Kevin Muramatsu - The Gun Digest Book of Automatic Pistols Assembly/Disassembly

One of the best aspects of being a gunsmith is the wonderful blessing of having a hobby turned into a career. Many times I have pitied the dude who was so frustrated with his job he wanted to tell his boss where to shove it, but simply couldnt afford to give up the now crummy job, since it paid the bills. Or the fellow who went to college for whatever degree in whatever field, was performing well in that field, but then the glow departed and boredom and apathy set in. Thats where I was not too many years ago, sitting on a BS in I-dont-want-to-do-this-anymore.

When you work with firearms, there is just short of an infinity of new things to see, and opportunities to figure out how they work, and try to decide why this companys pistol is more worth a months pay than this other companys pistol. We live in the Golden Age of firearms ownership. More guns are being designed and manufactured today for sale to the American citizen than ever before. It must be mindboggling to the first time handgun purchaser trying to choose what to get. The answer for a gunsmith is to simply get them all. The corresponding curse then is that they all must be taken apart to see how they work.

This book and its brothers in the Assembly/Disassembly series are written just for those occasions. These take down steps can be invaluable to the professional and the lay person, and yes, even to the manufacturers. Many manufacturers, mostly the big name guys, tend to encourage that firearms be returned to the factory for service. There are a lot of people that for whatever reason arent going to do that, and this book can keep the repairs and curiosity takedowns from becoming brown-bag specials. Of course, gunsmiths must service their customers guns; that is their function. Many gun owners like to do the same thing, and this is usually a good thing, since a man who understands how his gun works will likely take better care of it, resulting in a better maintained and therefore, safer gun. This gun owner will be better able to identify malfunctions, know why this piece is here, and what that spring is for, and why the gun doesnt fire when the magazine is out.

The steps in this book are designed to be as linear as possible. When disassembling the handgun, simply follow the steps in the order given. The reader will note that the reassembly tips are far fewer than the given steps for disassembly. The reassembly can generally be accomplished by reinstalling the parts in the reverse order of the disassembly. If there are deviations, these deviations are noted. The use of a digital camera is priceless. It should be standard practice, when disassembling a gun for the first time, to take images of each step. Its astounding how the oh nuts moment becomes an oh yeah, I see how it was moment. A cheap 2-4 megapixel camera is sufficient.

There is a fair selection of basic tools needed for disassembly of the firearms in this book. Punches of various sorts, such as roll pin punches, starter punches, and standard drift punches, are necessities. Small hammers for tapping (not pounding) and a diverse selection of screwdrivers and hex wrenches (standard and metric) will also be needed. Of particular importance is the use of screwdrivers with hollow ground tips, not the standard taper-type tips. These types of things are noted in the tools section.

We will not go over, every single time, the fact that one should triple check to ensure the gun is unloaded, but just this once, right now. Do not ever work on a loaded firearm. Remove the magazine, empty the chamber. On revolvers, check every chamber.

When removing screws, use the proper sized tool, and dont pry something out of a slot. Theres a better way to do it. I have to apologize, since I have used the word pry several times in this book. A better phrase would be gently nudge the part away from but pry is shorter and gets the meaning across. You dont want to leave a mark in the finish, or a gouge in the polymer frame. Generally, greater force results in greater damage, with little to no better result.

Use safety glasses, since you dont want springs stuck in your eyes, and wait till you get home to your well-lit workbench before you take the gun apart. Read the manuals supplied with the firearm; you might even find a schematic to help you out in the last few pages.

In the last pages of this book is a cross-referencing index. Many of these guns, one of the most notable being the 1911, have many clones and copies, all of which are pretty much the same when being taken apart and put back together. Unfortunately, a complete list is impossible. Fortunately, there are a lot of common trends, such as in fire control designs, takedown methods, and ignition methods, and many guns are so closely related to others that a little research can provide a basis of knowledge. Still the index is quite expansive, referencing many hundreds more guns than can be covered in the preceding pages.

It is recommended that the user of this manual also acquire an even larger tome published by FW Media/Krause Publications, called the Gun Digest Book of Exploded Gun Drawings. Sometimes a simple drawing can be incredibly informative, many showing the exact placement and direction of insertion with simple lines on paper.

Kevin Muramatsu
Somewhere in the Twin Cities
Somewhere in Minnesota
December