GP6/K100 disassembly/reassembly (ext. mag release)

[cpa5oh]

Anyone know if there's a resource for disassembly/reassembly of the GP6/K100? I'm trying to install an extended mag release and I'm having trouble getting it back together...specifically, I can't get the mag catch and mag catch spring to get all the way down into the spot it needs to get in order to run the magazine catch pin through it. It's real tight in there and I can get it into place - I just can't get it all the way where it needs to get. I'm figuring that if I know how to completely disassemble the pistol I might be able to make more room...or maybe take out the guts, get the mag catch down in there with a slave pin, and put the guts back in - I don't know.

I searched the internet and came up with nothing...

[Canuck223]

The mag catch and spring are held in place by the pin you see above the mag catch. Unless either are broken, leave that pin alone.

To replace the mag button with the larger button model, the simple way is to just press the original mag button in, and then just a little past flush. You can then use the big button mag release to press the old one out.

If you are frustrated, just field strip the gun, and put the new mag release into the correct side of the support tube. With a flat screwdriver coming from the top of the mag well, you should be able to pull the tip of the mag catch backwards enough to press the button through.

[Canuck223]

If you have already taken that pin out, yes, your best bet is to pull the trigger guard and replace it correctly.

There is a simple tool to remove and re-install the metal tube that houses the mag catch. It protects the frame from damage and protects the tube from being distorted.

I can loan you one.

You also need a 2mm or equivalent punch to take out the mag catch pin.

To re-install, you insert the mag catch and it's spring into the trigger guard and hold them in place with a short assembly pin like you suggested.

The trigger guard is inserted back into the frame, and the tube is re inserted using the tool.

The mag catch pin is re-installed, pushing the assembly pin with it.

Then the mag catch is held out with a flat screwdriver blade and the mag button in installed.

I have a video but it's too large a file to load into my photobucket account. Start to finish it's a 4 minute job.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Canuck223

[cpa5oh]

Yeah I ended up removing the mag catch pin...kinda screwed. I tried for two hours to get the spring and catch back in before giving up. If that tool is available anywhere I'm happy to buy one...if not, I would appreciate a loaner! (I assume there's no way to get the guts out without it, and it's pretty near impossible to get the mag catch and spring back in with the guts still all in the frame?)

[Canuck223]

I'm sure someone far more clever than myself can figure out how to get them in without removing the trigger guard in the process.

E-mail inbound.

[cpa5oh]

4 hours later, I got the gun together with the extended mag release in it. I'm gonna try to post some notes here (and I'm going to use the part names that are given in the exploded diagram that is included in the owners' manual)...it's probably not gonna mean much to anyone unless they're in the process of pulling the guts of the gun apart, but I figured I'd post it since I found nothing on even removing safeties in searching the web...at minimum it'll be available for me if I ever have to pull this gun apart again :-)

Obviously, the slide has to be taken off of the gun in order to do anything I describe below...goes without saying, and there are plenty of youtube videos explaining this process (including one from STI.)

First off, if you just want to remove the stock mag release and install the extended mag release, all you'd need to do is push the top of the mag catch in as far as it would go, and since the mag patch is held in place by a pin that runs through it's center, pushing in on the top causes the bottom to move outward (like a teeter-totter.) If you can push the top of the mag catch in far enough, the old mag release should just slide right out (because it's no longer being retained by the bottom of the mag catch.) Similarly, you should be able to just slide the new mag catch into place with the top of the mag catch pushed in far enough.

If you can't get the top of the mag catch in enough to have the bottom clear the mag release, if you take out the "insert" (that's exactly what it's called in the diagram) and trigger/trigger bar assembly, you end up with a whole lot more room to work to push the top of that mag catch in.

Of course, I didn't know the above so I removed the pin that is above the mag release. That's where my difficulty came in...the mag catch sits in a spring (called the "mag catch spring") and you have to have them both in perfect position in order to get the pin through the spring and hole in the mag catch. I think it would've been impossible to do this without taking out the "insert" and the trigger bar/trigger assembly. With those two pieces out of the gun, it was much easier to get those pieces re-installed (again, much more room to work...I fought with it for a few hours before I decided to take those two pieces out and address the mag catch/spring without them.) Once the insert and trigger/trigger bar were out of the gun, I worked the spring into place and ran a small allen wrench through it (to make sure the holes in it were lined up with the holes in the frame for the mag catch pin.) Then I gently pulled the allen wrench out - the spring stayed in place because there was sideways pressure on it. I then worked the mag catch into position, again using the little allen wrench to line up the holes (at which point the holes on the spring and mag catch were lined up.) I made sure, in this last step, that the allen wrench was inserted from the left side of the gun - reason being, the real mag catch pin has to go in from the right. I slide the mag catch pin in through the frame and simultaneously pulled the allen wrench out. Because the allen wrench wasn't a perfect fit for the frame and mag catch holes (it was significantly smaller,) I still had to work the mag catch in and out as I tapped on the end of the mag catch pin - took some doing, and I got real frustrated with the process, but eventually all of the holes lined up perfectly and the last tap sent it completely into place.

