Belgium Pinfire Revolver

[Tony]

Hi Dave, not walking distance, North East, near Sunderland
OK possibly a ridiculous suggestion,,,,,,I don’t know if you have done any welding, but it is possible to weld in a patch, grind and polish so that it is invisible. I can’t see any internal signs of that and I don’t know what the affect would be of heat on the Hand spring
Something else I have noticed, the groove that the Hand and spring sits in, is not visible from the underneath, so the Hand is not coming out of the bottom, if anything it would have to come out through the hammer slot and I don’t think that is possible either
I am happy to post this to you if you have time to investigate it? I am more curious than anything now
Tony

[bradaz11]

with it ll loose, can you pull the hand up and further out of the slot? to allow that pointed nose to move back a bit and drop out first?

i doubt anything on that would have been welded then polished out. it's all just good old fashioned machining.

[Tony]

I have tried that, thank you, in fact I have been working on this for a couple of hours each evening for over 2 weeks with powerful lights to see every part of the mechanism and I cannot see any way the trigger mechanism will come out with the Hand attached and cannot see how the Hand can be removed first as there is no room for the trigger to move sideways to allow that to happen

As I mentioned previously, if the groove for the Hand and spring continued all the way down to the bottom of the frame, the mechanism may, with help from strong grips, be forced out the bottom, or if the groove for the Hand and spring continued all the way up to the top of the frame, the mechanism may be able to be forced out through the hammer slot

Having said all of that, it was put together, so should be able to be disassembled

I really need to find someone who has removed the Hand from a folding trigger gentleman's small pocket pinfire revolver which does not the inspection panel next to the trigger

Thank you

[bradaz11]

well they had to cut the internals somehow. is the blast shield one peice or was it dovetailed and slid in?

think to wok that out would need a picture of the striped rear and one at the front, as if you were looking down the barrel.

all those cuts and slots needed to be made somehow, so I suspect there is a bit more to take apart.

[millemigliadave]

I think I have the answer! I asked a contact that I met researching these pinfire revolvers and here is his reply:

All these folding trigger pinfire revolvers feature a small cover plate at the bottom of the frame,
right behind the trigger. There are no exception.
That cover plate is quite thin and generally hold in place by a very tiny screw, however I encountered
specimen that lacked a screw (dove tail cut at both front and rear edges).
The plate is very thin and is generally meant to slide out laterally from right to left. You might need a
magnifier to see all contours.
Depending on the general condition of the gun, the cover plate might be glued by rust and old dried oil
that make it difficult to remove. ----> WD40 is the answer :-)
Best is to hold the gun upside down in a vice, and to use a pin or a small screwdriver to push it carefully
out FROM RIGHT TO LEFT of the frame without damaging anything.

So... I hope that makes sense and that you can find the 'door'

[Tony]

Now I feel really stupid!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you sooooooo much Dave for your perseverance and thank your friend for me
I would have passed a lie detector that the frame was solid at that point, magnified 10x you can see it
What a great example of workmanship
Now I need to get it out carefully as you suggested

[millemigliadave]

I'm glad the mystery is solved! I look forward to hearing how you get on with repairing/replacing the hand once its all out.

Cheers, Dave

[1066]

Good result - If you are wanting to make a working hand just for decorative use - it would be quite a simple job to file one up with a strip of brass.

[Tony]

Fantastic suggestion 1066, it is only decorative

[Tony]

Update as promised, a friend has TIG welded a 'blob' on the end of the Hand

I will now grind this first and start filing as I get closer

I presume if the Hand is too long, then the hammer will not come back far enough

My question is regarding the heat generated, will I have to keep stopping with the grinder to allow it to cool, so as to prevent it becoming brittle?

Thank you

Tony