rt11002003
New member
Guess what; it was a gun cleaning day? Nothing new to that, but I picked up on a couple of things. I was cleaning a recently acquired sight unseen used HK p7. It was the second used HK I've bought in the last year. In both cases, the actions were clean, the barrels were dirty. People must be lazy, or ???????? Fortunately, the barrels cleaned up with a little effort. Also noted the barrel was mated to the receiver like the SIG p232. Both guns were very easy to take down and reassemble. Simple, simple.
Then I got to the Browning BDA and the Beretta 84FS. I'd forgotten how they were assembled. Not only is there a takedown down lever that is complicated (compared to HK and SIG); the barrels look like they're mated to the receiver. But, they're not. The barrels are a very close fit to the receiver and a very, very close fit to the takedown lever. Needless to say, one gun was a little difficult to reassemble. The other was a nightmare. My understanding is both guns are/were produced in the same facility, but it looks to me that the Beretta was not machined as precisely. It took a light tap on the barrel to seat it enough for the takedown lever to rotate. b/t/w the operators' manuals don't tell one that.
My point: Life should be simple, if possible. Years of experience with motorcycles and cars, pointed out (to me) the German vehicles were simple compared to the Italian vehicles, making maintenance easier. But, even though complicated, the Italians make some beautiful high performance vehicles. Looks like their guns follow the same pattern.
Then I got to the Browning BDA and the Beretta 84FS. I'd forgotten how they were assembled. Not only is there a takedown down lever that is complicated (compared to HK and SIG); the barrels look like they're mated to the receiver. But, they're not. The barrels are a very close fit to the receiver and a very, very close fit to the takedown lever. Needless to say, one gun was a little difficult to reassemble. The other was a nightmare. My understanding is both guns are/were produced in the same facility, but it looks to me that the Beretta was not machined as precisely. It took a light tap on the barrel to seat it enough for the takedown lever to rotate. b/t/w the operators' manuals don't tell one that.
My point: Life should be simple, if possible. Years of experience with motorcycles and cars, pointed out (to me) the German vehicles were simple compared to the Italian vehicles, making maintenance easier. But, even though complicated, the Italians make some beautiful high performance vehicles. Looks like their guns follow the same pattern.
