Field Stripping the H&R Self-Loading .25

[j-framer]

Dear friends,

I have scoured cyberspace (and whatever actual books I could lay my hands on) and cannot find any instructions for field stripping the Harrington & Richardson .25 Self-Loading pistol.

At one point, I found brief instructions for taking down the .32 version, which went as follows:

1) With the striker in fired position and the magazine removed, pull down the front of the trigger guard until the “step” can be seen, and hold it there.

2) Move the slide and barrel off the frame toward the front. As it clears its track, the barrel will be released for removal.

Thinking that the procedure would likely be the same for the .25, I attempted to field strip my H&R .25 this way and failed. The problem was that the front of the trigger guard would not budge at all. It seemed rock solid and, having great respect for these old guns, I did not want to apply excessive force.

Please help me out - does someone know how to field strip the H&R Self-Loading .25?

 

[PetahW]

IIRC, the H&R auto was made under license from Webley & Scott (England) - You might find some info under that gun's heading, perhaps at Numrich Arms (schematics).

.

 

[James K]

1. Remove magazine and be sure pistol is unloaded.

2. Hook finger inside trigger guard and pull front of trigger guard forward and down until it unsnaps at the rear.

3. Barrel and slide will come forward off frame.

4. Lift barrel straight up to remove from slide.

Reassemble in reverse order.

Be careful with the grips. They are hard rubber (gutta percha) which becomes very brittle with age. It is rare to find one of those guns with the little prong in front of the safety intact.

Jim

 

[j-framer]

PetahW said:

IIRC, the H&R auto was made under license from Webley & Scott (England) - You might find some info under that gun's heading, perhaps at Numrich Arms (schematics).

Actually, I found a disassembled photo (but no instructions) for the Webley .25, and it looked like there were some differences between it and the H&R. Can't remember exactly what they appeared to be, but they made me think that the Webley somehow disassembled differently.

Jim Keenan said:

1. Remove magazine and be sure pistol is unloaded.

2. Hook finger inside trigger guard and pull front of trigger guard forward and down until it unsnaps at the rear.

3. Barrel and slide will come forward off frame.

4. Lift barrel straight up to remove from slide.

Reassemble in reverse order.

Jim Keenan, you are indeed a fount of knowledge! Thanks for once again helping me out.

Aha, so the trigger guard is supposed to "unsnap" at the rear. I haven't tried field stripping it yet, as I just got home. But I will tonight and will let you know how it goes.

Be careful with the grips. They are hard rubber (gutta percha) which becomes very brittle with age. It is rare to find one of those guns with the little prong in front of the safety intact.

Mine still does have that little prong. In fact, the entire gun is in fabulous shape for its age - I've never seen one of these so nice (not that I've been around all that long, either, but I've seen, or seen pictures of, probably a dozen or so).

 

[j-framer]

Just when I thought I had it made, I have whole new problem.

The trigger guard unsnapped quite nicely, and hinged down until the rear end was about 3/8" below the bottom of the trigger. I then - with the magazine out and the safety in the horizontal position (is this right?) - tried moving the slide and barrel forward. The slide, pushing the barrel ahead of it, went forward about 1/4" and then STOPPED COLD, not to be moved farther. The barrel, on the other hand, was easily drawn forward until the rear of the chamber was about 3/4" back of the front edge of the slide, and then it too hit something quite solid and could not be drawn farther forward.

Boy, this is frustrating. Do you know what could be making the slide stop moving forward on the rails?

 

[j-framer]

Got it!

I got it!

The problem was that I was laboring under the assumption that the gun was striker-fired like its .32-caliber big brother. I had therefore dry fired the gun (with snap cap) before attempting the disassembly.

It took me a couple minutes of frustration with the slide refusing to move forward to reason that the gun must have an internal hammer, which, since it was in the fired position, was interfering with the slide's end cap as it tried to pass over it on its way forward.

Retracting the slide to cock the hammer (placing it back out of the way of the slide's path) was all that was needed. After that, the slide and barrel were easily moved forward on the rails.

Thanks to all for your help!

 

[James K]

Sorry, j-framer, I forgot that detail. To make sure I was giving you the straight skivvy, I took mine down. First, of course, I checked the gun, and that left the hammer cocked, so I didn't think to say it had to be cocked. I did check the safety and its position doesn't matter.

Jim