most difficult gun to reassemble

[fiberoptik]

Nylon 66!!!!!!

+1!!


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[lead-1]

I had a dickins of a time with the reassembly of a Springfield 87A. I swore I would never attempt another, but in my defense I had never touched one before and was handed this one in rusty pieces. Once everything was cleaned of rust, oiled and a couple missing parts replaced I accidently got it back together and it worked.
I must say it worked really well for as rusty as the parts were and the owner has already picked off a couple squirrels this year with it.

Also, I am no fan of stripping and reassembly of my Ruger MK1.

[Walks]

If I had a dollar for every Ruger MKI and MKII I put together from a box of parts brought in by a Customer in my 12yrs working Gun Stores, I'd have enough to Buy a COLT Python at today's prices. It's just a flip of the wrist at the right moment.

But that was more then 20yrs ago. Now I refer to the laminated instruction page I keep in my pistol rug.

Nylon 66-YES, only regret I don't have it anymore.

Win/Uberti 1873, had a misaligned spring. COULD NOT see it. a Friend who had never owned one spotted the problem right away. Back together slicker then mule snot. A week later.

[rking22]

I did a trigger job on my MkII back in the 80s, really had no problems getting it back together, but I had a lot of practice stoning and testing and stoning.....
Now I refurbished a 30s I’ve Johnson boxlock double, had fits getting the mainsprings back in with “makedo” spring compressor! The right tools would have made it easy. I would say any of the Peterson designs can be very interesting to get back together the first (or 12th) time, depending. Never had a 66, so ??!

[Winger Ed.]

Not as hard as the '66, but I had fits with a old Winchester 12guage double barrel awhile back.

A co-worker had inherited and asked me to 'fix it'. As well as not firing, it had a big dent in one barrel.
I knew it was over my head, so I took it to my old buddy of 30-odd years,,,, the local gunsmith.

First thing he said was, "If it wasn't something real hard, you'd already have done it,,,, right"?
Anyway, he took it in, and told me the firing pins were worn/broken.

"You can't get them any more, but weld extensions on them right here,,,,,
bring it back, I'll check it over, I'll iron out the dent, and you'll be ready to go".

After I'd welded a little on the pins, I couldn't get it back together and 'work'.
I finally got it, but there for a day or so, I thought I was going to have to find another gunsmith to put it back together
so I wouldn't be laughed at every time I cast my shadow on his door for the next 15 years.

[Traffer]

A couple of years back I bought a Mossberg 702 Plinkster from Walmart for $99. I was surprised to find how hard it was to reassemble. Kind of like a Chinese puzzle. I thought it was just me but maybe is it really is one of the tougher ones. Anyone else have trouble with that model?

[Thundarstick]

It's amazing how many guns have" tricks" or special tools that make assembly easy. It also amazing how many guns get screwed up the same way by home table top gun smiths. IE, 552 Remington screwed up, or Browning BL-22 missing the ejector and spring! I'm also amazed at some that are considered difficult. I've never liked them, never owned one, and certainly never worked one one, but I'm throwing in for the Nylon 66 because of the horror stories real gun smiths have told me!

[desi23]

A lot of guns can be a pain to reassemble if you don't know the tricks or have the right tools. They may come apart easy enough to make you think they should go right back but they don't.... I would agree that the Nylon 66 is royal PITA if taken down too far, proper alignment is critical. Also used to see a lot of Ruger 22 auto pistols show up in pieces or locked shut when I worked for the gunshop. H&R and Iver Johnson revolvers are easy with the right slave pins, a nightmare without. One of the worst for me was an old Spanish side by side shotgun that arrived in pieces. Getting the main springs compressed to get the hammers back in was a nightmare. Not having whatever tool the manufacturer used it ended up requiring two sets of hands to do the job.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

It's interesting how many mention the Ruger MkI ..MkII ..MkIII
Like Walks says, the trick is just a flip of the wrist at the right moment.
I suppose it became easy for me, as I used one in League for several years?
Funny thing is, it's been years since I've had one apart, maybe I'd have trouble reassembling it, if I took it apart today? ,,,good thing there is youtube, LOL.

