H&R 939 revolver

DLS · Dec 20, 2020

Looking good to me too! Keep posting your results please.

Lesliet · Dec 21, 2020

Currently waiting on a batch of parts from Numrich. The ball/spring/detent idea that works on a Smith does not work on the H&R, the crane is very narrow at the top end, and drilling for the ball ends up either being close enough to the surface to cause visible marring of the part, or impinging on the tube for the cylinder release/ejector. I think ultimately the fix for the looseness there is going to be machining an oversized crane and carefully fitting it to the gun, but shorter term it may be possible to add a set screw to a stock one to take up an adjustable amount of space fore and aft. ( I am raising funding for a nice cnc mill, but that's not going to happen instantly)
The other issue noted, is that it is difficult to stake the ball correctly, in between the constraints of " too loose, staked ring breaks after 3 cylinders" and " too tight, ball cannot protrude far enough to engage detent." That all being said, it capped off every round, til the ball flew out into the tuley-dingles.

Lesliet · Dec 26, 2020

Got my bag o parts in, and swapped out the crane. Suddenly, the cylinder has a minimum of play, and seems much more "Right". Too bad the only crane I could find was nickel plated... going to need to reblue the whole gun, anyway, once I'm done smoothing down sharp edges. Hopefully I can get out to the range tomorrow and try it out. So, other parts I got were a couple of different triggers to play with, one of which turns out to have vertical serrations on the trigger face. Got a second trigger guard, so I can smooth on it, without feeling like I'm risking ruining anything important. Got another cylinder bolt, too, and some spare grip screws.
Thinking I want to get a bucket of the nitre bluing salts from Brownell's, which I can heat in my old Lee lead pot, at least for the small parts. Hot salts bluing in solution is going to take a bit more setup, and its own building... I'm eyeballing the old chicken coop, which has a great roof and could be set up with proper ventilation....we have a bit of a fox problem, here, so not planning to keep chickens again.

Lesliet · Dec 27, 2020

Beautiful day at the range! Sun was out, temps coming up... tested out the 939 a little, but still not quite there, yet. Some of the primer strikes are solid, some not so much. Measured cylinder to barrel gap and cylinder shake, gap is .010", shake is .008". With the chamber end of the cylinder recessed as it is for the heads of the cartridges, it looks like it needs to be back a wee bit further, ie, reduce the shake to about .004-.005 and it would likely be good. Unfortunately, my S&W cylinder shims don't quite fit. Looks like this one is designed to have a boss on the front of the cylinder set how far back the cylinder is held, rather than like an S&W, where the shim goes inside the cylinder's bore for the crane. Still working out how I want to address this.

Edit: found .005" shims with .25" id/.366" od on Amazon that should work.

Lesliet · Feb 8, 2021

Got the new CNC mill set up and running, now. Kind of took a break from the 939 project, figuring I'd do a bit of milling on one of the extra hammers I have for it, once I get a few more simple projects done to gain confidence and skill on the new machine. This thing seems really sweet, so far!

The pic is my first test part, done in scrap wood to make sure if I crashed it, it would be a relatively soft landing.

Biblethumpncop · May 10, 2022

I know this post is over a year old, but I just got a NEF R92 so in my research for NEF and H&R, I found this awesome thread. Have you done anything further on the 22lr? I made a set of cocobolo grips for my R92, but would have loved to have the ability to make them larger/longer like you did. The ball crane idea was something I was thinking of as well, but it appears you nixed it. Did you ever go back to the drawing boards?

Lesliet · May 10, 2022

This one's been backburnered for a while. Need to set it up with a stiffer mainspring, and/or make the firing pin part of the hammer longer, I just haven't been able to get reliable ignition even with the cylinder set up nice and solid. I haven't given up, but I've been busy with my competition revolver. ( 929 S&W) The double action is pretty heavy even with the current mainspring, and the insides are a pita to pull out, work on, and then reinstall since you're working through a little slot in the frame. Was thinking I'd make a jig that lets me set the action up outside of the frame, so I can see what is going on.

Your grips look very nicely done!

Biblethumpncop · May 10, 2022

Lesliet said:
This one's been backburnered for a while. Need to set it up with a stiffer mainspring, and/or make the firing pin part of the hammer longer, I just haven't been able to get reliable ignition even with the cylinder set up nice and solid. I haven't given up, but I've been busy with my competition revolver. ( 929 S&W) The double action is pretty heavy even with the current mainspring, and the insides are a pita to pull out, work on, and then reinstall since you're working through a little slot in the frame. Was thinking I'd make a jig that lets me set the action up outside of the frame, so I can see what is going on.

Your grips look very nicely done!

Thanks for the information and the compliment!

DeanMk · May 10, 2022

Biblethumpncop said:
I know this post is over a year old, but I just got a NEF R92 so in my research for NEF and H&R, I found this awesome thread. Have you done anything further on the 22lr? I made a set of cocobolo grips for my R92, but would have loved to have the ability to make them larger/longer like you did. The ball crane idea was something I was thinking of as well, but it appears you nixed it. Did you ever go back to the drawing boards?

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Nice gun Biblethumpncop and you did an excellent job on those beautiful grips.
I like that your R92 Ultra features fully adjustable sights.
I bet that's a real sweet shooter.

Biblethumpncop · May 10, 2022

DeanMk said:
Nice gun Biblethumpncop and you did an excellent job on those beautiful grips.
I like that your R92 Ultra features fully adjustable sights.
I bet that's a real sweet shooter.

Thanks! The sights are nice. The ergonomics of the gun are barrel/nose heavy. The trigger is heavy, but the gun is 100% reliable so far. I will try a different spring but don't want to compromise reliability.

Knobgoblin · May 10, 2022

Biblethumpncop said:
Thanks! The sights are nice. The ergonomics of the gun are barrel/nose heavy. The trigger is heavy, but the gun is 100% reliable so far. I will try a different spring but don't want to compromise reliability.

Smooth but heavy double action trigger is preferable to light strikes. Rimfire revolvers get better with use. I love those grips too. Makes me want to go dig my old 9 shooter out for tomorrow.

DeanMk · May 10, 2022

...now searching the classifieds for an R92 Ultra....

Biblethumpncop · May 10, 2022

Knobgoblin said:
Smooth but heavy double action trigger is preferable to light strikes. Rimfire revolvers get better with use. I love those grips too. Makes me want to go dig my old 9 shooter out for tomorrow.

I tried a lighter spring this afternoon with spacers, but got about 30-40% misfires. I'll swap back in the original spring, and should start my own thread since this one high jacked the OP thread. Sorry!

Lesliet · May 11, 2022

Biblethumpncop said:
I tried a lighter spring this afternoon with spacers, but got about 30-40% misfires. I'll swap back in the original spring, and should start my own thread since this one high jacked the OP thread. Sorry!

No worries, it's all good convo