Took my Vaquero apart last night...My life flashed before my eyes!

M

mini14jac

New member
I had ordered a spring kit from Wolff, and thought that while I was at it, I would see about doing some light polishing of my trigger parts.

I had seen the articles at http://www.realguns.com/archives/newarc.htm on trigger improvements on the Bisley, and it looked like maybe I could do it.

Up front, let me say that I only intended to polish, not really remove any metal.

In the articles mentioned above, the author talks about ruining one screw. I almost did the same thing.
With four of the screws in the frame, Ruger uses blue LockTite, which comes loose with some effort. On the longest screw, they use Red LockTite! No wonder the head almost comes off of the screw!

Once I got all of the parts out of my gun, and they were laying in front of me on the table, I thought "What have I done?". :confused:
-Editor's note: Unless you have taken a few guns apart, and are not afraid to return a gun to the factory as a bag of parts, I don't recommend this procedure.-

I could have got by a lot easier by just installing the spring kit, because all of my parts were fairly smooth.
By using the articles above, (with pictures), and my Ruger manual, I was able to get the gun back together with only a few left over parts. :cool:

I installed the 19lb hammer spring. If it will ingnite all of the ammo I shoot, the operation will be a success.

The hammer comes back with ease and smoothness now, the trigger is light and crisp, and the new base pin retaining spring holds the pin solid.

I am looking forward to getting this bad boy back to the range.
:D
 
Yeah, I got a little tense.

My wife asked me why I was working on it, (as in "Why do you always take your guns apart?"), and I wasn't a very good conversationalist.

After I finished my plate of crow, I had to apologize. :(

I was in a much better mood when I got the screws in and the hammer cocked, and the trigger worked.
Whew!
 
I practiced with my airguns, was a bit less worried if something went bad. These things are pretty good copies!

Was more confident while switching to the real thing (except for the fear of flying springs wich never quite get away...)
 
I admire your "kahoonas"

I remember the first time I took apart my P11......extreme fear and trepidation. I kept telling myself "C'mon, someone put it together, so it can be taken apart and put back together again.......right, I mean right??? Oh $$%$*!!.....what have I done??
 
I've had my P32 apart several times, but the first time....

I finally bagged up all the parts and sent the bag back to KelTec.
:(
When I talked to the KelTec gunsmith, he said "Don't worry, we get lots of bags of parts back."

I recently removed the mag catch levers from my Ruger P95, after getting advice from the Ruger 'smith.
I cut them down to about half of their original height, cut new serrations in them, and reinstalled them.
I thought, at one point, I was going to be sending a destroyed grip assembly back to Ruger, with a note saying "How much is it going to cost to get this replaced?".

I guess, compared with that, the Vaquero work was a breeze.
 
Don't ever try to replace the mainspring in a Ruger MkII. Just don't.

Ruger DA revolvers, on the other hand, are easy to dis-/re-assemble, as are AK-pattern fire control groups.
 
only guns that EVER gave me majior trouble are my Remington Nylon 66's...

word to the wise... EVERYONE who knows these rifles will tell you that they work just fine when totally filthy... they are speaking the truth... believe them, and enjoy your gun...

there is NO REASON to put yourself through attempting to re-assemble one after a detail strip...

if you MUST, (I'm one of those who thinks they must), then removal of the top cover, barrel, bolt, mainspring, hammer, and hammer spring are ALMOST tolerable, and re-assembly isn't QUITE as bad as a root canal without novocain... and you CAN spray out the trigger group and feed assembly decently from that point...

but there is NOTHING that would get me to detail-strip one of these things EVER again...(it took me 4 gunsmiths before I found one who would even LOOK at my pile of parts! and I had taken polaroid pics as I disassembled it, just FOR re-assembly!)

stripping my Smitty semi's, Dan Wessons revolvers, or ANY of my other guns is a pleasure, compared to THAT ordeal...
 
