thegreatmodel8.remingtonsociety.com

So a member of my gun club stopped by my house since he knows I have a few Remington 81’s and one model 8, turns out he decided to take his 81 apart to clean it.
Well he removed the Mainspring screw thinking that it held the stock on, now he can’t get it back in. I’ve looked it over but have never taken that screw out on any of my guns,
Is there a tip on getting it back in, short of tearing the gun apart?
I know I should just have him go to a gunsmith but in my area they are mostly AR type guys building tactical Tupperware, not what I’d consider gunsmith.
It’s a model 81 Woodmaster in 300 Savage in rough shape wood wise but the barrel and action are great.

Your best best is to remove the trigger housing and relieving the main spring tension by slowly releasing the hammer. Otherwise, you will probably bugger up the threads on the main spring screw or on the mainspring by trying to reattach it without taking the trigger housing out.

It is pretty easy to remove the trigger housing. Just one screw and a pin.

Thanks, I’ll take a closer look at it, look for a video.
Bill

You may be able to get the screw back in by taking an awl or punch and inserting it in the tang and gently rotate it to get the thin metal shim to align with the hole in the tang. It doesn’t take much movement of the shim to get it out of alignment with the hole in the tang.

If that doesn’t work you can remove the stock and you can see the shim and you can move it to alignment.

Regards,

jack1653

I would really recommend taking the trigger housing out. You do not want to risk buggering up the threads, and that mainspring is under pressure from the hammer, and will not allow the mainspring screw to easily re-engage the threads in the spring. There are several videos on how to remove the trigger housing. It is not complicated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZhI3T9nMb0

I’m going to attempt to remove the trigger group this weekend and go that route, I have looked over a few videos and diagrams.
Thanks guys

Look forward to hearing good news of an old autoloader being put back into service.

Take your time and you'll be fine.

I was able to get it back together after dropping the trigger housing, it wasn’t difficult at all. Thanks to all for the advice.
John M Browning was ahead of his day, these guns are engineering marvels.

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