22/45 Mk 2 Disassembly Help

[prickett]

After owning a 22/45 Mk. 2 for a number of years and never having problems reassembling after a field strip, I've recently been having more and more cases where I ended up with a dead trigger following a cleaning - and the accompanying inability to remove the mainspring housing.

I went onto Youtube and found videos showing that if you point the gun down, hold the trigger back, and hit the back with a mallet, the hammer will fall, allowing you to disassemble. That worked.

But, given the fact that I'm now running into that situation following almost every cleaning now (regardless of assembling while looking directly at the instructions), I figured I must have something broken. So, I did a detailed strip, found nothing broken, then reassembled. I again ended up with a dead trigger, and even after doing the Youtube trick, now can't get the mainspring assembly out! I assume I reassembled the detail strip incorrectly, ending up in this state.

What can I do to recover? How can I get the main spring out? Is there some other miracle solution someone can turn me on to?

 

[Rocdoc]

No help, but stories like this made me sell my MKII and go with the MKIV. Hope you figure it out.

 

[ranger1]

http://www.wiztechs.com/knightsrealm/guns/22-45/fieldstrip/field_strip.htm

 

[prickett]

Would removing the trigger and sear pins help the situation or make it worse?

 

[Mobuck]

I don't have any good ideas for fixing your present situation.
I keep a bamboo chop-stick(whittled to convenient tip shape) to reach in and move the sear or hammer into proper position for re-assembly.
IMHO, you're dis-assembling the pistol for cleaning far too often(unless you shoot a CASE of ammo a month).

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

After owning a 22/45 Mk. 2 for a number of years and never having problems reassembling after a field strip, I've recently been having more and more cases where I ended up with a dead trigger following a cleaning - and the accompanying inability to remove the mainspring housing.

I went onto Youtube and found videos showing that if you point the gun down, hold the trigger back, and hit the back with a mallet, the hammer will fall, allowing you to disassemble. That worked.

But, given the fact that I'm now running into that situation following almost every cleaning now (regardless of assembling while looking directly at the instructions), I figured I must have something broken. So, I did a detailed strip, found nothing broken, then reassembled. I again ended up with a dead trigger, and even after doing the Youtube trick, now can't get the mainspring assembly out! I assume I reassembled the detail strip incorrectly, ending up in this state.

What can I do to recover? How can I get the main spring out? Is there some other miracle solution someone can turn me on to?

If you don't have the hammer pushed all the way forward before you install the mainspring housing assembly, the hammer strut is likely gonna become captured in front of the pin for the lower sear spring leg. You need to reach in from the cut-out in the rear of the grip frame with a wood pencil eraser, if you don't have a "chopstick" handy and verify that the hammer is as far forward as possible. Then, you can install the mainspring housing assembly, tilt the muzzle up until the hammer strut swings back and over the cupped plunger in the mainspring housing assembly. You will then feel a slight bit of resistance if the strut is in its proper place. That means you are getting the strut into the cup and the spring is being loaded a little bit. Then, push the mainspring housing assembly fully into place and flip the latch shut.

 

[prickett]

Thanks for the reply. I think you misunderstood, though (or I'm misunderstanding your reply). My gun is already assembled. I can't DISassemble it.

 

[Mobuck]

How much force have you used to try 'uncatching" the mainspring housing? My "chopstick" has a flat "prybar" end that can put a lot of force on the catch w/o damaging parts. Once the catch is open, stuff has to come apart. The reason the hammer needs to be forward is to relieve the tension on the hammer spring to ease getting the spring housing out/in. I'd guess the hammer strut is wedged against the housing making removal more difficult.

 

[prickett]

I ended up removing the hammer pin. That loosened things up enough that I could then point the gun down and shake the hammer forward. From there, the mainspring came right out.

 

[Mobuck]

It's good you were able to get it apart. I was hoping you could determine the actual cause of the tie up for information purposes.