Beautiful pistol, I am slightly jealous to see your complete set of handcrafted tools still remain inside the box.SAMARKSMAN PTN wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2019 2:11 am Hi VonKasta, I have also been amazed by the fine workmanship of my MU 2-3. The wonderful dry-fire action must have been a very special detail in 1955/6 when these firearms were manufactured. Mine has saved me thousands of Rands (South African Currency) over these years, and then the joy of shooting it live-fire feels so perfect.
When this lovely piece of machinery was given to me, the generous size of the anatomical grip had already been modified in places for a previous owner's large hand but the thumb cavity was still not large enough for mine so I had to modify it more. During the process of giving me this MU 2-3, my friend Bert Seago explained how to set the lever-action of the trigger-guard for the "dry-fire" and the "live-load" but when I went to the range and tried to load my first bullet into the breech the bolt appeared to "catch" on the seer's release plate (that's what I call it). I was immediately extremely careful about inspecting the loading action and I must warn all of those lucky enough to use a MU 2-3, that Forcing the bolt forward off the seer release-plate will, sooner or later, cause catastrophic damage to whatever is the weakest part, so the solution for NOT causing damage to the action is... position the bullet in the loading plate, pushing the bullet forward with your finger as far as it goes, then gently push the release-plate down until you feel the plate "clip" into position. After the plate has clipped down, we can slide the bolt and bullet forwards and lock it into position, ready for final setting of the trigger release which is a downwards push of the lever on the front of the trigger guard.
Regarding the operation of the pistol, I do not have the need to adjust the sear release plate before closing the bolt. I feel the bolt touch it, but it slides along the ramp on the underside of the bolt smoothly as I imagine its designed to do. I cannot see any wear either on the ramp or sear plate. Also, when pushing the plate with my finger it springs back to the same position as it started. May I suggest that you closely inspect bolt and sear plate for wear as I could imagine the ramp wearing grooves along the outer sides of the plate, leaving a notch in the middle to catch the middle part of the bolt ramp.
I will try to take pictures of my bolt and sear plate for comparison when lighting conditions allow it
Edit: I captured a clip of how the bolt interacts with the sear plate on my pistol. As you can see in the clip, the bolt in its rear most position has some play. If I push the front end of the bolt downwards as Im moving it forward, it catches the edge of the sear plate a little.
Making sure the front end of the bolt is pushed upwards while pushing it forward lifts the edge of the ramp over the plate and it smoothly slides past it as I would guess it the correct operation.
https://youtu.be/ZbCM7SWTZbo