trigger assembly removal

[RobD]

taking apart my new in-the-white tip curtis carolina flinter for stock finishing and it all went quite well save for two issues, one resolved and one not resolved.

here's what it all looks like right now ...



getting the barrel out took the most time as the fit is incredibly precise, i dunno how tip does it!  but after 5 minutes of careful, slow but steady pressure she pulled out just fine.

now to the problem - can't get the trigger assembly out.  removed the two pins and wood screw, but she won't budge.  there's a mushroomed pin (maybe?) you can see in the pics below, but no clue as to what it is and if it needs removing or is just for locating the assembly.  i'll call tip tomorrow, and hope to see him at dixon's come friday.

[Hank in WV]

rfd, you might want to let the wood stabilize for a week or so. It might be swollen from humidity either from where it came or where you are now. If it doesn't loosen up, you might want to relieve those inlets a little. Looks like they may be a little tight and will get tighter when you apply finish.You sure don't want the forend splitting from the barrel being too tight.

[RobD]

good point about the humidity, i'm running about 45% in my shop, will move the wood to a room with a/c that's down to 30-35% wet.

[Captchee]

if your running 45% humidity , then hank is probably right in that the wood has swelled some . Your want the stock to normalize to relative humidity  of your area .

 The barrel should be tight . Normally I send mine off where the barrel has to be slowly wedged from the channel .
As to your triggers . There should be no pins that I could think of . Its just tight inletting .
 I would call Tip and ask him . But what I normally do is slip a small wedge under the  the trigger pate from the trigger guard inlet .  I then take the tang screw and  thread it in from the bottom so I have something to gently pull up on while  wedging the guard up. Be careful though as if the wood has swelled to tightly , you can split out a small sliver of wood along the trigger plate .

Also keep in mind at  if the parts are that tight , you may have alittle issue getting them back in after you oil the stock . Normally that’s not a big issue unless your stock finish is built up very deep . In which case you will need to come back and clean some of the finish oils out of the inlets so that the part will go back in

[RobD]

thanx for yer input captchee.  yeah, like i said, firm but easy pressure was required to remove the barrel.  i'll try to reach tip today, but he may very well be on his way to the dixon's gunmakers fair in pa.  i'll be headed there this friday as well.  i thought about trying to reverse screw in the tang bolt to the trigger plate late last night, i'll give it a try this morning.  i've got the stock in a room that digitally reads near 30% humidity, so that can only help.  

i won't be using an oil finish.  i want a far more durable wood finish to seal off the grain.  i've considered different approaches and have pretty much set on resin base staining the exposed wood first, buffing out with 4/0 steel wool, maybe re-stain some areas and lightly re-buff.  

when the wood color looks right, i'll first wick in some hobby shop quality water thin cya ( i like "hot stuff") to the barrel channel, with particular attention to the very thin forestock sides.  this will harden and seal the wood as it soaks in, and will not add any thickness to the wood.  

then i'll mix up a slurry batch of very thinned epoxy and acetone (the "massey finish" used for self bows) and wipe it onto the barrel channel.  this mixture is quite toxic and needs to be handled with gloves, but it pretty much will seal off and harden the wood in the areas that aren't gonna see much daylight and cleaning.  it will add almost no thickness to the wood, as well, so hopefully the barrel will ease in the same way it eased out.

the rest of the unstained areas will get water thin cya wicked in to both harden and seal those areas, particularly the real thin wood areas around inlets and mortises.  after buffing out the stained areas, they'll get wiped on clear coats of min-wax wipe on gloss polyu.

totally not a pc finish, but that's not what i care about or need for this rifle.  anyhoo, at least that's my game plan for now.  i'll see how it goes.

[RobD]

spoke with tip dayze ago and all that was required was a flat blade screwdriver into the rout at the front of the trigger plate, very little upward pressure and out she come, easy peasy.