Umarex GPDA8 Browning Hi Power

Hi , I'm new here so be gentle.

I have recently bought the above blank firer which may have had a lot of dry firing, the hammer wont fall. The trigger seems to be loose. The whole slide etc was bone dry ,so I dissasembled it to clean and oil.
The trigger is hidden by the barrel which is riveted in. Not sure what to expect if I drilled out the pin to remove the barrel. I would think it is the trigger spring that has snapped.
The pistol is old .....made in 1981[I think], it is a fine example though. I would of course like it to be fixed. Has anyone had one of these to pieces?

Hi and welcome to the forum, with any luck members from the states or germany may be able to help, as when it comes to blank firers we are a bit stuck, with both spare parts and any tampering can lead to future problems with the law.
As i say maybe a member outside the uk can help, sorry i cant help more

Thanks anyway. I may just drill out the rivet and have a go at a repair. The pistol is now useless as it is and wont fire. It may just be a trigger spring .....but it may not. Cheers

rickt wrote:

Thanks anyway. I may just drill out the rivet and have a go at a repair. The pistol is now useless as it is and wont fire. It may just be a trigger spring .....but it may not. Cheers

Hi, I have recently acquired one of these. With exactly the same problem!

I have stripped mine out, to discover. It is indeed the trigger return spring that has fractured.
you do NOT need to drill out the barrel retaining pin! I think you will find it is made of hardened steel in any case! If you try to do this, you may well find, that your drill bit wlll 'wander off' the pin. & end up damaging the Frame itself!

Also, you may fall foul of the law potentially. as it my be deemed that you are 'converting' the Replica to fire live ammo. By replacing the Barrel with another all steel one!....

If you drift out the axis pin for the Trigger & remove it. There IS Just enough room to be able to get the components out & give them a clean whilst you are at it.

Spares for these are not readily available. So you will have to make a new spring from spring steel.
I strongly suggest, you use Piano wire for this procedure.

All you need is a pair of round nose Pliers to form the spring. Copy the shape & length of the original.
You may well find that the End that lays on top of the trigger. is shorter that it should be to function.
Due to that are having snapped off?

Please let us all know how you get on. As others may also have this problem in the future!

Hi, I will also be interested to hear how you get on as I have one of these also.

Cheers

Ian

Many thanks tankhunter for the info. I have had the pins out but the trigger didn't to want to be removed.
Will try again at some point and report back. Nice pistol anyway.

rickt wrote:

Many thanks tankhunter for the info. I have had the pins out but the trigger didn't to want to be removed.
Will try again at some point and report back. Nice pistol anyway.

You may have to dismantle the trigger connecting bar from the sear also. To remove the trigger?

Have the HP in bits now but there is no way to remove the trigger. The trigger spring is in 2 halfs and will need to be replaced. Have tried all ways , different angles etc to remove the trigger. The sear seems to be attached in some way to the trigger and the only option is to remove the barrel.....very carefully.

rickt wrote:

Have the HP in bits now but there is no way to remove the trigger. The trigger spring is in 2 halfs and will need to be replaced.  Have tried all ways , different angles etc to remove the trigger. The sear seems to be attached in some way to the trigger and the only option is to remove the barrel.....very carefully.

you have to disconnect the transfer bar from the trigger to the sear to remove the trig.

That's the part I meant ......transfer bar. No way can I get it removed from the trigger. Tried all ways. Hammer and spring have been removed to ,thinking something would just slide free. The transfer bar and trigger do seem to be well attached and I'm thinking the only way to get at it is remove the barrel.

As I thought , there was no way to disconnect the trigger from the bar. It is interlocked in the small space underneath the barrel. I have carefully drilled out the 2 studs [ 1 on either side] to remove the barrel. It will be easier to replace the trigger spring now. I just have to think about how to fit the barrel to the frame. I did initially think the stud went right through to the other side of the frame holding the barrel in place, but that's not the case. There was a stud on either side.

Well Done! An easy fix to replace the barrel would be. Cut a thread in EACH of the original stud holes. & also the barrel stud holes with the same thread.

Then you could fit Parallel Allen Key Grub screw in them to retain the barrel. This would be secure, & also if needed later on.
Easily removable should it break another trigger spring.

Spot on , regarding the grub screws. That's exactly what I had thought, I have quite a few of them both English and Metric threads.
Things didn't go completely according to plan, one of the side walls where the studs go into had slightly bent. This was catching the transfer bar and trigger. I tried to bend it back but being cast metal it snapped off. All the parts are back together but it wont fire from full cock. I noticed lots of wear on the transfer bar. This pistol is very old and it seems to have had a lot of use including dry firing. So, now it's not a 100% but still looks good and dry fires, so I will just tap the barrel for grub screws and leave it at that .
Thanks

Oh, That's a shame abut the transfer bar snapping! Not surprised to hear it though! All B/Firers are made of monkey metal. Usually Mazak.

That does not have the strength of steel, so they cannot be converted to fire Ball Ammo!

If I were in your situation, I would make a new transfer bar out of sheet steel. The axis pins could be turned on a small lathe.
With the ends that go into the Transfer bar. Slightly thinner & turned down small. So they have a short shoulder to stop at the length you require.
Then on the opposite side of the Bar. Slightly countersink the pin holes. & you can then rivet the pins in place. & Dress flush.

That will get You up & running safely again!

Hi , no the transfer bar hadn't snapped ,it just appears to be worn. The snapped part was one of the sides on the underside of the barrel.
TBH ,I'm not sure if the pistol was fully working when I bought it . So, I'm not really bothered. It still looks the part as a replica whether is fires
a blank or not. Just have to find my grub screws to finish the barrel. Cheers

The on going saga of my Browning. It's still in bits. Cannot get a proper trigger spring and the transfer bar is not catching the sear spring. Can someone
confirm that the transfer bar is worn. I'm not sure how it's supposed to look, it just looks worn. The photo is of the worn item. I can weld a bit of metal
onto the end and file it down again but need a photo of how it's supposed to look. Hopeing someone can help.

rickt wrote:

The on going saga of my Browning. It's still in bits. Cannot get a proper trigger spring and the transfer bar is not catching the sear spring. Can someone
confirm that the transfer bar is worn. I'm not sure how it's supposed to look, it just looks worn. The photo is of the worn item. I can weld a bit of metal
onto the end and file it down again but need a photo of how it's supposed to look. Hopeing someone can help.
Also could you point me to where did you get your Browning? We are doing a bit of F&F modern Wild West reenactment(basically modern cowboys, already got my stetson, boots and couple of cowboy belts and I need some sort of classic yet somewhat modern blank firer. Thought on of Hi-power would be perfect for that

Doesn't look like it's worn enough to be an issue, but it's a bit hard to tell. Try welding it up and checking if it starts to catch the spring, worst case you can file it back after all. Trial and error