Heyya
Well I finally got up the nerve to do it. I took the lever off and the bolt outta my .45 cowboy, and my 38-55 336, so's I could clean em real good don't ya know?
Weren't hardly any big thing either. Guess I clamped the 336 receiver down in the bench vice with a bit to much horsepower though. Took me near an hour to heat the dang thing up so's I could beat it back to its original shape. As a side benefit though the one side I heated up cherry red kinda looks color case hardend since it cooled down. Only took three hits with the framin hammer to drive the bolt back in to....thought that was gonna be a bear! Did have a itty bitty part left over when I was done...kinda looks like a little turkey wishbone shaped thing with a round pin kinda lookin thing on one side. Just threw that in the junk drawer in the garage tho....never know when it might come in handy to have. (Note to self: hafta get a bigger junk drawer.)
I did learn some stuff too. Next time you can bet I will be a clampin that thing in the bench vice by the stock. Don't wanna have ta go thru that heatin and beatin phase again.
Other thing is to have water or a fire extinguisher close to hand if you use the big torch. I didn't realize until too late that the smoke I smelled was the stock startin to burn. Dumb me, I thought the burnin smell was that singer sewin machine oil I took from the wife to slick up my actions. Dang brazin goggles is too dark to see that kinda thing.
And lastly I was thinkin....Whats the big deal everyone always makes about gunsmithin stuff. Didn't seem to hard to me. Course, I am still tryin to figure out what angle to bend the cowboy limited lever to in order to have a custom short stroked rifle. Cherry red is a purty color tho I gotta admit.
Welp, gotta go, the wife wants me to change the oil in her jeep and tune er up as well. I really love bein a mechanical inclined person.
No, really, I did take them apart, cleaned the guns, and it all went back together the right way. I was just worried about the whole thing because I thought it would go the way I described above. Sorry to lead ya'll on like that.
