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Several weeks back I reported I had bought an Air Lite J-Frame from a cop friend of my son and I had initially cleaned out the innards with spray Brake Cleaner and lubed to correct a slow resetting trigger. Well I thought I had it corrected, but a little over 2 weeks back I was watching TV, bored and decided to pull it out from my pocket (in a sleeve), unloaded it and did some dry firing at the TV, very relaxing…until it wasn’t. All was good until I’d try some rapid fire drills and dang it, the trigger would not reset without help, not something I want to happen in a shooting situation. So, I put it into an automatic transmission fluid soak, interrupting the soak one week ago to cycle it several times, then back into the soak. This morning I pulled it out to ‘drip dry’ and then sprayed and flushed it with denatured alcohol, along with a good oiling in the moving parts area and I CANNOT do anything to repeat a slow trigger reset, so I think I got the crud out once and for all.
This gun was carried but not fired for several years and then it sat idle for even more years and I suspect it suffered from a lack of cycling and cleaning. It might have also been sprayed with WD-40, but I need to talk to him to find out about that possibility, there are still folks out there that have been told that it’s a good gun cleaner and preservative and it’s not. Again, until I talk to him, I’m only guessing, but the bottom line is I now have another pocket carry back in the rotation! If time is not an issue, the ATF bath method is a good alternative to pulling a side plate, especially if you’re not completely comfortable with the process.
This gun was carried but not fired for several years and then it sat idle for even more years and I suspect it suffered from a lack of cycling and cleaning. It might have also been sprayed with WD-40, but I need to talk to him to find out about that possibility, there are still folks out there that have been told that it’s a good gun cleaner and preservative and it’s not. Again, until I talk to him, I’m only guessing, but the bottom line is I now have another pocket carry back in the rotation! If time is not an issue, the ATF bath method is a good alternative to pulling a side plate, especially if you’re not completely comfortable with the process.