firestar re assembly oops

[tommag]

I have been so busy working that I haven't handled a fire arm in over a year. I stripped my wife's firestar and somehow managed to put the slide stop back in but missed the hole in the link under the bbl.
Now I have a pistol with the slide locked on to the frame, but am unable to remove the slide stop in order to re align things.
Help! I feel like an idjit, which I can live with, but an idjit with a non functioning pistol is un acceptable!
Anybody have a tip on how to remove the slide stop? The slide will not come back far enough to allow removing the stop, and will not go far enough forward to remove it from the frame.[smilie=b:

[Artful]

Um, if it went in it must come out. I'm having trouble visualizing this in my mind - do you have a picture?

[Jim]

http://www.star-firearms.com/firearms/manuals/downloads/firestar_manual.pdf

[44man]

Sounds like the locking lugs on the barrel are engaged in the slide.
I don't have anything here to fool with but can a dowel in the barrel exert enough down force to unlock the barrel? (Lift the front of the dowel.) Or if the gun can be opened enough to push the chamber end down?
That should allow the slide to move.

[HeavyMetal]

I'm going to hazard a guess on this problem, which 44man has kinda hit on.

The slide moves but not far enough in either direction to be of any use. I suspect the full length recoil spring guide is actually interfering here becuase it is out of position in the slide.

You may need another set of hands for this job: I think you need to pull on the barrel while twisting it a bit in an attempt to get the recoil spring guide off the cam.

Once this is "freed" up it may move rear ward enough to remove the slide stop but you will have to hold the barrel under spring tension while moving the slide back. This means another hand to "pluck" the slide stop out of the frame while you are holding everything else in just the right position.

Hope this idea works for you.

[tommag]

I got it, thanks. I pulled the bbl forward enough to put a dowell in the ejection port, holding the bbl forward enough to move the slide back far enough to remove the slide stop. I guess I have to take a little longer to get the road out of my head before messing with things.
How in the heck can a person mess up a 1911 type action? I always thought they were idiot proof, but I have evolved into a higher form of idiot!

[44man]

We all do it! :holysheep I had a BFR apart, put it together and the cylinder would not lock. Found the spring and plunger on the floor.
Took an EAA revolver apart because the gun would lock up tight. Parts fell all over the place. Had a short time thinking before I figured where they all came from. Found the internal piece that the thumb piece screws to had shifted from a loose screw and dropped into where it did not belong.
The older I get, the worse it gets. :groner:

[tommag]

We all do it! :holysheep I had a BFR apart, put it together and the cylinder would not lock. Found the spring and plunger on the floor.
Took an EAA revolver apart because the gun would lock up tight. Parts fell all over the place. Had a short time thinking before I figured where they all came from. Found the internal piece that the thumb piece screws to had shifted from a loose screw and dropped into where it did not belong.
The older I get, the worse it gets. :groner:

Ok, a revolver I can understand, but a 1911 type auto? Next thing you know I will forget how to operate a fork and a spoon!

[44man]

Ok, a revolver I can understand, but a 1911 type auto? Next thing you know I will forget how to operate a fork and a spoon!
:veryconfu Some days I have the fork shake so bad I need to dive for it! I tried changing my grip to no avail. I wonder if I can buy a Pachmeyer fork grip? [smilie=w:

[Artful]

Not Pachmeyer but OXO
http://www.activeforever.com/images/product/icon/A17040.jpg

[44man]

Not Pachmeyer but OXO
http://www.activeforever.com/images/product/icon/A17040.jpg
:bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2: