By Jim
I recently had a Remington model 8 in the shop in need of some repairs. It had a broken firing pin, but I noticed some other parts were missing. The bolt latch, bolt latch spring, and the bolt latch spring stud were missing.
Circled here in red shows where the stud was permanently staked in as part of the receiver.
Using a pointed punch, I was about to knock the broken piece out and get a clean hole to take measurements. I went to the lathe to turn a new stud out of some metal remnants I had on hand.
Turning such a tiny part on the larger lathe is not easy, but I got a shouldered pin made. My older eyes are not what they once were.
I cut the diameter of the pin that goes into the receiver as an interference fit, and tapped it into place with a hammer and a bar held offset from the head of the pin. The shoulder itself is where the pin stops on the inside of the receiver wall.
Using the width of the bolt latch spring as a measurement, I marked and trimmed the length of the pin once it was pressed into place.
Unfortunately the new head of the pin was sticking out a few thousandths out of the receiver. So I taped it up and using a fine file, I was able to bring it nearly flush with the rest of the receiver. This prevents the file teeth from gouging the finish.
A touch of cold blue helps hide the pin head. It's not quite as flush as the factory original, but it'll get the job done.
The internal parts are back in place along with a replacement bolt latch, bolt latch spring, and a new made stud to hold everything together.
Now it's time to reassemble the rest of the rifle, and give it a test fire. It may not look factory original, but seeing how these firearms haven't been made since the 1930's when they were superseded by the model 81, I'd say at least it will once again be in a satisfactory condition to hunt with again.
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