MGC M73 repairs

Recently I bought an MGC M73 Winchester off a Forum member.

I've had a "thing" for Winchesters since I was a 10 year-old kid, and saw John Wayne in "Stagecoach" on TV. Luckily I joined this forum and now I not only have a REAL Winchester 73 .44-40, I also have an MGC Modelgun version as well - which I plan to review and add to Smootik's fine reveiew of his M73.


Even though it was packed properly it arrived with a few breaks! The main one being the hammer!


Apart from the tip of the hammer spur being snapped off, the lower tang around the lever locking swivel was cracked, and a small sliver of wood near the upper tang on the butt, had started to lift.

So I thought I'd share my repair(s) here, in case it's of help to other forum members.

The wood was easily fixed with PVA glue, carefully worked under the sliver using s toothpick - and then taped in place, and allowed to dry after wiping off the excess:


The hammer repair required pinning as well as glueing with epoxy - and aligning the two pins was tricky.
On my first try one pin was out by 2.00 mm, so I hade to enlarge the hole to accommodate that.

I also kept the pin lengths to a minimum - and you can see I used a couple of household nails and cut them after epoxy gluing.




Before applying a two-pot expoy glue I used an expoxy paste to fill the holes in each broken segment before inserting the pins.



Then I glued the two bits together with epoxy glue and allowed to dry.

I left it for 48 hours to cure, and then filed, sanded and then painted over the break.

On this Forum, another member posted some spares for the M73 for sale, which I bought ahead of time. So I actually replaced the hammer (and bolt, dust cover & saddle-ring) with new ones. The repair is NOT perfect, but I now have a workable spare hammer, just in case it's needed.

I have yet to repair the lower tang, and will post as soon as I get it done. For now its held in place with a screw, and doesn't affect the operation. So it can wait till I've more time to spare. Hey - it's soon going to be winter here in NZ! One way to fill those long winter nights is fixing modelguns!

Kiwigunner

A nice tidy repair and a sollution that may well prove useful when other parts break off any modelgun too.
Thanks for showing this one

I've just bought a Winchester too, it's in great condition thankfully so this particular repair isn't called for. It's good to know the hammer can be successfully repaired like this though should mine ever break.

I'll look forwards to your Review, it'll give me the "push" I need to add my own thoughts and views too.

If you need cartridges for your Winchester, both Shazhib and John at PFCGUKLTD.com can supply the later type using 7mm caps

Great job mate.
Apparently, something broken is not pleasant, however, if you managed to get the thing fix, that would be an another enjoyment. I believe, that is one of core enjoyment of "model" hobby as a whole.

S

Nice job! :-)

I did not realize that such metal can be drilled, thought it would crack easily. Repaired hammer looks like new :-)

Thanks for the feedback.
Cheers guys:
Cerwyn - sure hope others find a use for this info, as you say it might be applicable to similar breaks. I managed to buy 18 cartridges at the same time I bought the spare parts! I guess I got lucky!
Shazib - it sure is a great feeling when a repair makes a modelgun function again! And real sad when the gun can't be used. I get a "buzz" out of making broken things work again.
And like you say it's all a part of our hobby! and adds value to the joy(s) of being a Modelgun addict!
Smootik - glad the drilling worked! I found the MGC metal much stronger zinc than Denix zinc! So I guess some metals will vary in strength. So care is always needed!
I have a challenge to try and fix the M73 lower tang as the metal is much thinner and pinning won't work. ''

I'm planning to use metal epoxy and see if that works OK.
I hope to post the results next week! Along with a review of the M73 now that it's working ok! ''

Kiwigunner

MGC M-73 Lower receiver tang repair

As I mentioned in my previous post my MGC M-73 arrived with a broken tang on the lower receiver. ''
The location of the break was in the weakest part – just where the lever lock/safety swivel sits. It is also a challenging place to attempt a repair with limited space for drilling or screwing.

After some deliberation I decided against using pins. The metal around the break is very thin, and looked like all a pin would do was to add even more weaknesses. Another choice would have been to make a large fillet of metal epoxy putty to mold over the break. But that would have created issues for reinstalling the lever lock swivel – and fitting inside the wood of the butt-stock. ''

I finally decided to make a metal “splint” to fit parallel over the break, held in place by two screws and a two-part epoxy glue. Steel or Brass? Steel would be hard to maintain against rust or corrosion, so 4 mm Brass was chosen.
The brass was cut to width & shaped to fit around the large lower tang securing post (which is secured to the butt-stock by a bolt from the upper receiver tang.

