![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stickmakerOw. Ow. Ow. Browning and Saive designed a wonderful handgun in the HP-35 but it is difficult (read: painful) to maintain. I field stripped mine after shooting it this morning. Decided that the recoil spring needed replacing. I already had a standard-force replacement. However it was significantly longer than the factory spring (a sure sign the old spring needed replacing).
Getting that longer recoil spring in place was torture. I even pulled my right thumbnail loose enough at the distal end that it bled a bit. Several times I got the parts in place, only to discover that the guide was upside down, despite me starting with it oriented correctly! (In a modern design this part would be symmetrical. It's a measure of how good this design is that the gun will function irregularly even with this part installed upside down.) Anyway, I finally got it all back together and properly fitted. I just hope I didn't kink the spring with all that wrestling it around. Ow.
Getting that longer recoil spring in place was torture. I even pulled my right thumbnail loose enough at the distal end that it bled a bit. Several times I got the parts in place, only to discover that the guide was upside down, despite me starting with it oriented correctly! (In a modern design this part would be symmetrical. It's a measure of how good this design is that the gun will function irregularly even with this part installed upside down.) Anyway, I finally got it all back together and properly fitted. I just hope I didn't kink the spring with all that wrestling it around. Ow.
