OK, here goes. If you have a desire to take your Browning BL-22 apart and have a plan to re-assemble it, go in the other room and hit yourself with a hammer until the urge passes.
You're welcome.
Tim

Oh boy, this looks like an absolute giggle.

Haha! I had a bad round bugger up the plate on the side of the bolt. Replacing it was not a fun process. Still, I love that rifle.

No desire to take mine apart. Someone once said, ‘a man has to know his limitations’.

Getting that ejector and spring to stay put when you slide the receiver group in is the hardest part. Best to put some pressure on the assembly with a finger to hold it in place while someone else shines a flashlight in the receiver so you can slide the rear of the ejector into its groove on the bolt.
Not an easy task.
Tim

Some gunsmithing advice or rather a proverb.

You will lose those springs so be careful.

I recently took apart my HK Elite 9mm for cleaning.
Was reinstalling a trigger-bar spring, said to self "be careful, don't press down, it will spring out and you will never find it".

Well I did not listen to myself, pressed down to get the lube from the socket.
Wam - it's gone ~ somewhere on the garage floor.

Wait it gets worse.

Looked, could not find.
Frustrated.
Went in to buy another.
Checked TopGun - Nope.
Found at Numrich ~ ok order done.

Then looked some more ... FOUND it.

At least I have some extras now and I do have a few USP's.

People in a lot of cases very much overdo disassembly for routine maintenance. Bottom line it is almost never necessary at the user level! If the gun works, reach what you can cleaning wise and call it good. I have guns well in excess of 100 thousand rounds fired that have never been detail stripped the whole time and chug right along no problem. The old if it isn’t broke don’t fix it philosophy
I have a precision rifle built on a Kidd 10/22 action. I put it together about 3 years ago now, and I typically go through a brick of ammo monthly in it so roughly 18 thousand rounds at this point. Runs like a sewing machine and has not been disassembled since being built.

Always 22. I ended up selling my mark 2 Ruger and switched to buckmark becuase a full detail breakdown is an absolute excercise in mental anguish.

AR, HK91 clone, m1A, most bolt guns. Except Bowning A5. Please don’t attempt this unless you really know what’s up.

Battle rifles all seem easier to take apart and reassemble. Thank goodness for the YouTube. What did people do back in the day with poorly written books and owners manuals to reassemble. More than once I was hanging out at my buddy’s gun shop when someone walked in with a bag of parts and a torn apart gun saying please put it together for me.

My nemisis is the Ruger MK1-3s. Not bad when you do it patiently and in order but oh lord if you dont pay attention...

On a sort of related note, I've taught an armorers course for a bit, and students often ask about essential tools. I always ask them to bring a flashlight. They scratch their heads until they are crawling around trying to find a tiny spring they sent into low orbit that blends perfectly with the carpet.

I know - more accurately, I have read - that the centerfire BLRs are not recommended to be taken apart except by the factory or a qualified gunsmith.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I know - more accurately, I have read - that the centerfire BLRs are not recommended to be taken apart except by the factory or a qualified gunsmith.

They can be a beast for sure. I'd never do it again unless absolutely necessary.