Worst ever: Steyr1895/34 straight-pull bolt action

Got one of those puppies for real cheap, plus a ton of 8x56R ammo (w/ 3rd Reich headstamp).

Took it to a English professor I know who collects Steyrs, and managed to puzzle out how to dissassemble. I believe it involved removing certain parts of the bolt before sliding it out of the action.

Managed to finally reassemble the bolt, and over several hours could not figure out how to get the thing back in. Tried to recall the steps to remove, but couldn't do them in reverse.

Went to the Net, and by sheer luck found a webpage specifically on 1895 dissassembly, but as we followed the steps it seemed to reference components or actions that appeared nonexistent and physically impossible, though it was definitely the same model of rifle.

I'm in awe of the 1895 Austro-Hungarian peasants who managed to work these puppies. Or maybe that's why they lost WWI.

I still have that rifle, and the assembled but separate bolt wrapped in oiled rags, as well as a sizable amount of original 8x56R ammo...
 
Gives me a bit more confidense in my Glocks that I can totally strip them replace any part and gett'em back together right.

On the other hand I still haven't developed the confidense to totally strip my S/W revolvers much less attempt a trigger job on them. I've got Miculeks video on this and he makes it look simple, but then again on the same tape he makes shooting 6 shots reloading and shooting 6 more in 2 seconds look pretty easy too...
 
Don't ever try to replace the mainspring in a Ruger MkII. Just don't.
Click to expand...

Never had a problem with my mkII 22/45, perhaps it's different but I usually detail strip it once a year for a good cleaning.
 
The manual shows how easy it is to remove the upper from a Ruger MKII.
Piece of cake, right. :barf:

It took a rubber mallet and 60 or 80 blows to get it off.
Putting it back on.....Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!

Try another 60 or 80 blows.
I have heard that taking down the barrel gets easier the more you do it.
I don't know if I'll ever find out about that......................:rolleyes:
 
Never had a problem with my mkII 22/45, perhaps it's different but I usually detail strip it once a year for a good cleaning.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you're doing the same thing I did? I took the mainspring housing, drove out the crosspin, and removed the mainspring, along with the ball-detent retainer. To reassemble you have to hold a ball bearing on the end of a spring (that has to be near 20lb) and compress it into the mainspring housing, consuming about 25% of it's rest length, then insert the latch and drive the crosspin back in. If you fail, the detent ball shoots across the room and gets lost, possibly taking the latch with it, possibly taking one of your fingernails with it.
 
Ahhh the MKII... Even reassempbling The Ruger MKII from a field stripping is a truly zen experince. It can't be done, until you can do it. Then you can't figure out how you ever couldn't do it.

It a twirly motion as your putting it back together but can't describe further till you can tell me the sound of one hand clapping ;)
 
Glad you got your gun back together. I think the magic word is Patience . A lot of people disassembly their guns out of curiousity ,then panick when they cant get it back together and force something and break it . I know a few people like that they break their guns or scratch them to high hell .One guy at my range even uses a Dremel to polish things on his guns ,I guess it would be alright if he knew what he was doing.:eek:
 
Well,....er....um.....I did use a Dremel to polish my trigger parts, but..... I used the felt wheel with polishing compound.

The grinding wheels will get you in trouble fast.
Experience speaking. :barf:

As far as patience, well, let's say the only way to get patience is to patiently wait for it.
While you practice clapping with one hand. ;)

I'm afraid I've broken a few gun parts, car parts, you-name-it, because I rushed. :(
 
As an armorer in the Army I was "trained" (I use the word loosely) to take apart and fix just about all the small arms in the Army. Well let me tell you that machine guns have lots of parts that look very much like but will not function properly unless you get things in the perfect place. I thank God that other people in the unit were easy on me after asking them for help.

The MKII and the 22/45 require a touch of zen and a ton of luck. Some aer easy as pie, some are hell.

I can now do Ruger SA with my eyes closed.

I have done M16A2's with my eyes closed.

But if you think guns are bad stay away from cars!
 
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