Hi everyone, just joined and have been looking through various forums, what caught my eye were the posts about tools. I went through 2 S&W revolver armourers courses in the mid to late 80's, both at Parker Hale in the UK. We had 2 instructors from the academy who came over to teach the courses, there was about 10 guys on each course, all Police Armourers except me . I ran my own small (one man) company in Scotland carrying out maintenance work for various Scottish police forces. One of the things the instructors were keen on was that everyone should have the proper tools, at the time Brownells sold a toolkit for the S & W revolver, see picture. It was a basic kit and a lot of the tools shown were add on's to the this kit, I had just left the army with a good terminal bonus so I had the money so I bought everything I could
![Hand tool Metalworking hand tool Tool Kitchen utensil Toolbox]()
For those that are not familiar with this kit, in the picture starting at the top are the 2 cylinder centre pin rod runout fixtures, by using gentle taps and a Mk 1 eyeball you could remove the visible runout, next a set of trigger weights, below those a yoke barrel/crane stretcher.and 2 file handles and a broach handle. To the right is the yoke barrel peening block and under that the 2 babbit bars, back to the top left of the tray, first a frame reamer, then a yoke barrel reamer (in case you crushed the barrel with the yoke stretcher), then if you stretched the barrel to far a piloted reamer to trim the end of the yoke barrel. Under those is the rebound slide removal tool then the 6 pin punches listed in the armourers manual, under those are the 2 round centre pin clamps for stripping the cylinder, under those are 4 dummy centre pins to let you check the action of the lockwork before fitting the yoke/cylinder assembly.and then the allan key for the clamps. To the right of the dummy pins and under the pin punches is a locking bolt holder, small brass drift then the barrel/cylinder gap gage followed by the 5 headspace gages for various revolvers current at the time. Back to the top of the tray, to the right of the reamers is a set of 3 yoke barrel liners ( 4 are shown, one was a spare) then the 2 fixtures for peening the yoke button, used in order to get the correct 3 stage opening for the cylinder, Under the liners are 3 pin holders for fitting the small pins in the hammer and trigger, to the right of those is a small reamer for removing burrs in the rear locking bolt hole in the frame. Under that are the hand/cylinder stop window files, to the left is the hand pin holder then the 3 broaches mentioned in the manual, to the right of the window files are a couple of general files the starret file, hickory wedge and 6"india stone, above that are the firing pin protrusion gages. This was the complete kit as I remember it.
I will always be grateful to the instructors who emphasized the importance of having the correct tools for the job, without them the best and worse you could do was to FUBAR it up.
I would love to chat with any old time armourers, comments or corrections would be welcome. Before joining I had not seen this kit for over 20 years, it lived in a case at the back of my storeroom, digging it out and trying to remember what each tool did brought back some good memories
For those that are not familiar with this kit, in the picture starting at the top are the 2 cylinder centre pin rod runout fixtures, by using gentle taps and a Mk 1 eyeball you could remove the visible runout, next a set of trigger weights, below those a yoke barrel/crane stretcher.and 2 file handles and a broach handle. To the right is the yoke barrel peening block and under that the 2 babbit bars, back to the top left of the tray, first a frame reamer, then a yoke barrel reamer (in case you crushed the barrel with the yoke stretcher), then if you stretched the barrel to far a piloted reamer to trim the end of the yoke barrel. Under those is the rebound slide removal tool then the 6 pin punches listed in the armourers manual, under those are the 2 round centre pin clamps for stripping the cylinder, under those are 4 dummy centre pins to let you check the action of the lockwork before fitting the yoke/cylinder assembly.and then the allan key for the clamps. To the right of the dummy pins and under the pin punches is a locking bolt holder, small brass drift then the barrel/cylinder gap gage followed by the 5 headspace gages for various revolvers current at the time. Back to the top of the tray, to the right of the reamers is a set of 3 yoke barrel liners ( 4 are shown, one was a spare) then the 2 fixtures for peening the yoke button, used in order to get the correct 3 stage opening for the cylinder, Under the liners are 3 pin holders for fitting the small pins in the hammer and trigger, to the right of those is a small reamer for removing burrs in the rear locking bolt hole in the frame. Under that are the hand/cylinder stop window files, to the left is the hand pin holder then the 3 broaches mentioned in the manual, to the right of the window files are a couple of general files the starret file, hickory wedge and 6"india stone, above that are the firing pin protrusion gages. This was the complete kit as I remember it.
I will always be grateful to the instructors who emphasized the importance of having the correct tools for the job, without them the best and worse you could do was to FUBAR it up.
I would love to chat with any old time armourers, comments or corrections would be welcome. Before joining I had not seen this kit for over 20 years, it lived in a case at the back of my storeroom, digging it out and trying to remember what each tool did brought back some good memories