If I had a dollar for every Ruger MKI and MKII I put together from a box of parts brought in by a Customer in my 12yrs working Gun Stores, I'd have enough to Buy a COLT Python at today's prices. It's just a flip of the wrist at the right moment.

>>>SNIP

Side Note: Has anyone ever installed a trigger shield on a Ruger MkI ..MkII ..MkIII ???
If not, I highly recommend it...I don't know if there is a commercial manufacturer selling them anymore?
But there is plenty of DIY posts about it.
https://guntalk-online.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1175

It keeps all the crud out of the trigger mech, so if you rarely clean it, the trigger won't get crunchy.

[David2011]

When I got my 66 I was warned to only remove the cover even for rebluing. The Ruger Mk I is a challenge the first few times as well but mine has been apart many times since 1981.

[grayscale]

My Ruger Mk1 is the only gun I ever took to the gunsmith in a bag. Now I clean it with carb cleaner spray....
Grayscale

[bob208]

the ruger mk I and I I gave me a fit then I learned how to clean them. lock it open spray it out with carb. cleaner, blow dry oil and done. po8 luger was a joy till a friend showed me how. the broom handle was a learning experience. right now I have a 1910 mauser .25 I am fighting with.

[johniv]

1897 Win. Is a wonder to work on. Soooo many parts.

[Bazoo]

Not a hard gun to reassemble, but the winchester 94 takes some time should it need detail cleaning or drying.

[txbirdman]

the ruger mk I and I I gave me a fit then I learned how to clean them. lock it open spray it out with carb. cleaner, blow dry oil and done. po8 luger was a joy till a friend showed me how. the broom handle was a learning experience. right now I have a 1910 mauser .25 I am fighting with.

. Funny you should mention the carb cleaner. When I was fresh out of college and broke I borrowed an auto 5 to do some quail hunting. Not long after borrowing it it became in essence a single shot. Knowing nothing about how they worked I began to disassemble it. Didn’t take me long to figure out I was in over my head so I took all the parts to our local postmaster who was the main gun guy in my small town. In a day or two he returned the shotgun and told me that the next time Igot the urge to clean it to take off the butt stock and set the action in an container of chain saw gas. He said swirl it around ever so often then set it out and let things dry out for a couple of days. He said your gun will then be both cleaned and oiled. Doubt that would work these days with unleaded gas but I tried it a time or two with a .22 auto with good results.

[quilbilly]

My fifty year old Ruger RST-6. It is still a mystery how it goes back together. I just learned to turn it upside down after cleaning then shaking it until it somehow goes together and that is after 50 years of shooting it.

[Ramson222]

Marlin camp carbine in 9mm, after someone used a ball peen hammer to drive in the tapered pins which hold the thing together from the wrong side. They also managed to miss about 20 times it looks like.

I did get a really good deal on it $150 as a bag of parts. Fired a few thousand rounds through it and then sold it for about $550 on gunbroker about 3 years ago, in order to fund a 9mm AR which I still haven't purchased.

[jonp]

Ruger MK1. Pull just right, turn it over this way, stand on your head and hope it works. My Mark IV is a dream. Other than that the Hi Point Carbines are interesting to say the least

[Texas by God]

Lead-1 mentioned the Springfield 87 "Gill gun". I thought my head would explode on that one. I let it set for a few days, held my mouth different and got it together- to this day I've no idea what went wrong or right! And a +1 on the Ruger Mk1. Even with a slave pin the H&R Topper/ NEF single shots can be Vexing.

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[ShooterAZ]

Ever try to re-assemble an M1 Carbine bolt without the special tool? I have, and that one makes the Ruger MK 1 look easy. Several hours of cursing and numerous blood blisters later, I finally got it back together. I ended up using a vice, still wishing I had four hands. Yep, I don't know if I'll ever need to do an M1 Carbine bolt again, but if I do, I have the tool now The M1 Garand bolt is FAR easier.