Finally braved a 1903 disassembley today!

[drgreg59]

Ok,I know this is TRIVIAL for most of you long-time Colt collectors, but for a newbie to Colts, it is a daunting task to approach the first time. Well, I finally decided I couldn't stand it anymore. My new/old Model 1903 must be disassembled, cleaned, and lubed. I guess I was cautious, because the guy I bought it from hadn't taken it apart, and said, "It's just such a tight-fitting gun!" Well,I have 14 semiautos, 9 of which are Berettas and simple to take apart and reassemble...... and I also have a WWI 1911 Colt and a Series 70 CC which I have disassembled and reassembled without too much of a problem, altho the 1911 took me an hour the first time to figure out what the heck I was doing wrong!! (Bushing turned the wrong way, DUHHH!) Anyway, watched youtube videos on the 1903 disassembley, etc. about 15 times before I get up the nerve today to do this...... Hey, this aint so bad after all!! Actually much easier than the 1911! That's for sure! and I had a fun afternoon cleaning, lubing, and shooting some more! Woohoo! Colts Rule!!

[therevjay]

If you mean field stripping? Yeah it's simple. If your talking about detail stripping however It cost me $75 for a hours labor (and I'm sure lotsa being laughed at) to have a gunsmith put it back together for me.

[drgreg59]

No, wouldn't think of taking the firing pin, extractor, etc. out. Only done that on a few Berettas.

[Collects]

Colt 1903 Hammerless pistols are easy to field strip and reassemble once you know the trick, but not so easy to reassemble after a complete detail teardown. I tore one apart completely once (pretty easy), refinished all the parts, and could not perform the final assembly step to put it back together even though I spent many frustrating hours trying. Finally, my friend Jim reassembled it for me. Jim still laughs at me about that.

Try reassembling a worn German Ortgies WWII vintage pistol after field stripping! Good luck with that. They are REALLY hard to reassemble after a simple field stripping. Ortgies are easy to field strip. Jim and I did it together, as three or four hands are required, at least when we reassemble one. I do not plan to ever field strip that Ortgies again. It is a good .32 shooter.

Of course, I am a guy who has disassembled several airplane engines (with my investigator present, during plane crash investigations), to determine what went wrong with the motor, if anything. I have never reassembled any of those engines. We normally figure out what caused the plane crash. Eventually the engines are disposed of, disassembled.

[azasadny]

My Remington Model 51, Ortgies, Colt 1903 and a Walther PP are the most difficult guns I have to take completely apart, clean and then reassemble. I re-Parkerized my old WWII Remington Rand M1911A1 that had been horribly re-blued at some point before I owned it and that gun was a joy to reassemble compared to these smaller guns...