Why are others always tweaking with their guns?

[Treestalker]

The typical problems I had with the open tops, both Pietta and Uberti, has been the paw spring breaking (have an original 1858 with a broken paw spring right now) and the soft steel in the cylinders peening where the stop comes up. I actually have a tool to clean the pocket up after each use. For the paw spring you can replace it with a Ruger style plunger and spring, then they seem to last ‘forever’. SASS is really hard on the guns because of the speed you are running them at, or at least for my guns.

Pawl, or Hand springs can suffer breakage and wear, but are not hard to fabricate from certain hair clips. It helps to keep a few on hand, and practice making and changing them. Besides , you will astound and amaze your friends!

 

[wb78963]

For what it is worth.
my guns are "tweaked' because I want them to go BANG every time the trigger is pressed.
Case in point, a Uberti 1862 Police Colt revolver fresh from the box cleaned of oil and grease loaded with a proper amount of FFFg a felt wad and ball.
After three shots there was a cap jam that required the gun to be completely disassembled to dig cap fragments out of the frame. After a total of 8 shots the gun has been broken down completely three times to dig out cap fragments.
Then the hand spring broke.
Are we having fun yet?
It was sent to a competent gunsmith, who is no longer in business, and had a cap rake installed to solve cap jams and a coil spring and plunger on the hand to replace the fragile spring.
Now it is fun to shoot and does from time to time come out and make smoke with regularity.
And that is why my percussion guns, an embarrassing number of them, have been "tweaked" because shooting is fun and fixing cap jams is not, but you do what you think best.
Load 'em heavy boys, they air a'comin'
Bunk

 

[Bob McBride]

I’ve never bought a gun that I didn’t scour for reasons to tweak. There’s been a few I didn’t touch but the vast majority of moderns have had trigger replacements at the least, as factory triggers are mostly trash, and the custom flintlocks have had lock work or at the least have had handmade sights done by me. Very few guys can make a gun I won’t touch. Mike Brooks, Jack Duprey, Al Martin are a few who’ve had their work pass through my hands unscathed mechanically. I won’t touch a custom makers art however.

 

[SDSmlf]

Mike Brooks, Jack Duprey, Al Martin are a few who’ve had their work pass through my hands unscathed mechanically.

Mike Brooks has stated that he uses locks as received and does nothing to them mechanically other than finishing.

 

[Bob McBride]

Mike Brooks has stated that he uses locks as received and does nothing to them mechanically other than finishing.

Sounds like Mike. I’ve not owned a single Brooks gun that wasn’t engraved and tuned. I’m not saying he hasn’t delivered a $3500 gun with an untuned lock, as some that Jim and others build are excellent locks geometrically out of the barrel, but I’ve never had one of his that felt stock. Mike is the epitome of ‘workmanlike’ and yet his locks are faster than most and I know when a lock is not as cast. He tunes his locks.

 

[SDSmlf]

Mike is the epitome of ‘workmanlike’ and yet his locks are faster than most and I know when a lock is not as cast. He tunes his locks.

Would seem like they are tuned, but he stated to me and has posted on another forum that he does not tune them.

 

[Bob McBride]

Would seem like they are tuned, but he stated to me and has posted on another forum that he does not tune them.

Sounds like Mike. Any lock he didn’t tune was tuned by Jim Chambers, or whoever, because he’s Mike. If you know him you know he wouldn't admit the stock didn’t carve itself when it saw itself being driven up his driveway. He’s my favorite gun stocker AND my favorite ALR forum personality. I could be wrong.

 

[SDSmlf]

Sounds like Mike. Any lock he didn’t tune was tuned by Jim Chambers, or whoever, because he’s Mike. If you know him you know he wouldn't admit the stock didn’t carve itself when it saw itself being driven up his driveway. He’s my favorite gun stocker AND my favorite ALR forum personality. I could be wrong.

If you want an answer, ask Mike. If you want an answer you will like and that l will make you feel good, you may not want to ask Mike, although I have seen him ask what you are looking for before he offers an answer. Doubt he would do well in a corporate setting, but if you want a muzzleloader.......

 

[Bob McBride]

No doubt about it. No one, in my experience, builds them like they were built in the past (in a workmanlike manner) except him, and perhaps HH. It’s what makes him so good IMO.

 

[GomezMunoz1951]

If you think the people who tweak their brand new guns are bad, try getting into SASS and Cowboy Action Shooting. Those people are nuts. I used to shoot in SASS just for fun, I wasn't all gun ho and had to win no matter what. To me I would rather have fun shooting, so what if I miss now and then. Reading the SASS forum and the various other forums, getting that last millionth of a second out of a gun is all most talk about. I would rather shoot my plain old guns than shoot the megabuck race horse guns.