Hartford Arms rifle?
Mar 12, 2021 23:41:30 GMT -5
Woody Williams, whitetaildave24, and 2 more like this
Post by mgderf on Mar 12, 2021 23:41:30 GMT -5
I found a treasure!
I acquired a "non-functional" rifle the other day.
It was covered in rust, inside and out, but the price was right.
Now comes the interesting part.
The "sales tag" read "Hartford Arms", but no-one could find any markings on the gun itself, and no serial number.
It was assumed to have been manufactured before such information was required, and since it was "non-functional"...
Well, I brought it home and began to drown it in brake parts cleaner and penetrating oil.
To my surprise it took only about 3-4 hour and all of the moving parts were doing just that again!
The firing pin now moves freely again, but will not retract after firing, so I assume there is a broken spring there.
The rifle is a single-shot, falling block, with a 24" HEAVY octagon barrel.
A plunk test tells me it's a .32cal, and it appears to be a rim-fire, so it weren't made last week...
I have a friend who just happens to be a trained gunsmith, and he teaches machining at our local university.
He has agreed to do a chamber cast for me to determine the actual bore diameter, and I would be willing to bet he could repair the broken firing pin spring.
The bore is very dark, but still has strong rifling.
I'm not sure if I will ever be able to restore it to firing condition, but that would just be a shame, not a tragedy.
I've tried, very hard, to research this rifle. The only mention I can even find says something to the effect that Hartford Arms Co. made a rifle, but you don't need to worry about that, because you're not likely to run into one...
BTW- that "right price" I spoke of was FREE!
I acquired a "non-functional" rifle the other day.
It was covered in rust, inside and out, but the price was right.
Now comes the interesting part.
The "sales tag" read "Hartford Arms", but no-one could find any markings on the gun itself, and no serial number.
It was assumed to have been manufactured before such information was required, and since it was "non-functional"...
Well, I brought it home and began to drown it in brake parts cleaner and penetrating oil.
To my surprise it took only about 3-4 hour and all of the moving parts were doing just that again!
The firing pin now moves freely again, but will not retract after firing, so I assume there is a broken spring there.
The rifle is a single-shot, falling block, with a 24" HEAVY octagon barrel.
A plunk test tells me it's a .32cal, and it appears to be a rim-fire, so it weren't made last week...
I have a friend who just happens to be a trained gunsmith, and he teaches machining at our local university.
He has agreed to do a chamber cast for me to determine the actual bore diameter, and I would be willing to bet he could repair the broken firing pin spring.
The bore is very dark, but still has strong rifling.
I'm not sure if I will ever be able to restore it to firing condition, but that would just be a shame, not a tragedy.
I've tried, very hard, to research this rifle. The only mention I can even find says something to the effect that Hartford Arms Co. made a rifle, but you don't need to worry about that, because you're not likely to run into one...
BTW- that "right price" I spoke of was FREE!
