Emergency Field Repairs
by SingleShotLover
Nothing is more discouraging than to have a long-planned hunt interrupted by a malfunction to either your firearm or sighting system. This isn’t so bad if there happens to be a gun shop just down the road, but many times this is not the case and valuable hunting time is lost. In instances when hunting in remote areas the trip can be an expensive total loss. It doesn’t require a breakage to stop your hunt; often a seemingly minor incident is enough.
My hunting buddy and I, being gun nuts of a ridiculous level anyway, always take far more firearms with us on a hunt than we could possibly need. This always seems a little absurd (we justify it by reasoning that if conditions change it would be better to have a specific rifle for them) and makes us look like the Tijuana National Guard out on maneuvers, but has worked in our favor several times and has also occasionally benefited hunters that camped near us whose firearms failed them. Many hunters don’t have that luxury and have only a single rifle or other firearm thatmust keep working in order to save the hunt. Whichever category you fall into, it still pays to be prepared for a little in-field repair work.
While we were hunting in a rather remote area of northern Michigan a friend of mine on his first ever firearms hunt (who had borrowed a rifle from me for this hunt; a .250 Savage built on a “Mexican” Mauser action) managed to jam a round in the chamber without being able to close the action. He had dropped a cartridge into the action and tried to close the bolt rather than feeding the round directly from the magazine. Since the Mauser is a controlled-feed action, the extractor merely shoved the cartridge into the chamber rather than snapping over the rim (as a push-feed action would) serving to wedge the round in the chamber. No amount of jarring and bouncing of the stock would shake that cartridge free so I ended up making a trip several miles back to camp to run a cleaning rod through the bore to clear the action for him.
I have been guilty of causing my own mishaps too. While deer hunting in Missouri with a bolt-action .243, I took a shot at a deer only to miss when I hit a limb that I hadn’t noticed. Though I worked the action to reload quickly, the deer didn’t offer me a reasonable second shot. Later I opened the action with the intent of “topping off” the magazine only to see an empty case and spilled powder emerge from the chamber. What had happened? The cartridges being used had all been neck-turned…but I had gotten careless and trimmed too much. The necks were so thin that the sizer didn’t have a chance to squeeze them down enough to firmly grip the bullets. Since these cartridges had been loaded to position the bullet nearly against the rifling anyway, once the rifle had been fired the bullets moved forward in the magazine just enough that upon chambering the next round the bullet was lightly jammed into the rifling. Trying to extract the unfired round left the bullet stuck in the bore, requiring another trip to camp.
Since the above two instances I have made it a habit to carry a disassembled cleaning rod in my day pack for emergencies of this nature or even to clear a bore clogged with dirt or mud from a fall. The rod weighs very little and gives a degree of comfort when deep in the woods. Of course not every “fix it” item can be carried with you. Many can remain in camp but still salvage a hunt.
Optics are all the rage any more. Scopes are usually to be found on nearly any game rifle even when used in moderately heavy brush. The problem with scopes is that sooner or later they will fail; it is never a matter of if they will, it is only a matter of when. To solve this problem while in the field, many hunters make sure that they have another scope complete with installed rings handy back at camp. This is a good backup if the hunter has taken care to sight that scope in prior to the hunt and is using bases that allow the scopes to be switched with minimal change in zero. Change the scope, fire a few shots to make sure of the zero and you are back in business.
An alternative to this is to use a rifle that is also equipped with iron sights that have been calibrated for your hunting load. Though not considered “shooter-chic”, good open sights can be nearly as accurate as a scope out to most normal hunting ranges…if you have done your homework and practiced. As in all things having to do with shooting or hunting, practice is essential for success. The best part of using iron sights as a backup is that the scope can be removed while in the field with most brands of rings, with no necessity of returning to camp.
