Remington 11-87 Carrier Latch

[ar15man2009]

Hello,

I was recently giving my 11-87 a good cleaning and ran into some trouble. I got it completely disassembled and made the stupid mistake of stepping away from my bench with it left apart. By the time I returned one of my friends had apparently decided it would be a good idea to dry fire the bare trigger group. I walked back into the room a second too late just as the hammer dropped and I was lucky enough to watch my carrier latch break off and fly across the room.

So now that the deed has been done I'm left to replace the broken carrier latch. I am wondering if it is a simple job that I can do on my own by buying the piece back from remington ($3.80, I already checked), and put it in myself, or if this is too big a job to do on my own, in which case it'll be off to the gunsmith.

I would really prefer to do it on my own if i can. There's not really a good quality gunsmith close so if i can keep from having to take it to one it would be great. I have quite a bit of experience with guns and the way that they work but I have heard that the 11-87 trigger groups can be tricky. It looks like an easy fix to me, but I would rather know before I mess something up even worse.

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

 

[Virginian]

It's pretty easy. First separate the trigger group and the carrier, and don't let anything go flying. Pin comes out to the right. Don't let the latch follower go flying when you take the pin out. Second set of hands is handy (no pun intended) to start the pin while you compress the follower.

 

[ar15man2009]

.

Thank you very much, I believe that I will try to do it on my own. I was wondering if you have actually done it? I only ask because I was wondering how long I will have to dedicate to fixing it.

 

[Virginian]

Done it several times. Carrier latches bent by dropping the hammer with the trigger group out are quite common. Folks don't read the manual. And replacing the latch is easier than trying to get the right bend back unless your time is worth absolutely nothing. Shouldn't take 30 minutes. Make sure you have a small brass punch for the pin. A small nail can be used but file the point off and be careful. Should only need to tap it out.