1976 Ruger Standard Disassembly issue

Just picked up a used 1976 Ruger standard 4.5 inch barrel pistol which is a nice match for my 1976 Standard 6" barrel.
Went to take it down and clean her up but I can't seem to get the bolt stop pin to drop any farther then flush with the receiver. I even tried tapping it down by using a brass drift. will not budge! Obviously it looks like the original owner must have had the same problem because there are some marks around the top of the receiver at the opening and the top of the bolt stop looks like it has been slightly flattened from tapping on it! I figured it out to be the bolt stop pin pivot ( part A26-2) is out of position and too far to one side causing the assembly to bind up on the frame.......how to get this back in place with the assembly still in the gun???????

Any idea which way the pin has moved? Force the assembly as far to the other side as you can, and slide in the thickest feeler gauge that will fit. With luck, it will form a "ramp" of sorts, and the pin will ride up the ramp and center itself as the bolt stop pin is pushed down.

If that doesn't work, I'm out of ideas. I can help with the four-letter words, though.

we've used a large, leather mallet to 'hit" the gun on the "opposite" side to try and get the pin to 'nudge back into place,and as noted above, the "shim" trick usually works, trouble is , once folks start to 'pound on' (force the assembly apart) this deforms the pin, and not allow it to just "slide back into place......." :roll:
then we;ve had to use a really BFH ,knock it apart, and try and put the "deformations" ALL back into place (we're GOOD at that) before we repolish, refinish the grips frame, OR if you booger it that bad, one must replace the grip frame..........seen them drill a hole in the side of the frame big enought to use a punch and push the pin back in....reweld the hole and start all over again.........
Good luck and there is ALWAYS the factory.......... :wink:

JW, Try flushing the area with DW-40 before tapping the side of the frame/rcvr with the mallet. Sometime the pin will slide right back in! Reaching around and in with a double-bent dental pick can sometime be helpful in nudging the pin. I would "exhaust" all other methods before drilling the frame.....................Dick :wink:

Thanks Guys I have tried all the really non invasive ideas But no Luck!, I guess I will be sending it back ....Too bad........I really liked the little bugger.....but at the upper end of the price ladder it isn't worth messing it up. That pin isn't going to budge without some serious intervention
Thanks again
Jim

Well I bit the bullet and decide to keep it and following rugerguy's suggestions (Since all the other non -invasives did not work.) the BFH was the resort because I already had seen some bulging on the bottom edge of the frame from where someone in the past had the same idea but his BFH was not as big as mine!
So to make a long story short I'm back in business. yes I had to pound the the pin down and the pivot pin binding on the frame cause a small pucker to form & the assembly dropped out...... I will tell you it was scary crap! I carefully peened the pucker back into place and some blending with jewelers files and polishing tools and a little dab of cold blue and it looks better then it did when I received it. You have to look pretty darn hard to see the trauma area.
As for the mainspring assembly well this morning I ordered a new pivot pin because it is unrecognizable! More then 1/2 of it was out of place & the reason why the pin would drop back in using all the the other methods is that the parts were so bent there was no alignment until I straightened the parts on my anvil. Decided to also buy a new bolt stop pin since the original is pretty flattened. I guess all in all my nerves are the only thing that really got damaged in the ordeal. Hope none of you guys every have to experience this problem
Thanks for all the help

JW , you done FINE, and don;t get your shorts up in a bunch, after all you said it yourself, take your time, carefully retap it ( the back of the frame) back and dress it down, and voila, "looks better than when you got it"....works for us All THE TIME.......YES,good idea to replace those parts now that your at it......just remember to 'stake' that new pin in place, you'll be good to go...besides you learned something and saved some money to boot, life is GOOD :wink:

Rugerguy...what are your recommendations as far as staking the pin? My initial thought was to slightly chamfer the holes in the spring housing and peen the pin flat into the chamfer ( Something I do all the time working in my 18th C gunshop). However I noticed that the spring housing is case hardened so I don't want to break the case. Would it be better to sharp punch the centers of the pin to create a dimple?
Thanks

JWFilips said:

Would it be better to sharp punch the centers of the pin to create a dimple?
Thanks

Click to expand...

I'm not rugerguy, but that's how the pins in my Mark III spring housing are done. Just center-punched to expand the ends.

bearcatter said:

JWFilips said:

Would it be better to sharp punch the centers of the pin to create a dimple?
Thanks

Click to expand...

I'm not rugerguy, but that's how the pins in my Mark III spring housing are done. Just center-punched to expand the ends.

Click to expand...

Bearcatter....your words are good to me also! Thanks

Look here: http://www.guntalk-online.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=13601#13601

I use a pointed punch and a strong anvil to stake in a heavy dimple. In the pictures you can see both the bolt stop and MS latch pins have very heavy dimple dents in them this will prevent future pin walking.

R,
Bullseye