![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Compatibility
30 May 2013 08:08 pmWhen I drew my Tanaka softair Single Action Army to show the security guy at the Steampunk Symposium, the Base Pin Screw and spring fell out. To explain; the Cylinder (part #11) is held to the frame by the Base Pin (part #5). The Base Pin is held in place by the Base Pin Latch which consists of three separate parts; the Base Pin Screw, the Base Pin Screw Nut and a spring (parts #6, 7, 8) which allows the assembly to be pushed aside so that the Base Pin can be removed.
What had happened is that the Base Pin Screw Nut had become loose and was lost. Somewhere. We looked all around the hotel floor where the screw and spring had fallen but could not find the nut. It could have been anywhere. Without the nut, the rest simply fell out of the gun when I pulled it from the holster.
Since the softair gun is in many ways identical to the actual firearm even to the point of having Colt stamps and costing me almost as much as my actual SAA firearms cost, I figured that it would actually be cheaper and easier to buy an actual Base Pin Latch kit from a gun shop than it would be to try to order a replacement part from Tanaka in Japan.
I went to Braverman’s and ordered a Base Pin Screw Nut to replace the one part that I had lost. They didn’t seem interested in checking to make sure that my assumption about identical parts working was correct or not. It’s been my experience that Braverman’s is just interested in getting you out the door. They’ve been the same way when I have dropped guns off to be repaired. They take the gun, fill out the paperwork and say they’ll call you.
And then they don’t call. Each time I have had to contact them. So, after two weeks of waiting for the part I called to ask the status of the order and they responded that it wasn’t in yet.
I didn’t take the gun to Steampunk World’s Fair because the weapon policy there was two pages long and New Jersey somehow considers softair guns to be “firearms” and requires them to be licensed. However, the Up in the Aether con in Michigan had essentially a two sentence weapon policy; “No real guns. Peace bond your knives.”
I called Braverman’s again and the order still wasn’t in. Even though I wouldn’t receive the part in time for the con, on Wednesday I ordered a Base Pin Latch kit from Brownells. Then, because I wanted to carry the gun at the con, I pulled the assembly from one of my actual firearms and put it on the softair.
As I thought, the part fit. It was not a perfect match, though. The parts were slightly different. The Tanaka pin is more like the Ruger SAA part than the Colt part. No real matter. It worked so that I could be “armed” at the con.
As a dime novel hero, I felt somewhat naked without it.
When I came home, I found the box with the part waiting for me and switched the parts back. I also called Braverman’s and said that, after waiting three weeks, they could cancel my order because someone online had delivered in three days.
I need a new gunsmith.
What had happened is that the Base Pin Screw Nut had become loose and was lost. Somewhere. We looked all around the hotel floor where the screw and spring had fallen but could not find the nut. It could have been anywhere. Without the nut, the rest simply fell out of the gun when I pulled it from the holster.
Since the softair gun is in many ways identical to the actual firearm even to the point of having Colt stamps and costing me almost as much as my actual SAA firearms cost, I figured that it would actually be cheaper and easier to buy an actual Base Pin Latch kit from a gun shop than it would be to try to order a replacement part from Tanaka in Japan.
I went to Braverman’s and ordered a Base Pin Screw Nut to replace the one part that I had lost. They didn’t seem interested in checking to make sure that my assumption about identical parts working was correct or not. It’s been my experience that Braverman’s is just interested in getting you out the door. They’ve been the same way when I have dropped guns off to be repaired. They take the gun, fill out the paperwork and say they’ll call you.
And then they don’t call. Each time I have had to contact them. So, after two weeks of waiting for the part I called to ask the status of the order and they responded that it wasn’t in yet.
I didn’t take the gun to Steampunk World’s Fair because the weapon policy there was two pages long and New Jersey somehow considers softair guns to be “firearms” and requires them to be licensed. However, the Up in the Aether con in Michigan had essentially a two sentence weapon policy; “No real guns. Peace bond your knives.”
I called Braverman’s again and the order still wasn’t in. Even though I wouldn’t receive the part in time for the con, on Wednesday I ordered a Base Pin Latch kit from Brownells. Then, because I wanted to carry the gun at the con, I pulled the assembly from one of my actual firearms and put it on the softair.
As I thought, the part fit. It was not a perfect match, though. The parts were slightly different. The Tanaka pin is more like the Ruger SAA part than the Colt part. No real matter. It worked so that I could be “armed” at the con.
As a dime novel hero, I felt somewhat naked without it.
When I came home, I found the box with the part waiting for me and switched the parts back. I also called Braverman’s and said that, after waiting three weeks, they could cancel my order because someone online had delivered in three days.
I need a new gunsmith.
