Trego's Mountain Ear

2Sam asked for my HK-4. It’s been the small pistol that slides onto my belt, never gets in the way, and always functions. And I realized as I removed the 22 barrel, put in the 32 ACP barrel, and moved the firing pin to centerfire – I have to explain the quirks. Knowing the pistol’s weakness, and keeping an eye on the recoil buffer, has made it my ultra-reliable light belt gun for the last 40 years – but I can’t just pass on the gun and share the memories – I have to pass on the skills of maintaining the HK-4. Fortunately, Youtube has videos of changing calibers – and mine has only 2, 22LR and 32ACP. No problem there. The challenge is finding new recoil buffers – less than 52,000 HK-4 pistols were made, and the last one went out of the factory in 1984.

Fortunately, the fourth caliber was 380. I’ve never had a 380 barrel, and that’s a good thing. The buffer functions well in 32 – but the increased recoil of the 380 tears it up. That means that several 380 users have began using laser cutters to build replacement buffers. So long as replacement buffers are available, I think the pistol will be functioning well when it turns 100 fifty years from now.

I’m wondering if I should order one now, and tape it to one of the original boxes? The boxes tell me that the pistol was originally issued to a West German Border Troll, named Lamke, back in 1973. It’s been an American civilian piece a lot longer than it was German.

The Ruger, made in 1958, is even older. While it is still being made, it’s now in the 4th variant, while mine is so old the grip frame doesn’t have an identifying number. The biggest problem in it’s future is that the magazines are old and the new ones don’t fit. Fortunately, there are articles on how to modify new magazines to fit. A few years ago, a new hammer strut support was developed that retrofits to the old pistol. While I haven’t needed one, adding one to it now will probably make the pistol easier to clean and reassemble for someone in the future. They’ve been good to me, and it’s time for me to make sure the unseen maintenance continues.