My Luggy Day

Having nothing further to do in avoidance of this moment, I decided to dress the lower barrel lugs. This operation was not to reshape them, but just to clean up some of the casting marks I had noticed earlier. I used a piece of 800 grit sandpaper wrapped around one of my small files to lightly sand down the high edges, after which I cold-blued the exposed metal. I neglected to take photos of the process, but you're not missing much, just some shiny spots on the lower lugs, which the cold-bluing erased.

Next up: the link pin. Previously, I had bought a selection of link pins at a gun show in the hopes of finding one with a diameter that at least pretended to fit through the appropriate holes in the barrel's bottom lug. Link pins are not supposed to just drop through the lower lug's holes, but the one that came with the parts kit wouldn't even start.

Fortunately, one of the link pins I acquired was narrow enough to permit wedging it into the hole, although more force would be required. This time, force was not provided courtesy of a hammer (darn it!), but by a vice. I used rubber bands to hold the link in place on the barrel, then padded my vice with a convenient shop towel, placed the lower lug into the jaws, and started gingerly turning the screws.

If you've ever seen that staple scene in submarine movies where the sub dives far beyond its rated capability and the hull makes ominous creaking and groaning noises while the submariners look about with expressions of apprehension, then you'll be familiar with the sort of noises a link pin makes when it is forced into position by a vice. I'm sure my expression was also true to canon. Fortunately, no depth charges were forthcoming and the link pin fitted into place without incident.

Missing link not found in this image.

The only fly in the ointment was the fact that the link pin would not rotate to full link-down position until I filed off a small burr between the two lugs. After that was fixed, the link appeared to work as designed.

With the barrel's lugs dressed and the link pin inserted, I could make no further progress on the gun until the slide arrived.