Then two small 2.5 mm diameter holes were drilled & tapped to accommodate two screws either side of the break. And another clearance hole drilled to allow re-fitting of the lever-lock swivel. There was no space next to the post to accommodate a screw head, so I cut 5mm of the bottom off a long 3mm diameter bolt and made a small slot in it, thus making it into a grub-screw! The other part was cut to length leaving the head on it. After drilling and tapping holes in the M-73 broken parts, everything was bolted together without glue and checked for fit. The post was also filed flat to make installing the grub-screw easier.

Then it was taken apart, glued with the epoxy mix and bolted back together again, and allowed to dry overnight.
Next day it was cleaned, excess epoxy removed, and painted black.

To fit the lever-lock swivel, the extra thickness of the repair required that the retaining spring be reduced in length – otherwise there was no space to re-attach the cir-clip retainer.

About one third was chopped off, and the lever-lock fitted perfectly!

The final step was to carefully remove a small amount of wood from the butt-stock with a small wood-carving chisel, and drill a clearance hole for one of the splint screws. I guess I could have filed off the head of the screw - but I thought to leave it for added strength! And a hole in the wood is easy enough to drill!

Final assembly resulted in a very strong repair, with no external visible signs of damage.''


And while I was at it I decided to improve the finish of the two receiver cover plates - you can see the rough original finish.

Lots of sanding with progressively finer sand paper - the bluing with Birchwood Bluing paste.

Damn!! Now, I just might have to re-blue the whole rifle!!!! ''
Now that will be several long winter's night jobs!

Kiwigunner

I just love to read how you fix things :-)
Plenty of pictures and explanations - I feel as if could have followed them, if I had my own workshop that is.

Hey Kiwi,

You're too strong, unbelievable !

Can you create some model guns just for us ?? It will be nice

Anyway that's we call a nice job! great!

C'est du très bon travaille !!Bravo !

Posts like this are invaluable and worth all the work put in to upload here

Most of will, at some time, have a modelgun break. It can be a soul destroying event so articles like this, well written with plenty of great, clear photos giving step-by-step repair guides will be of tremendous help.

Thanks for taking time to show us this neat and tidy repair

Gentlemen:
Thanks for the feedback - I guess anyone that has a Modelgun "addiction" like me gets pretty upset when a valued part of their collection develops problems, or a break. These toys are not cheap! And many early models are getting older and more liable to fracture. ''

Personally I hate living with a faulty modelgun - and since I have the time, a brain that still works, and a small (read tiny!) basement workshop (read hobby area!) I like to share my successes so that others may have information that could be helpful. Of course a digital camera, a PC and good photo-editing software help too! ''

Thank goodness for the internet and the ways we are now all able to communicate and share this information - and to the Forum creators, moderators and members who contribute their questions, ideas, photos and experience. Even 10 years ago it wouldn't have been as easy to do so!

It's obvious the Modelgun "addiction" is pan-demic and knows no boundaries, and is still growing - and no-one is researching a cure (thank God! ''

Dziękują

Merci
Ddiolch 'ch ''

Thank you.

Kiwigunner

Ohhhh. I got the same problems with my mgc 1873 lower tang was broken as same as yours the bolt was broken in half and the extractor was broken too. All the same except my hamer wasn't broke (yet). Your post is really helpful thank youuuuu.

I tried to fix the lower tang the same way as yours and it turns out perfect!!!! Only i didnt drill it because im afraid that it will break the lower tang so i used only epoxy gule to glue it together. Somehow it works fine. Thank you, your post helps me a lot!!!!!! Now i need to find a new extractor, mine broke as same as yours lol

I tried to fix the lower tang the same way as yours and it turns out perfect!!!! Only i didnt drill it because im afraid that it will break the lower tang so i used only epoxy gule to glue it together. Somehow it works fine. Thank you, your post helps me a lot!!!!!! Now i need to find a new extractor, mine broke as same as yours