As I said, everything is easier with the "insert" and trigger/trigger bar taken out of the gun. To get that stuff out of the gun, first thing that needs to go are the safeties. I pulled the hammer back, put the safeties in the "on" position, then used a very small screw driver to get behind each safety and pryed them out - they popped right off. The safeties plug into a safety pin that runs through the "insert" - I just tapped it out with a punch. Next, the slide stop assembly is held in place by a pin toward the front of the gun - I tapped that out from the right side of the gun. That pin runs through the guide rod, so the guide rod falls out. The "insert" can then pretty easily be pried up out of the frame with a screw driver. There is a plunger spring up inside the bottom of the "insert," so I had to be careful not to have it pop out and be lost forever - I just pulled it out and set it aside for until re-assembly, this way I had control of it. Next, I punched out the pin that holds the trigger in place (from the right side.) When you remove that pin, the trigger spring is no longer retained in the gun - mine fell out and I almost lost it, so I'd be more careful with that next time. Once that pin is out, the trigger and trigger bar slides right up out of the gun. So I ended up with the "insert" assembly and trigger/trigger bar assembly out of the gun. I did not try to take either apart - I didn't need to for my purposes. I don't see any reason why the trigger/trigger bar assembly would ever need taken apart, but the "insert" holds the sear and ejector...

To get everything back in the gun (after the mag catch/release was dealt with as described above,) I had to deal with the trigger/trigger bar first. I think it would be near impossible to put the trigger spring in place with the trigger bar in the gun, so I made a slave pin out of a small punch to set the spring in place before putting the assembly in the gun. I screwed up the first time the the position of the spring - the part of the spring that points to the rear of the gun has to be UNDER the pins in the trigger bar. Took some doing to get the spring in that proper position and get the slave pin in, but it went together. I then put the trigger bar/trigger down into the gun. Next, I put the side release into place (takes 2 seconds.) And then I put the "insert" into the gun, which was a little tricky. I think the hammer needs to be decocked, which you can do while you're holding the "insert" assembly in your hand, in order to get the "insert" into the frame in the proper position...I fooled with it for about 15 minutes before I decocked the hammer and it went right into place after that (had to push down on it on the front and the rear and it sort of snapped into place.) At that point I put the trigger pin in (from the left,) put the slide stop pin in (from the left...and the pin goes through the guide rod, so the guide rod gets installed in this step.) Next step was the safeties - safety pin had to go in first with the flat side facing the rear...and the hammer had to be cocked in order for it to go into place (took me a while to figure that out.) From there, the plastic safety levers snap onto the ends of the safety pin.

Obviously, slide goes back on and trigger guard gets re-positioned and then I was ready to roll - trigger functions, safeties function, slide cycles. I haven't fired the gun, but if I don't follow this post up assume that it fired perfectly. Had I waited until tomorrow (when I can fire the gun) I'd have forgotten some of the disassembly/reassembly steps, so I typed this up before getting a chance to know for sure that what I did worked.

There may be a minor step or two that I left out (for example, there are two little red plastic pieces that hold a little metal ball that allows the safeties to snap into place)...if I missed anything, it should be minor.

This was a long-ass post and I doubt you get anything out of it unless you're actually into the guts of the gun. I posted it because I found literally nothing on even how to remove the safeties in searching the web...so I figured I'd type this up in case anyone needs the gun apart and feels like I did (no idea what to do and constantly getting tripped up by little details,) plus it'll now be available for me to go back and read for when/if this ever needs to be done again.

I think the bottom of the mag catch (which is the part that actually catches the mag in that square in the middle of the front of the mag) would be clear of the mag release enough to slide the old one out and the new one in.

there's a pin above the mag release - I don't think that needed to be/should have been removed in order to get the old mag release out/new mag release in. If you were able to

If you weren't able to push the top of the mag catch all the way in, you could take the "insert" (that's what it's called in the exploded diagram from the manual) out, then take out the trigger/trigger bar assembly, then you'd have ALOT more room to depress the top of that mag catch (to get the bottom of the mag catch to clear the trigger tube.

[Canuck223]

Some advice in no particular order.

1) Unless there is something broken, leave the trigger and trigger bow in the frame. When the insert is out, you can pop out the safety detents and pivot the trigger bow up to clean it and the inside of the frame.

2) Unless there is something broken, leave the pin above the mag button alone. Same goes for the tube that the mag button sits in.

3) The mag buttons don't break, and you can press the stock model out with the new big button version.

4) Take the slide stop pin and the rear frame pin out before trying to remove the safety levers. Pull the insert up just a little while the hammer is back, and rotate the right side lever with your finger nails( only) prying it out to the side. If you are using a screwdriver from the inside, you are likely using too much force.

5) Decock the hammer before putting the insert back in the frame. This makes it easier as the trigger bar now isn't liable to be blocking the path.

[cpa5oh]

Great stuff Canuck!