My Little Scout 14 1/2 rifle.

I found this gun in a wall of a house I was remodeling about 15 years ago. The entire gun was rust covered and the action was completely rusted solid. I have disassembled it and cleaned the rust off and the action is now free. I also heat blued it. I took it out to the range to see if it would fire and it wouldn't.
I purchased a new firing pin from Numrich's and it still won't fire. I'm thinking it needs a new mainspring, however Numrich's doesn't have them and neither does Midway. Does anybody know where I can get one?

I usually don't post live auctions as I'm breaking my own rules due to more than one guy screwing over another for something real nice but honestly, how many guys are after a Little Scout mainspring.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Spring-E...item2339c6244a

I found it!! WOOHOOO!!
And I didn't have to deal with ebay. Thanks for the link Mad Dog, but ebay and I have never gotten along.
Anyway, I did some more research and found this:
http://www.gunsprings.com/Rifles%20%.../mID113/dID283

Cool, added that to my shortcuts to, will come in handy.

I received the new mainspring today. And much to my surprise, there were 5 springs in the package. Very nice. I had to trim a little off of one to get it to the correct length. Custom fit. Took it to the range.
The awesome news: SHE'S A SHOOTER!! WOOHOO!! I hit steel 6 out of 10 shots at 50 yards.
The not so awesome news: It self ejected the casing 4 out of 10 shots.
Not sure why but the breech would drop and open allowing the spent case to fly out of the chamber and tag me on the forehead.
Now it didn't occur to me until I was on my way home that in that container, I have about 4 different brands of ammo. Some are old Remington, some newer CCI, some Winchester, and some unknown hollow points.
I would like nothing more than to use this rifle to teach my grandson how to shoot, but I can't have it pinging casings off his forehead. I think the next time out I will pay better attention to how each type of ammo behaves in this little rifle. See if she is just finicky about what she is fed.
One question....The barrel says it's chambered for .22 lr, does anybody see a problem shooting shorts out of it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phinfan

One question....The barrel says it's chambered for .22 lr, does anybody see a problem shooting shorts out of it?

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The only problem you may have with shorts is that the chamber may eventually get fouled so that Long Rifles will not chamber correctly and there might be a slight reduction in accuracy due to the twist rate of the rifling and the shorter bullet.

This gun should never be shot with Hi-Speed ammunition, which you apparently did (most modern loads are Hi-Speed unless marked otherwise). It was made before the introduction of Hi-Speed and was never a strong enough design for long term use with it and maybe not even limited use with out damage. I would suggest 22 CB Longs or other low velocity loads and certainly nothing more powerful than Standard Velocity Long Rifle... even if you shoot shorts use only standard velocity or target loads.

Many of these Savage/Stevens designs that were still being produced after the introduction of Hi-Speed loads in the early 1930's were marked somewhere on the barrel "REGULAR CARTRIDGES" or something similar. I have seen this marking on late production Stevens single shots, Steven's Visible Loaders and Savage Model 1904 single shots. I also have seen several examples of Savage Model 1903 & 1914 pump 22's that were counter-stamped later with a warning against the use Of Hi-Speed cartridges - this would have been done in the 1930's or later. The possible dangers of using modern 22 ammunition in older guns is something one should be aware of.

http://www.savagefest.net/SavageFest...G?m=1411052612
http://www.savagefest.net/SavageFest...G?m=1411052568

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps9112e470.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps8d1ebce4.jpg

I found some CCI "quiet-22" LR ammo. There is very little recoil and it doesn't self eject. I think this will work out nicely.