MODEL 14 / UNLOCKING PLUNGER

[nambujim]

It is almost laughable how certain problems come in bunches, this month the "problem of the month" is the inability of this part to do its job.

This all started a month ago when I built a Model 14 from parts for a friend of mine, shipped it to him, and he immediately found the bolt wouldn't release. So in an effort to please I drove 1,400 miles to Fosston, MN with my parts bin and installed one that worked properly.......that's mostly a true story in that the trip was planned anyhow! This was a .30 Cal. Rifle with an early serial.

Since that time I have had three Model 14-1/2's with the same problem, one of them belonging to me, and then I start getting emails and phone calls with the same problem. OK, we call this part by all sorts of names with the most popular being "release button" or "bolt release" but by whatever name you call it, it is pretty darn important.

Here's the deal and I will qualify this by telling you up front this is my opinion but I went over all my guns, looked in the parts bin (I have about two dozen) and here again we have a plethera of styles, shapes, and forms.

The bottom line (in my opinion) is that the early ones with the nipple on the cone end and the indentation on the button side are far less effective and in many cases fail to "unlock". It is obvious that they re-designed this part to make it work better and in this case at least a couple of times until the "cone" was more pronounced.

If you are having problems with the "unlocking plunger" its a simple fix in that you need to replace "it" and not any of the other related parts, problem is finding one that will be an improvement. If you have one of those early ones as described above I will tell you straight out that "any" of the later ones without the "nipple" or "indentation" will work far better. It might not be "right" for a four digit serial gun but the later one works and works to perfection.

I now have to add this to my list of countless modifications but it helps in supporting my favorite saying "no two of these guns are identical" which at least holds true through about serial 90,000.

Hope this helps someone AND remember use ROUND NOSE ammunition only!!!

Regards!

Jim Peterson
Charlotte, NC

[Tom H]

I would just like to ad that the above story is true. It is remarkable in today's world to find a gun plumber who will make "house calls". And the best part is, he didn't even charge mileage for the 2800 mile round trip....tom hemphill