Good German Design

The firing pin is adjustable for protrusion and the headspace/lockup is too.

I got it out to shoot (no issues this past hunting season) and it was sticking shut on factory and reloads and really dragging the pin on the case head.

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Test fire and no more sticking. And I have a call in to Styer to round up a new locking bolt as this one has slight erosion around the pin hole, probably symptomatic of many shots with an out of spec pin.

Right as rain now. Looking forward to many more years of deer hunting.

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Getting close to a new locking block. Steyr no longer receives any parts from Merkel......they did check stocks but nothing available from them. Seems odd as I believe they still own Merkel but who knows what the working relationship is between owner and owned. I think Steyr is also out of the Merkel Repair business, they used to offer a $149 refresh but, impression seems to be that ain't no more.

In any event, I contacted T&G Gun Imports in Alabama and they indicate they do have it. So, now going thru the contact wickets to see if /when I can get one sent in. Not sure if the part is in the USA or still in Germany.....hopefully on shore though.
 
So far successful. The part is invoiced and paid for. Seemingly expensive and long delays but to get a part from overseas you can frustrate yourself applying to the ATF for permission to import a component or make a call to an established importer. With luck, in a month or so, I'll have the new block, bush the old one for a spare and be writing gushing positive reviews of T&G Gun Imports.
 
I am currently working with the importer to see if we can bring in a Merkel SR1 223 or their subsidiary, Haenel, SLB2000. Am also in the process of looking for a merkel SxS in 12 or 20g. Life is too short to be wedded long to CZ/Ruger American Ranch and any AR! I saves my monies and then I spends it!
 
My Merkel K3, Cal 30-06, has over the years, accounted for numerous Deer (Standing/Walking and Running and I've found nothing that points/swings more naturally for running game), wild Boar and Bobcat. I can't be sure of the number of rounds fired, certainty, it would approach 1000 rounds of factory and hand loaded 30-06. I use this gun, its my first and preferred shooting tool. Through the many hunts its been locked with mud (disassembled, washed out in the sink, oiled, reassembled and shot 2 deer that afternoon.), rear sight broken off in a fall in the mountains and the rear sling swivel torn from the stock in another long ago fight with gravity. Lizzy is my Gal, she never fails to amaze and if not for me, she'd probably never miss either!
 
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Dropped the original locking block assembly with Mr Alt. Alternate Arms. Mount Gilead, NC. (He's one of the top fellas at Montgomery County College Gunsmithing).

He'll have a go at bushing the block so primers don't crater. Not sure yet if it'll be a screw or plate bushing. Dimensions and contours will dictate. But, I do know that block is steel harder than a Southern Baptist Sermon, so I leave the finesse with carbide tooling to his capable hands.

If all goes well, I'll stow the repaired block in the buttstock way as a full back up as it also carries all the attendant parts like firing pin, springs, adjusting sleeves. Etc. In the unlikely event I ever need another block, it'll be right under the buttplate.
 
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