TC is locked up, can not open it...

24vainf

Have not shot it for a while, today I got it out to oil down and take out to shoot.the trigger guard drops down but the thing will not open. will not budge. I even put it accross my knee and put quite a bit of pressure,still won't open.Also the hammer will go back but it will not catch to cock.I thought maybe I would have to take the large pin out where it breaks open, but I have never done that,and I am a little hesitent.
Any idea's ? it has a .223 14 inch barrel, and I only shoot factory ammo, it was in good condition.

Contender Man

Sounds to me as if you might have a failure in the latch/trigger mechanism.

Don't try and use brute force ... things will only go down hill.

First try removing the barrel pin and seeing if you can get the barrel to disengage from the frame. If that don't work then you will need to drop out the trigger group and release the bolt lock. This second step can be a bit of a trick.

While the latter step would be no problem for me, if your concerned about tapping out the barrel to frame pin I would surmise that you've not done much in the way of disassembly work with a Contender and you may be best off taking it to a competent gunsmith.

If you had said that you recently acquired the barrel, mounted it to the frame and now can't open it that would point to one problem. But from your desicription you have used this setup, it has been working fine, and there was no problem when last put up, and now you are unable to get the action to open or the pistol to cock and that point to a problem in the latch/cocking mechanism.

Best bet ... try barrel to frame pin to get it apart, if that don't work go to gunsmith as I suspect that it won't work or even if you do manage to seperate the barrel from the frame your going to find a problem with cocking it.

Any other questions or you want someone to try and talk you through it, use the email icon at the top of this reply to contact me.



If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!

FrancF

OK I will take a stab since no ones answered. I don't have a TC. But on of two things is going on. The lock mechanism is jammed, or its been sitting around with enough moisture to give you light rust.

Lightly WD-40 around the hinges and break points first. That's easy to clean up. Make sure the action is fully closed and try to reopen.

Contender Man has it handled [:)]

gruntled

It's very easy to tap the pin out but it still might not open easily.
You may have to play with it a bit until it will open. I have this problem every so often with just one barrel.

Throckmorton

Is it possible an empty case(hopefully) is still in there and the fring pin has rusted in the 'fire' position,thereby locking up the gun?Remote,I know,but hey it ain't opeining.
measure with a dowel or something to see if a case might be in there.Be sure to hold the dowel againgst the side of the barrel so it doesn't just go inside the case and fool ya..needs to catch the edge if it's in there.
SAFETY FIRST!!

Throckmortons' the alias,cas is the game.

24vainf

quote:First try removing the barrel pin and seeing if you can get the barrel to disengage from the frame. If that don't work then you will need to drop out the trigger group and release the bolt lock. This second step can be a bit of a trick.



I tapped out the barrel pin, the barrel has a little play, but will not come loose from the frame...next step must be to remove the trigger pin right above the trigger? I can do that if that is the correct one to remove...what's the trick ?

gruntled

I've never had to remove more than the pin. It just takes me a bit of
jiggleing & working with the trigger guard lever.

I have five barrels & it only happens on one of them. Most of the time it is OK so I expect the interference is small (I keep hoping it will wear in & fix itself.) Yours may be worse & harder to get open.

24vainf

[/qI've never had to remove more than the pin. It just takes me a bit of
jiggleing & working with the trigger guard lever.
uote]

I've wiggled and jiggled, it is hung up on something inside...

Contender Man

You need to remove the grip. When you do that you will see a screw running through the back tang of the trigger housing. The screw is surrounded by a spring. Back that screw out and with the trigger group pin out wiggle the assembly out of the frame. Be careful to keep track of the spring when you take the screw out.

Now comes the trick. With the trigger assy. out of the way you will be able to see the breech latch on the barrel, and you will need to carefully work with long screw driver or similar tool to press that latch into the barrel enough to release it from the catch mechanism. If you have another barrel examine the latch and you will note that it is spring loaded and can move a ways back into the barrel mount. Your problem could be with the catch assembly or the mechanism that links the trigger assy. to that catch. It's an eyeball thing and if you want to invest in a phone call contact me so we can pick a mutually convenient time and I'll walk you through it as best as one can via telephone.



If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!

24vainf

[You need to remove the grip. When you do that you will see a screw running through the back tang of the trigger housing. The screw is surrounded by a spring. Back that screw out and with the trigger group pin out wiggle the assembly out of the frame. Be careful to keep track of the spring when you take the screw out

OK.. I got the barrel removed from the frame..looking at the parts inside I see nothing broken etc, other than maybe to much Break Free which I wiped out...is there anything I should check before putting it back together?

24vainf

To add..the catch assembly looks fine as does the two bars on the trigger assembly that apearently cause the catch assembly to work....in putting it back together does the trigger have to be cocked before assembly, that little spring loded catch behind the trigger ?