Some of you may know that I picked up a VERY rough Belgian Challenger that was caught-up in a house fire. Upon careful consideration, I think I can bring this otherwise dead gun back to life. The fire did not loosen the silver soldered front sight ramp, and there was more surface charring and pitting than any real damage "inside", as best as I can determine. I have an engineering background and am well connected in the industry, so I may have the major pieces hardness tested before the first-firing. Or...will simply clamp the gun to a rest and "string-fire" the gun from a sheltered position. We shall see.
All springs were questionable which will require all new springs. There were more issues too....
- missing slide hold-open lever.
- no grips
- safety lever thumb piece missing plastic coating/covering.
- rear sight bent (left side of lateral "tube" affecting the "U" sight picture).
- charring/scaling to be removed, etc, as well as some pitting.
I was doing this project as a learning hobby with the upside potential to get a nice gun on the cheap, if this all turns out successful.
With this posting, I will show the gun "As purchased". I hope to add more pics as time goes on, as we make some progress on this starting point. This will take some time as my good camera crapped out and this too will take time to correct. Here are some pics--->
Full right side view--->
Full left side view--->
Right side close up (showing pits, etc)----->
Left side close up------>
Front view/barrel, showing scaling and ugliness---->
Rear sight, notice left side notch bent down--->
Breech area/misc--->
Rightside frame / closeup---->
Leftside frame / closeup and trigger area--->
Yep....she's a beaut ! There is lots to do, and I have come a long way since the time of these original pictures, as purchased. More to come later when there is better progress and I can access a good digital camera again...
.
All springs were questionable which will require all new springs. There were more issues too....
- missing slide hold-open lever.
- no grips
- safety lever thumb piece missing plastic coating/covering.
- rear sight bent (left side of lateral "tube" affecting the "U" sight picture).
- charring/scaling to be removed, etc, as well as some pitting.
I was doing this project as a learning hobby with the upside potential to get a nice gun on the cheap, if this all turns out successful.
With this posting, I will show the gun "As purchased". I hope to add more pics as time goes on, as we make some progress on this starting point. This will take some time as my good camera crapped out and this too will take time to correct. Here are some pics--->
Full right side view--->
Full left side view--->
Right side close up (showing pits, etc)----->
Left side close up------>
Front view/barrel, showing scaling and ugliness---->
Rear sight, notice left side notch bent down--->
Breech area/misc--->
Rightside frame / closeup---->
Leftside frame / closeup and trigger area--->
Yep....she's a beaut ! There is lots to do, and I have come a long way since the time of these original pictures, as purchased. More to come later when there is better progress and I can access a good digital camera again...
.