doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Grant ejector tripper

Greetings all,
I am the current custodian of a Stephen Grant sidelock, sidelever with the Grant patent ejectors and have fallen victim to the delicacy of this design.
The left ejector tripper, which is located adjacent to the cocking lever in the action, has broken.
Can I make this part with a piece of 1018 sheet metal? The tripper is about .040" in thickness, so 18ga would do with a bit of thinning.
My main question is whether or not the 1018 would be durable enough without further heat treatment.
Below is a picture of the ejector tripper (Top) and cocking lever (Bottom).
Those of you familiar with the design will know what's going on...

Your going to be better off with a piece of O1 tool steel properly hardened and tempered.
Steve

Your best bet is to use a piece of gauge plate of the correct thickness then harden it failing that a piece of machine hack saw blade though it will need to be annealed then hardened again. Going down in hardness and just still workable as is with hand tools is a DIY type circular saw blades, a lot of these blades are made from high carbon steel and can be heat treatable. I do find circular saw blade material very usable rather than paying a high price for a couple of inches of gauge plate etc.

Thanks for the info. I am by no means an expert in metals but now can see that I need a steel that has a higher carbon content. As I would like to try and tackle this job myself using only hand tools, I like the idea of a hacksaw blade. I may be able to track down a blade from a reciprocating saw which is large enough to make the part from.
Failing that, I can certainly find a circular saw blade which is large enough. My concern with this would be getting the thickness correct since it would have to be thinned quite a bit and I only have files to do so.
I will post back once I find some blades. I'm sure I will need some hand-holding for the heat treatment...

Dear Blue Grouse;

Please allow an old man nearly 80 to provide you with some advice on the selection of the steel (which should be spring steel or something that can be hardened) basis to to use to minimize the forming of the part work.

Measure the thickness of the steel with precision( I have found in Stephen Grant ejectors trippers that they are not uniform thickness front to rear) then drive over to the home supply store or second hand tool store and measure the thickness of the cheap carpenter hand saws (I have bought them for $5.00 or so in the past) finding one that meets your thickness needs. Even the cheap saws are made of good spring steel--especially the cheap Buck brand. This will save you a lot of filing work. While you are there buy a round chain saw file for the rounding of the edge of the slot you are going to make.

Bushveld,

Thank you very much for the advice.
The carpenter saw idea is perhaps even better since it would require even less finishing if I can find the proper thickness.
Indeed you are correct about the thickness of the tripper. Mine varies from .031" at the end which protrudes from the action knuckle, to .040" at the opposite end where the spring is located.
I already have a chain saw file which I use for removing material on the lumps when re-jointing but it may be too large a diameter...
Every bit of information brings me closer to a solution!

If you are thinking about using the chainsaw file to form the round in the depth of the slot? You could consider just drilling the closest sized hole there on a drill press. Then form the rest of the slot with what ever hacksaw, flat filing that would get you there. Maybe leave a little extra for work holding, that piece may be frustrating with a lot of vibration if using hand tools.

The others that commented would know much better, but I�d drill the stop hole, hog it out with a disk dremel type tool, then just clean up the relatively lesser roughness. And, I�m sorry if I�m not understanding what you�re trying to do. Best of luck with it.

If you can tig or solder your part back together so you have a good pattern to work from also drill the hole first then use it to indicate your pattern

I would recommend spring steel .

Gunman, Do you think that using a saw blade of suitable thickness would work?
I have measured all my saws and all are too thin. I will be off to the hardware store with my calipers next too see if I can find a suitable donor.