Posted on 05/08/2018 7:59:53 AM PDT by w1n1
Now that I think about it, that gunsmith charged me less than 20 bucks and he had the cocking handle replaced fairly quickly and it was made of aluminum so it is entirely possible he got it from Jack First inc.
All this time I assumed he made a replacement for me. Well I probably was wrong.
But thanks for letting me know about Jack First inc. I know a guy who may need parts more frequently than myself.
I have a 1st gen Colt Agent with an alloy frame. It has 6 shots weighs less than a typical 5 shot S&W snubbie in an imperceptively larger package. Probably the best combination of size and capacity available. They have been out of production for a long time but they can still be found.
“...All this time I assumed he made a replacement for me. Well I probably was wrong. ...”
No telling. Gunsmiths rate high on the ingenuity scale; many fashion parts by hand. 20 dollars does sound a bit low, for a single custom-made part these days. About five years back, Jack First Inc discontinued their practice of making individual parts on a one-time, custom basis. Their minimum fee was $100.00, but they declared that it was unprofitable even at that level.
They are the only source worldwide, for a number of parts Colt’s discontinued a while back. Just a few examples: hammers and triggers for Mk III and Mk V revolvers (originals were sintered; JF’s are machined); the little flat coil spring for the cylinder catches of those revolvers (also the MM frame); hands and bolts for New Service and many revolvers of pre-WW2 design; rear half striker spring retainer for All-American 2000 (original was plastic, JF’s is steel); sear for Mk IV Series 80 Government Model 380 (original was stamped; JF’s is machined); recoil spring plug for Officers ACP.
JF Inc is now managed by Jack’s youngest daughter. Among other accomplishments, she was a founder of Second Amendment Sisters. A national-level leader in gun-rights activism, she thought up the concept of women-only training/familiarization events, an activity Second Amendment Sister pioneered about 20 years ago.
Do not be fooled when women answer the phone at JF Inc. The parts department is staffed by women with decades of experience in divining just what part the caller needs - over the phone.
Thank you for the tip! I was actually talking about one of the first guns I ever bought, a keltec P11 I’ve long since gotten rid of but I’m a collector and I bought a Husqvarna M-40 a while back that is a problem child due to having hot sub machine gun ammo run through it while in Swedish military service. Needless to say, Husqvarna is not making spare parts for it. I’ll give Jack’s a chanc to see if they can fabricate a part or two for me to get the old girl working again.
“I had a Jam-O-matic once, ... found a bent ejector. ... feel like the ejector was some sort of inferior metal, maybe even pot metal. ...” [chuckles, post 31]
At the risk of sounding obsessive, I think now is a great time to remind the forum of safety risks incurred by installing non-standard parts, or parts made of non-standard materials, into firearms.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, when dealing with old and used guns, all bets are off. I spent over a dozen years in the employ of a small family-owned dealership, doing gun repair work. Encountered a number of old guns that contained improvised parts; some were serious hazards. A couple examples to illustrate:
A Winchester 61 did not ignite its cartridges reliably. We discovered that the original firing pin had been removed, and in its place was a pin filed into shape by hand, from a nail or some similar item, made of low-quality steel that was very soft. Under repeated blows from the rifle’s hammer, the improvised pin had mushroomed and upset at more than one point along its length. The increased diameter caused it to stick in the pin tunnel in the breechblock, intermittently - it could not always be driven forward to hit the cartridge rim. When we discovered the problem, indications were it was starting to stick in a fully forward position; if the slide was run forward with the pin stuck forward, it could have hit the cartridge rim with the block in an out-of-battery position, prematurely igniting the priming. Unsupported by the breechblock, the cartridge case would have ruptured; brass fragments and hot gases could have sprayed all over, injuring shooter and bystandesr. Might have caused more damage to the rifle too.
A Colt’s Model 1903 Pocket Hammer autoloading pistol in 38 ACP dating to the 1920s was found to have a firing pin overlength for the slide’s breechblock. It was determined that the pin was not a factory part, it was improvised (with a rather high degree of craftsmanship and attention to final finish) out of steel (originals were phosphor bronze), and relative dimensions were wrong (an original pin was shorter than the total length of the breechblock, just like the M1911 pistol). The result was that if the hammer were to be lowered fully onto the head of the firing pin (as recommended for safe carry in a ready condition), the striker tip of the improvised pin would have protruded from the breechface to touch the live primer. Originals had not been available for decades; we had to draw the temper of the improvised pin, recut it to proper original dimensions, and redo the temper. The owner was lucky no one had tried to carry it with hammer lowered.
Always be careful with older guns. Know what your gun is and can do. Know what parts it needs and how to install them (or find knowledgeable people who can do the job right). If something doesn’t seem quite right, it may very well be wrong. The potential for disaster and looming safety risks are right there. The damage to the reputation of the sport, the hobby, the trade, and gun owners generally, of thus causing injury by inattention, are not worth it.
Safe shooting always.
Over the years, I've owned two P11s & a P40 (nearly identical handgun in .40 S&W), and I've had no issues with any of them. Problems can obviously crop up anywhere; back in the 1970s, I knew an LEO who purchased a brand new Smith revolver (Model 19, IIRC), and was more than a little surprised to discover there was no rifling in the barrel...
;^)
Not perfect...but i used to own a few till my boat exploded.
I liked them.
Hmmmmm.... I've been to three county fairs and a hog killing, I don't recall ever seeing a .327 mag.... Rare are they..??
I have a GP100 with a 3 inch barrel that is a really fun revolver to shoot, even with magnum loads. If you want a snubbie .357 SP101 takes the recoil of magnum load pretty well and is a sweetheart to shoot with .38spl loads even in a snubbie.
I have the 686 version of that frame and it is really nice shooter. I came close to buying a 586 at my local gun/pawn establishment and passed. Someone had worked on the trigger who didn’t know what they were doing and if you cocked it into single action mode a mouse fart would cause the hammer to fall. You could touch the back of the hammer and it would fall. It was a beautiful piece, but I just didn’t want to fool with it at the time and passed. Someone bought it though.
from the linked article “Just in the past year, had I’ve had plenty of revolvers malfunction on me and I’ve also seen people on the range have problems, too.
Problems like…”
This guy must be an animal! Shoots a lot of guns that malfunction.
Given the list of problems, most never happen to those that take at least a tiny bit of care of their firearms. Makes you wonder how an auto-loader would fare with those individuals. I say this as an individual that runs 10,000 + rounds/year through a revolver.
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