Attn. Taurus Model 63 owners, Guidance needed

[ThatFishGuy]

Hello there,
so my old model 63 was dug out of storage recently so i wanted to strip it down for a good detail cleaning. it was used a few times by my brother and im sure there was no cleaning after those outings. anyways, i go to break apart the receiver and its stuck. loosened the thumb screw but the thing wont budge. I tried letting CLP soak in for a couple days to loosen it up but no luck. Was yours really tight from the beginning or is mine just gummed up? any ideas?
thanks,
Sam

[ThatFishGuy]

anyone?

[sb_pete]

Not quite clear on what you mean here:
- Will the thumb screw not turn?

- Or do you mean, the thumb screw turns but the upper receiver won't separate from the stock/lower?

- Does your thumb screw also have a large notch so as to be turned by a screwdriver or the like as mine does?

- How long has it been in storage? What were the conditions of that storage? Is rust a possibility?


In any case, don't try to force it. I see you are trying to get an answer and get this done tonight, yes?

[sb_pete]

You may be stuck letting a penetrating oil get in there and loosen stuff up. KROIL from Kano Labs is a good product for that which can usually be found locally without going online (gun shops, automotive, specialty tool places, machine shops, etc.).

I suspect if the gun was put away dirty and stored without any real effort at rust prevention for a long period of time, you're going to have some corrosion issues. Nothing major, but all that carbon inside is going to be seriously hardened on, and the whole thing is going to need a detail strip and full re-oiling and greasing.

Are you familiar with how to do a semi-full (everything but the trigger group) detail strip of the Win/Taurus 63?

[ThatFishGuy]

Thanks for the responses.

i dont need to do it tonight. it would have been nice since im shooting in the morning but its no big deal. sorry if i wasnt clear, the thumb screw loosens fine but the receiver wont separate. I think i am going to give some penetrating oil a try.

i never pulled it apart to detail clean since i never used it. Im sure i could figure it out, im pretty good with those things normally. is there supposed to be very little resistance when pulling apart the receiver?

thanks again for the help

[sb_pete]

Yes, the parts come apart very easily once the thumb screw is all the way loose. That said, if your thumb screw is turning, you might not be as bad off as I initially thought. The screw on mine clicks like a ratchet. I've never taken a very close look at it, but it seems that sometimes it doesn't quite come all the way loose even if it feels like it did. When all the way loose, it will spin freely. Then the two parts should come apart quite easily.

In order for the upper and lower to separate, the bolt needs to be forward and the hammer needs to be down.
So with an empty chamber try:
1. screwing the thumb screw back in.
2. Depress the cocking button.
3. Dry fire.
4. Then unscrew the thumbscrew.

If you hit a snag where thumb pressure isn't enough, but the thumb screw is no longer turning, try using a properly sized (meaning really friggin honkin big) flat head screw driver or the like. Maybe just use a big flathead with something in there like a few layers of paper towel to protect the bluing on the thumb screw.

It should turn without crazy force on a screw driver. If you feel like there is any danger of stripping the threading or camming out the notch, put in some oil, let it sit for an hour, and try 1-4 again.

Once the thumb screw is spinning freely in its mount, the two parts should almost push themselves apart under spring pressure. The upper pulls out and slightly up from the lower.

Detail stripping is kind of a PITA. I don't remember the step by step off hand, but the key is removing those two little flatheads on the foreend band and removing it and the foreend. Then removing the cocking button (something in that whole assembly unscrews). Once all the springs and parts of the cocking button and foreend are disassembled, the bolt assembly will come out.

This will allow you to clean the bbl from the breech end and scrub down and re-oil and grease all the internals. Careful with heavy solvents like brake cleaner around the wood, but something like brake cleaner or gun scrubber works well for me in the trigger assembly. Just make sure to mask off that nice wood.

Anyways, hope that helps and good luck
-Pete

[ThatFishGuy]

Thats some great info. I can loosen the thumbscrew to the point where it almost wobbles in the socket if that makes sense. i guess i really do need some penetrating oil because i've pull like all he** but it wont separate. In fact i think the gun is sitting right now with the thumb screw backed out all the way still. I'll pick some oil up today and see how that goes. Hopefully the internals are in repairable shape. thanks again!
-Sam

[ThatFishGuy]

hmm... tried penetrating oil but its doesnt seem to be working. just applied some more and letting it soak over night. we'll see how it goes in the morn.

[ThatFishGuy]

alright after days of penetrating oil ding its work the gun finally came apart. Though i did have to pry it apart,a nd of course in doing so i scratched the receiver...GGRRRRRRR. anyways, i cleaned it up and of course it was pretty gummed up. got it all assembled again and test functioned it; seems to work fine except the safety wont engage now whether its cocked or not. its stuck on "fire". was there some special way to re-assemble it? i cant see anything that would hinder its functioning. thanks for the help again!
-Sam