Often simple ingenuity can save a hunt. Many years ago my dad had borrowed a 12-gauge pump shotgun for one of our state’s first shotgun-slug-only deer seasons. Sitting in a ground blind on opening day, he got a little bored as the hours passed and out of idle curiosity tried pushing a round into the magazine of the already loaded gun. Much to his surprise it fit! Since in our state it is law that shotguns only hold three rounds (one in the chamber and two in the magazine) Dad had been unknowingly in violation of that law. Quickly unloading and disassembling the shotgun, Dad soon had cut a pencil-sized sapling to the proper length and had fashioned an emergency plug limiting the magazine to a legal maximum of two rounds. Tools needed? One sharp pocketknife and ingenuity...plus a bit of motivation!
Magazine springs seldom go bad, but while on a deer hunting trip a buddy of mine had the spring in his Remington M700 break just as he was checking it on opening morning. Since he didn’t want to lose the best part of the day to find a gunsmith, we removed the spring and follower, cut the Styrofoam insert of a cartridge box to fit in the magazine well while still firmly supporting the follower, and effectively transformed his repeater into a single shot. An hour after legal hours began he was field dressing a nice buck. Again, a little ingenuity and thought salvaged a bad situation.
It is quite easy to put together an emergency repair pack for repairs of other kinds. A small selection of tools and a few common parts might well save the day…or even the trip. One of those kits with replaceable tips advertised as a “gunsmith’s” screwdriver assortment will provide you with most commonly used sizes of tips. A good flat and a couple of triangular files can be handy if the triangular files are made to fit your firearms sight slots (commonly 60 or 65 degrees). A fast-hardening epoxy and the ubiquitous “duct tape” can be used for a variety of repairs. Cutting and needle-nosed pliers, a hammer, a small portable vise, a couple of medium “C” clamps, vice-grips, an assortment of screws and pins, punches and cleaning solutions and oil will cover many problems. Spare parts should include a spare extractor, a firing pin and various springs for your rifle as well as replacement iron sights (both front and rear). If your rifle is a clip-fed model, a spare clip is essential in case of bent lips or a broken spring.
One of the most common emergencies is a broken stock. A fall or other mishap can break a stock in a variety of areas, but all need to be repaired for safety before continuing the hunt. Thankfully, this is usually not a hard fix. The safe success of the repair, however, will depend on both where the break is and how much recoil the rifle generates. Obviously a .243 Winchester will be easier to safely fix than a .458.
The most common break is at the wrist of the stock. This type of temporary repair can be safely made only as long as the recoil generated by the rifle is moderate. Clean the broken surfaces, coat with a quick drying gel-type epoxy and careful place both parts together in as close to perfect alignment as possible. Wrap the wrist area with a couple of layers of duct tape, keeping a moderate tension on the tape while applying. (Another set of hands can help make this much easier.) Place near (but not too close to) a heat source and allow the joint to cure overnight. The result will be a stock maker’s nightmare but should allow you to complete your hunt with a little care. Be sure to check for safe, proper functioning before using it. Forearms can be treated in the same manner but usually don’t offer the level of concern over recoil as a break in the butt stock area.
A broken front or rear sight can be replaced at camp with the replacement sights in your kit and a brass punch. Carefully mark the centerline as close as possible and drift the old sight(s) out of the dovetails (commonly right to left). Using the proper punch and tapping from left to right, position the replacements as close to the original positions as possible. Final sighting will need to be done to determine proper alignment.
A substitute for a broken sling swivel can be made by just duct taping the sling end to the stock in the appropriate position. Again...not pretty, but functional.
Extractors, firing pins and springs always manage to break at the worst possible time. Make sure that you thoroughly understand how to replace anything that can be replaced without specialized jigs, clamps or welds. Take a schematic of your rifle with you for reference. It’s never a good idea to tear into one only to find that you can’t remember how to put it back together!
Lubrication can also cause malfunctions. Some lubes get very stiff in cold weather slowing firing pins or even interfering with the basic functions of the firearm. I once had a double action revolver that could not be manually cocked while in the field without using one hand to cock the weapon while the other turned the cylinder! Temperatures were in the single digits and the lube on the cylinder pin had stiffened to the consistency of thick glue. A quick couple drops of cleaner to cut the lube and it functioned just fine. This all could have been avoided by either removing lubrication from moving parts before the hunt (remembering to lubricate after the hunt is over) or using only tiny amounts of a temperature-stable lube in the first place.
Be safe,
SSL
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