Top 5 Guns Checked In for Gunsmithing
This week we are covering the top 5 guns checked into our shop and why they are here.
#5 Remington 742
The Remington 742 and its variants are some of the most common guns we see coming into the shop.
This gun came out the in the same era as the Browning BAR. And though it’s a good gun, they made it to be a hunting rifle—meant to shoot 10 to 15 rounds per year. Nowadays, people treat these semi-auto rifles like they’re ARs and dump 100 rounds in a range trip. But since they aren’t made for that, they just don’t hold up.
Most of the Remington 742s in our safe are checked in from wear. We usually see issues with the feeding mechanism because the soft steel wears or bends. Their action bars and even their bolts are also easily worn.
#4 - Remington 11-87
The 11-87 is a staple in the safe. This was a budget semi-automatic gun also designed to be hunting gun. But people will take these out and shoot clay pigeons every weekend. And much like the 742, they just weren’t made for high usage.
The most common reason why we see 11-87s in our shop is one really dumb design feature which made it cheap to produce but fixable only once. Inside the action, there’s a piece of metal which is integral to the function of the shotgun. It is inserted into a channel and then peened over. When it breaks, there’s enough metal to fix it once. But if it breaks again, there’s not enough metal in the receiver to peen it over again.
#3 - Mauser 98
The Mauser 98 is the most common bolt gun we see in the shop. They are usually checked in for something related to the scope. Way back when, there were janky ways of mounting scopes. So Mausers often come into our shop to get their scopes remounted, to get a new scope mounted, or because their old scope mount broke.
Another common reason we see Mausers in our shop often is to have their caliber identified. A lot of people sporterized them and changed the caliber, but often the barrel wasn’t marked. So, when they changed hands, people didn’t know what their Mauser was chambered in.
To do this, we create chamber cast by pouring molten metal into the gun’s chamber. In about 30 minutes, the metal contracts enough to remove it from the chamber. And then, after another 2 minutes, the metal expands back to its original size. Using the casting, we compare it known chamber dimensions to identify the caliber.
#2 - AKs
We are one of only a handful of AK gunsmiths in the West. McCluskey Arms started to get busy with AK work because we were one of the only gunsmithing shops in Oregon that would take on AK repairs. We started to take on more customization work, and since then, we have become known in the PNW for our AK builds.
Our safe has an entire rack full of AKs, and we have one gunsmith dedicated to our AK builds and AK gunsmithing.
#1 - Glock Pistols
The most common pistols we have checked into the shop are Glocks, obviously. But they aren’t checked in for repair services. In fact, we rarely see them for functionality issues. They are usually checked into for an optic cut.
At McCluskey Arms, we offer three optic cut options: irons delete, irons forward, and irons rear. Each is custom machined to maximum depth, to the customer’s specific optic, and fit perfectly to the slide without leaving any gaps. This not only looks better than factory cuts but also limits the force and wear on the screws. Because the frame of the optic absorbs all of the force, it is more secure and the screws won’t break off.
