Colt Country | Home of The Almighty Colt
Black Powder Pistols => Colt's Southern Cousins => Schneider & Glassick => Topic started by: Captainkirk on March 21, 2012, 08:24:12 PM
-
Well, as some of you know, I picked up an "unfired" brass-framed Navy off Auction Arms last fall.
Anyway, after a week of playing guns with it and cogitating, I took it down into the shop for a few photos ad then tore it apart.
Initial impressions:
1) Never fired, my ass! There is so much powder residue inside I could probably scrape it off and get a cylinder-full.
2) The ring on the inside of the recoil shield is indented pretty good. Somebody wasn't shy about packing the bowl.
3) At least the arbor is nice and tight...
4) Parts spread out on the bench; everything steel is covered with surface rust. There is heavy corrosion on the brass in the innards. Trigger and hammer are horrid......which is surprising, as the trigger/hammer action didn't feel that bad.
5) Mainspring surface where the hammer roller rides is rusty, pitted, and has a groove where the roller rides. (Now, you were saying about "unfired"....)
6) The end of the muzzle is not square with the the frickin' barrel!! I shit you not! Looks like Guido used a hacksaw at the factory instead of the plasma cutter that day.....
7) The grips are not bad as far as wood goes, but they are coated with some sort of plastic poly shit that looks phoney. There are drips on either side, same place as if it pooled up while it was hanging to dry. In my opinion, wood to metal should be indistinguishable and perfect. I may have to fix this......
8) While not corroded, the barrel is full of dust and dirt.
9) Wedge goes all the way home and pops out with light finger pressure. Wedge screw is missing.Wedge has been molested, bluing ground off. Probably amateur tuning...
10) Cylinder-to-barrel gap is not excessive, but more than I would like. Probably from the indents in the recoil shield from Rambo....
11) Bolt lug seats nicely in the cylinder notches. Very little work required here....
12) Arbor hole drilled too deep; will require a screw on the end of the arbor to shim it out
This is a plain-cylinder .36 cal pistol, and should fit nicely with my Schneider & Glassick theme. The only major area which I will stray from the originals is the (still unexplained) excess cylinder gap the original S&G's had. Everything else looks like it should be. Can't wait to get started!
Day 1
Stripped and disassembled. Began with a thorough cleaning of all the caked on powder residue. Stuck a hunk of Scotch Brite on the end of a screwdriver and went to work on the internal cavities, especially the hand/spring slot which were caked chock-full of powder residue. Filed bearing surface of mainspring smooth and polished out all the file marks (which, if left in there, will set up stress risers and cause failure down the road).
Cleaned rust from bolt, hammer, and trigger, sanded and polished sear area on both trigger and hammer. These were horrid...rough, many grooves and imperfections, with the half-cock notch worn. (Unfired, my Aunt Fanny!) Filed evenly and deepened notch for a positive safety..
PHOTOS TO FOLLOW SOON!
-
Day Two
Got the nipples out...finally. Almost wish I didn't, there is so much rust around them. Right now cylinder & nipples are soaking in Rem Oil after a thorough scrubbing with Hoppes #9 Plus followed by hot, soapy water. Those nipples were IN there! Spent another hour on the trigger and hammer; not where I want them, but getting closer. Scrubbed the barrel with a bronze brush followed by #9+. Cleaned the rust off the hand/spring and the bolt with ScotchBrite. Polished the frame to a high golden luster using Flitz. This is gonna be a nice pistola when I'm done!
-
Day Three:
Did a trial assembly after my work yesterday to check the trigger massage. With all parts dry (no lube or oil) the cocking action is perfect. Trigger is still a bit on the high side, though. Still have work left to do, boys. But man, it sure looks a HELL of a lot better with that brass all polished!
-
OK, as promised....some "before" photos.
Unfired....uh, yeah.
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0334.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0333.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0321.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0335.jpg)
Some more shots of the general condition
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0325.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0326.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0328.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0331.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0316.jpg)
You can see I had my work cut out for me.
-
After stoning the trigger and hammer a bit more and polishing the brass, I did a trial reassembly. Everything fit together very well, and after scraping the rust off the nipple pockets as best I could and soaking it overnight in ACF-50, I figured the rust was about as neutered as it was gonna get. With fresh Lubriplate on the arbor and ratchet mechanism, the rattly cylinder and excess gap seemed to vanish. And the grips even looked better on shiny new brass. Cock this thing back, and I'm in gun heaven! Nice, light hammer and crisp trigger....smooth as vanilla ice cream, boys! I've decided enough for now; it ain't a museum piece. I'd be happy to shoot it just as-is, so after a final cleaning, polishing and oiling, I reassembled it and snapped some pix before setting it gently in the safe with his brethren.
Whatcha think, boys, eh? Not bad for a C-note?
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0343.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0342.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0341.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0340.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0339.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0338.jpg)
(http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy140/Buellosaurusrex/Schneider%20and%20Glassick/100_0337.jpg)
-
Great report Cpt.
-
Interesting ASM logo on the frame. Got her looking good Fingers.