__ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ (r3,Dec 29)
Main Items:
-- Hammer Block Safety (to avoid risk of 'spool' breakage)
-- Safety Levers (sometimes in wrong position)
-- Trigger lock pin (trigger can slip off and bind)
-- Magazine Catch (was binding)
-- Extractor (claw was not near enough to the cases)
Hammer Block Safety ('spool' breakage): Pics of broken spools indicated
fracture started at the slot for the firing pin. I slightly rounded the sharp
edges around the firing pin slot, front and back. I then wire-brushed these
edges and polished them; then careful examination.
To locate stress on the safety spool, I darkened the hammer face to test spool
contact during slide recoil. .There was a pronounced heavy contact between
the spool and the lower left of the hammer face. .The spool slams into the
hammer during recoil, and the unbalanced contact was serious.
I shaved some off the lower third on that left side of the hammer,
and almost none on the spool, to balance recoil contact stress.
Safety Levers (sometimes in wrong position):
I shortened them by 1/10" and made an upper mark 'F' and a lower mark 'S'
beyond the sweep of the levers for an intuitive and always visible indication.
I applied day-glow pink on the undersides of the levers as a reminder if on
'S' when preparing to fire, and I increased the depth of the detent stop holes.
Magazine Catch (binding): The mag catch would sometimes not release
the magazine. The legs in mag well were binding on grip ribs; so I shaved
off just enough plastic and metal to clear.
Trigger lock pin: to make the position clear, I applied bright
paint at the 'F' and 'S', and polished the pin's edge.
Also: If the trigger is locked by the internal pin, and aggressive
operation of the trigger or slide or hammer is attempted, the trigger can
slip on the lockpin and get stuck against it(design/sizing flaw). It's not
difficult to rack the slide with the trigger locked (though bumping it
forward is usually enough).
To make it clear if the trigger is locked, I filed a shelf in the lockpin
where the trigger claw will strike it, so that racking stalls sharply without
jamming, or so that pulling the trigger clearly reveals a locked condition.
That lock feature will be used by some, so to make the status always clear,
I might suggest inserting the wrong end of the furnished plastic chamber flag
into the breech; not to flag the chamber, but to remind that the trigger is
locked. .Since time can be crucial when facing a locked trigger, I filed
a V-groove into the nose of the plastic flag, which is strong enough to
turn the lockpin either way.
Barrel (wear patterns): I removed sharp edges around breech cam slot
(they were gouging frame surfaces). I polished the chamber with non-abrasive
Flitz and cotton, and the feed ramp with fine compound. I polished the top
edge of the chamber at the breech since the cases were leaving drag marks
there, and extraction problems were reported by others.
Polished the front half of the barrel, and its port in the slide.
I made the transition to the larger end-diameter more gradual.
Polished barrel-breech exterior control surfaces, just with Flitz.
Polished spring guide rod, and its port in the slide.
Extractor: I had no extraction problem, but the claw was not near
enough to the cases, so I shaved just a hair off the extractor stop nose.
http://www.youtube.com ...extractor gap
I replaced the pivot spiral pin with a 5/64"dia x 7/16"lg spring pin.
I improved dynamic extraction bias by c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y removing small
amounts of 'excess' material near the claw. Now the angle when suspended
at the pivot hole is slightly increased.
Backstrap: I added padding to increase grip depth, making DA easier.
Slide: I deburred the impact face corners near barrel port.
Firing pin: It should only need a small amount of a thin cleaner
in the side port, letting it fully drain from breech face hole.
I added the firing pin retainer bushing to the parts list & to the drawing.
Do not remove the firing pin without good cause. If you remove it, do not
over-tighten the retaining bushing, or it will be very tough to remove.
Front sight: It's a snag point. I beveled the blade side edges,
making sure that the modified edges still sloped forward.
I tapered the snag-corner, then blackened around the white dot for contrast.
Ejector: I deleted ejector pin(44)[was on P22] from parts list/drawing.
Storing key: I made a slot in the backstrap for a shortened key,
and used an elastic band around the grip to hold it in place.
Hammer spur: The lugs were too smooth for decocking. I filed edges
and grooves in the lugs for better control in one-hand operation.
Rail: I added .025" shims to the accessory rail to allow mounting
of common devices. This rail is no standard that I could find; not NATO,
Picatinny, Stanag, nor Weaver. It appears to be some Umarex rail.
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CAUTION: The following requires removal of the action from grip frame.
Only remove the action to work on trigger/sear/hammer parts (this should not
be necessary). A gunsmith would have a key that allows removal for servicing,
though a regular key could be modified to work. .Proceed at your own risk.
-- I moved the J-spring from the takedown lock to the loose trigger lock,
where there is room for two J-springs. The J-spring at the takedown lock
just holds it for assembly.
-- I smoothed sharp edges on two ears at the middle area of the trigger bar,
and filed out a crack to avoid potential growth.
-- I made slight corrections to the DA/SA sear surfaces, but avoid this.
It's easy to mess up trigger function in ways that can't be undone.
Walther needs to raise the height of the trigger bar corners so that DA
can be smooth and under 5/8" long.
-- My DA trigger was now smoother, but to reduce the trigger tip travel
to .55", I made and installed a .015" brass shim under the hammer strut
nose to reduce sear engagement, thus reducing trigger travel by .2".
-- I replaced hammer plate screw(43) with a socket head made a slotted head.
-- Slide latch: Sometimes the slide would slip closed on its own. The fix
was to rotate the latching lug to full horizontal position. This improved
both the lift from the mag follower, and the engagement with the slide notch.
I added a manual slide stop function by installing a 2.5mm screw into
the slide stop catch near the pivot, which passes through a slot in the
housing, near "r" in "Carl". .This new control is difficult to operate,
since it's close to the pivot.
-- I polished the burrs at front end of the action frame.
