The first step is to dry fire the gun on snap caps, remove the fore end (so as not to re-cock the hammers), and then remove the barrels.

Next is to remove the screw in the trigger guard (by the serial #) and gently lift the guard from it's inletted bed (pushing forward on the guard may help), then unscrew the guard from the trigger plate by revolving the whole guard around the front stud about 4-5 turns. Under the trigger guard you will find another screw head which you can remove next (the tip (other end) of this screw is visible on the top tang by the safety).

Next, you can remove the large screw under the top lever. This requires a different size screw driver.

Next, remove the three screws in the trigger plate. (Note: it may be easier to remove these screws if you only break each screw loose sequentially, a little at a time. If you completely loosen them one at a time, the last screw may be under an uneven strain and be more difficult to break loose).

After these screws are out you turn the receiver over and use a wooden dowel, or a non-marring soft-metal drift inserted into the rear of the slot in the water table and tap gently to drive the trigger plate from the bottom of the frame.

At this point the stock will become very loose and floppy on the receiver, but you CANNOT remove it yet! Be very careful as the trigger plate comes out, making sure that the stock doesn't jump around and break some of the wood in the fragile head portion. Also be sure to catch the cocking slide which rides just inside the trigger plate.

As soon as the trigger plate comes off, the stock becomes very loose and wobbly on the receiver, and you can break some of the fragile inletting if you aren't careful. To provide some stability while you remove the sears, you can re-insert the lower tang screw (although the lower tang is now removed) back through the stock and re-tighten it (it threads into the underside of the upper tang). It will not tighten all the way, because the thickness of the lower tang is no longer under the head of the screw. But, it will take out all but just a little of the floppiness of the stock on the receiver, making it easier to concentrate on removing the sear pin without having to simultaneously hold the stock firm to the receiver. It will only have a little wiggle left in it, and you can essentially forget worrying about the stock while you work on removing the sears. 

Once the trigger plate is off, the final step is to remove the sears. If you try to remove the stock without removing the sears, you WILL break the stock. This is the reason you let the hammers down before you even began. Pay careful attention to how the sears are oriented (draw a picture if you have a poor memory). The sear pin is visible on either side of the outside of the frame at the lower rear corner. Using a drift slightly smaller than the sear pin, carefully drive it out the other side of the receiver, removing each sear as it is cleared by the pin.

Once the sears are out, remove the lower tang screw again and the stock will separate from the receiver. Be careful and hold the stock and receiver firmly together as you re-extract the screw for the final time so they don't inadvertently fall apart in an uncontrolled manner, possibly allowing the receiver to damage the stock. When the screw is out, keep a firm grip on the receiver and stock with each hand and gently separate them in a controlled manner.

There will be a few parts left in the stock (safety mechanism, automatic safety rod, main screw ferrule) but it is not necessary to remove these for normal cleaning.

You can clean the receiver out with your favorite gun solvent, then blow the crud out with compressed air. After it is clean to your satisfaction, spray the inside with something like RemOil, wipe most of it out, and add a drop of gun oil to each joint between moving parts. While you're at it, now would be a great time to add a coat of sealer (like Tru-Oil) to the inletting in the head of the stock, to keep gun oil from ruining the wood. Don't let it collect in puddles anywhere, because the fit between wood and metal is a close tolerance.

Re-assembly is the reverse of the above, except that you must make sure to engage the safety slide on the tang with the safety lever in the stock as you slide the receiver back into the stock. This is a little tricky, so make sure it works properly before continuing. The sears go back in next, the pin is driven through, and the cocking slide is put in place to engage the cocking hook and hammer notches, then the trigger plate is put into place and tapped with a plastic-faced, etc. hammer until it is fully seated. After that, it is just a matter of replacing screws.

Do all work with the receiver firmly supported in a vise with soft jaws. To not do so is to invite ruined screw heads, broken inletting, etc. There are a few operations (like removing the sear pin) that will be easier out of the vise, but be very careful! For screw drivers, you need the hollow-ground tipped ones, and will likely have to shape the tips with a file a little to get proper fit in the slots.

<-- back