Smith Carbine;Won't hold on full cock

[JDCOTT]

I recently bought an original Smith carbine in pretty decent shape other than little looseness in the hammer and a slightly stiff pull to cock it.

I planned to shim the shaft of the tumbler when I noticed it holds tight on half cock, but will not hold a full cock. I cleaned out the lock and put some fresh lube in. The full cock seems to work fine when the fame plate is off but not when it's on. I did notice one of the pins is missing but it seems to line up right. Could this have anything to do with it?

Thanks for your help!

John

[Gary/CO]

It could possibly be poor fitting of the lock to the stock. Use a black felt marker and apply it against the inside of the moving parts of the lock. This includes the bridle, sear, sear spring, tumbler and rear portion of the mainspring. Put the lock back in and screw it down. Then tap lightly with a rawhide or plastic mallet. Don't use a metal mallet/hammer as you don't want to bend the lockplate. Then remove the screws and lock and check if any of the black was transferred onto the wood. Remove it lightly (just enough wood to remove the transfer). Reinstall the lock and if it doesn't work, reapply the felt marker and repeat as before. If any wood is causing the lock not to set right, you'll detect it by this means.

[Eric A. Savickas, 08663V]

Gary/ca is talking about something other than a Smith carbine!

[Southron Sr.]

First of all, replace that missing pin. Then, if your hammer dosen't catch on the "full cock" notch you need to have a professional gunsmith look at your gun, IF you don't know how to fix your lock.

There is the possibility that either your sear nose or hammer notch would have to be "re-cut" to the correct angles and re-casehardened and/or you have a very weak "sear" spring.
GOOD LUCK !

[JDCOTT]

Gary, Eric, Southron,

Thanks for taking time to think about this and respond. I'm hoping the plate pin will do it-if not, I'm tempted to put a replacement tumbler in to make the repair easier, but I hate the idea of replacing a part since it's all original and the serial no's match. I guess if I have to re-notch the tumbler and reharden, it would be worth the cost. Any suggestions for who does work like this? I'm in Nashville and all the gunsmiths I know of I wouldn't trust with this kind of work.

Thanks again!!!

John

[Edwin Flint, 8427]

John,

Are you NSSA member? Either way, you need to come to Brierfield the last weekend of the month and bring you Smith. Our team has an excellent gunsmith with a great deal of experience on original CW arms. I am sure he will be able to diagnose your problem and fix it. He is Richard Hill out of Mobile AL.

Also, we might try and recruit you to shoot with the N-SSA once you see what we do first hand! :D

[JDCOTT]

Edwin,

That sounds like a deal I can't refuse (almost). I have to try to tie up some loose ends but would be very interested. I know it's next weekend and outside Birmingham-can you provide more details? Feel free to email or PM-I can provide tel # then.

Thanks very much for the invitation!!!

John

[Ken Hansgen, 11094]

John, See invitation at http://www.deepsouthnssa.com/info/37gainvite2010.pdf . Hope you can come! KenH

[Edwin Flint, 8427]

The link Ken provided pretty much provides you all the details of a skirmish. You have to be a member to participate in team events but we can allow you to shoot a few arms at paper targets. If you want to have a chance to shoot, arrive early enough to get that in before the team events start.

Hope to see you there.