadian parts supply houses?

[M-Tecs]

Loveruger

PM sent on trigger group since Tokarev stated it couldn't be shipped to Canada. If still available maybe we can work something out.

[thxmrgarand]

I don't know how many rounds my most-used Model 12 trap gun has seen. It was well used when it came from a garage sale almost 20 years ago, and I have sometimes put 5,000 rounds a year through it. About 10 years ago I sent the trigger group to an outfit in the Midwest as I was having problems with it. I think it is Nuline Guns I used. The cost was $40 I think and the trigger came back better in every respect for trap than the trigger I have used on any other gun including other Model 12s. So that is what I would do again. I do like Model 12's but there is nothing wrong with Remington 31's either.

[Tokarev]

So far we welded up the receiver lug and that went extremely well. After some grinding the bolt headspaces nice and tight.

The receiver still needs more polishing in that area as action is not smooth enough, but a good start. I pre-heated to 300F and my son laid 2 passes of ER70S-2 across the entire lug except for a small area near the ejection window and the bolt now has about 80% of its original resting surface back. Where previously I cold push on the bolt face with an index finger and it would just come out of battery and slide back, we can hammer against a brass rod and the bolt would still stay put.

He also welded up the broken firing pin retractor and it worked very well. Clamped to an Aluminum block (an old CPU heat sink), pre-heated to 300F and used the same rod.