Easier than I thought

[I'll Make Mine]

I've got an Excam GT-27 (.25 ACP, aka F.I.E. Titan .25) that I've had for several years; it was given to me with the admonition that "this isn't safe to shoot". All the time I've had it, every time I've looked it over I concluded that it wasn't so much unsafe, as it wouldn't fire reliably; the sear was catching in the half cock notch about one time in three. I bought a magazine for it a while back, thinking I'd get around to fixing it, but haven't ever had the money (with this job at high enough priority) to order a safety, trigger assembly, sear, and hammer from Numrich (that'd be $60-$80 in parts for a pistol that's worth no more than $100 in "shooter" condition with one magazine).

Well, this pistol is held together by only half a dozen pins, and after removing the slide (and checking the firing pin movement, protrusion, and rebound position while I was at it -- all good) and looking over the schematic online, I found I could remove the sear by pushing out one pin, then take out the hammer (with spring guide) and mainspring by driving out another pin. What I found was this: at some point in the past, someone strong-armed the trigger and bent the sear pin; that in turn let the sear strike the edge of the half cock notch and wore the edge of the sear round where it should be sharp, as well as raising burrs on the both full cock and half cock notches on the hammer.

With nothing to lose compared to replacing parts, I stoned the sear (very carefully maintaining the original engagement angle) until I'd taken off almost all of the rounding, then stoned the bottom and top of the sear to restore the original thickness (which removed the last of the rounding and left the sear with a barely broken sharp edge). With a safe-back needle file, I then took the burrs off the hammer notches (again, very carefully avoiding any alteration of the engagement angle); I also filed some wear burrs off the sear around the pin hole and the inside of the frame at the same pin hole. I didn't have a piece of rod to make a replacement pin for the sear (I'll get that on payday, looks like 3/32 or 2.5 mm music wire will work), but I was able to straighten the original; I wouldn't trust it to hold up to much use (it's got a couple nasty wear notches from when it was bent), but it is good enough to verify that the action now works the way it should -- half cock holds correctly (can't be pulled out with the trigger), full cock is positive and requires significant trigger pull (calibrate finger says something like five pounds) to release, but releases cleanly, and the hammer falls past the half cock as it should. The safety works correctly, too, now that the sear isn't wobbly.

If I can't find the correct size wire locally, I can get an original sear pin from Numrich for less than $3 (I wonder what they'll charge to ship a part weighing less than two grams?).

Best part of this is, this pistol is significantly less complex than the power tools I repair for a living; it took me less than an hour to disassemble, troubleshoot, and repair (it'll be another ten minutes or so to replace the sear pin when I get or make a new one). Even just counting parts, that hour spent reconditioning worn/damaged parts is saving me around $50 -- it'd be double that, if I'd paid someone to work on the pistol. That'll mean I can shop for another magazine and pick up a box of ammunition (assuming I can find any -- too bad this pistol isn't for a more obscure cartridge) and add one more cartridge to the list of "what to look for when ammo gets really scarce".

[Walter Laich]

Sounds like you took a careful look-see and were able to fix the problem--too many times a person will just throw $$ at the problem and not take the time to see if they can fix it.

Glad you had success with this firearm.

[I'll Make Mine]

Well, a very late follow up on this -- I did wind up ordering the correct manufacturer part to replace the sear pin, and found (when I finally got a chance to test fire the pistol) that the hammer was still catching at the half cock notch. Having had it apart and worked through it already, I was able to disassemble it enough at the range to use the file on my Leatherman multi-tool to thin the underside of the sear enough to reliably clear the half cock -- and finish up the repair in ten minutes (fortunately without losing the tiny sear pin). The last two magazines I put through it fired 100%, one pull, one bang, and as a bonus, were startlingly accurate for a tiny pocket pistol -- seven rounds resulted in seven hits on soda cans at 25 feet. Hard to ask for more from a pistol small enough to hide inside a wallet.

[roverboy]

Sounds like you might have it fixed. Most people wouldn't have took the time.

[FrankG]

Drill bit shanks are good pins.

[mikeym1a]

I have had two of these. I bought the 1st on for my sister for her birthday, and was really surprised when we testfired it. The trigger pull was not very heavy, and smooth, and the pistol shot to the point of aim, with its issue sights. I later bought another, and was sadly disappointed. The trigger was so heavy and rough, you had trouble hitting a 2ft sq target at 50 ft. I ended up giving that to a friend, who was delighted to have it. My sister recently gave me back her pistol, and it resides in my desk drawer, in the holster I bought for it at the time of purchase. It's a good little pistol. I hope you enjoy your. mikey

[oldred]

If you can easily FILE the sear and notches on the hammer they are way too soft and will wear rounded after a while, probably not going to be a problem with a pistol that won't be shot a lot but something to bear in mind anyway.

[I'll Make Mine]

I didn't say it was easy; the file barely cut on the sear -- but I'll keep in mind that it's likely to need the sear and hammer replaced at some point; I might just buy replacements to have on hand. As you note, this isn't a pistol that's likely to see thousands of rounds a year, and the sear and hammer might well have been fairly soft from the factory.