Through pin on SA revolver

HandyMan12

New member
I have a Buffalo Scout .22 revolver and am needing to replace the firing pin. I've never removed a through pin from a frame and understand it can be challenging. Any tips and tricks you want to share before I just grab my punch and hammer and start banging around?
Thanks.
 
Photos

These pics show the through pin that I understand I need to remove in order to put in a new recoil cup/shield and firing pin. The 3rd pic shows there is no firing pin as you can see the piece of paper through the barrel.

Again, I have heard small through pins in the frame of an old SA can be hard to deal with. I just don't want to mar this old pistol banging around on it.

Thanks.
 

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From your photos (good job BTW) and the absence of the firing pin, firing pin spring and recoil shield, I'd say somebody has had that pin out already; so it shouldn't be too difficult to remove. I'd suggest driving it out toward the end that extends farthest, but I'd mic each end to see if the pin has an obvious taper. I sort of doubt that one does.

I'd also put a drop of penetrating oil on the cross pin where it passes through the firing pin port, and give a day or so to work.
 
From the looks of that pistol, it appears to be the same as a Heritage Rough Rider...you
might be able to look at a schematic/parts list of that for help.
 
That's not the original pin. You can very carefully punch it out but the frame is Zamak and the hole may be oversized once the pin is driven out. I had one just like it many years ago and they are not good quality at all.
 
It looks like they use the same schematic for several guns. The Buffalo Scout was made by Herbert Schmidt. It's really not worth spending the time or money on. The fact you have so many worn parts attests to the quality. An RG 66 is a much better quality gun and most people call them junk.
 
@Nathan, I have flat punches. Are the cupped the only way to go to keep solid contact with the pin?
@Hawg, I hear you, but it is an old cheap gun from my Father-in-Law that he used to shoot back in the early 70's and it would make his world if I got it up and running again.
 
Can you disassemble it and post close-ups of the hammer and sear? If the action is like a Colt SAA (and why would't it be?), you can probably repair the cocking reliability by dressing the notch on the hammer with a jewelers file.
 
Can you disassemble it and post close-ups of the hammer and sear? If the action is like a Colt SAA (and why would't it be?), you can probably repair the cocking reliability by dressing the notch on the hammer with a jewelers file.

That's a possibility but I'm betting the tip of the sear is broken off or worn down.
 
Handman12,

A lot of straight pins are not hardened. The cup punches are both to preserve the appearance of soft hemispherical end pins and to be sure a flat punch doesn't upset the end of the pin to a tighter fit in the hole. A brass punch may be soft enough to indent in the punch tip rather than upset the steel pin. It just depends on how soft the pin is.

A penetrating fluid is a good idea. Interestingly, some of the natural organic oils seem to do better at penetrating than commercial petroleum-based products. Both wintergreen oil and tea nut tree oil do an amazing job of creeping, and I have added them to penetrating oils in the past to improve their performance. So they are something else you could apply a day or two ahead of attempting to drift the pin out.

Usually, gun pins are drifted out from left to right and put in from right to left (as viewed from the shooter's end of the gun). For straight pins, this shouldn't matter. I brought it up mainly because it is backward from your schematic illustration.

If you wind up loosening the zinc alloy hole, a roll pin should take up the slop, even if it isn't an aesthetic match to the original.

There's an article on pins and punches here.
 
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