Mossberg Brownie / EIG E16 hybrid pocket gun project

[xtriggerman]

I thought some folks would get a kick out seeing an old parts gun become a viable pocket derringer. The Brownie was missing the lock, grip panel and ejecting pin so it was game for a serious upgrade. I found an EIG E16 barrel assembly at a local toy show for 20 bucks. The EIG is an Italian clone of the Brownie that was made for a short time in the 80's. The EIG has a physical extractor rather than the loose pin the Brownie stores in a hole at the top of the frame. Anyway, The Brownie is a very weak design with very thin diameter lock pivot pin and frame/barrel joint pin.
 
The EIG is built for only standard vel 22LR ammo and that is pushing it! My new lock design would incorporate a third lock lug that seats behind the frame recoil face. This locks the barrel with the frame directly taking most all of the recoil forces off the lock pivot pin. I start out with a piece of 4140 steel and a plan.
 



Here is a comparison of the new lock to the original EIG lock. I use a spring and plunger to power the lock rather tham a leaf of the Brownie that was missing also.

Here a nice tight fit.

An issue that both the Brownie and EIG had was that once the gun is loaded & locked up, the firing pin is constantly pressing against one of the cartridge rims with the striker spring. I was not going to pocket a gun like that so I designed a firing pin blocking button. To activate the block, you simply depress the trigger about an eight of an inch and press in the frame mounted button and then let up on the trigger. This holds the firing pin off the rims until you want to fire, you just squeeze the trigger as you normaly would and the button pops out via its own spring as the trigger moves rear ward. here is the new milled slot.

I also added a side mounted spring and ball detent in the rear of the lock to help keep the lock in the locked up position as seen here....

some test firing

  The Brownie has a poor grip design that normally ends up with the grip panels breaking away from the top frame plate that ultimately makes the owner over tighten the grip screw, cracking the wood around the screw escutcheon. So I milled the top side plates with a inverted radius. I used an old pair of Luger grip panels for wood donors.
 
  Safety button on

Safety button off





Hiding under a FN HP forgery

 To harden a simple 4140 part like this lock I set up a MAP gas can burning and heat the lock red until a magnet will not stick to the part then quench in ATF. This makes the lock much harder than in the raw but yet not brittle. 4140 is great stuff!  Hope you enjoyed this project! I sure did.

[gjohnsoniv]

That's really cool.  Makes me want to go cruise the pawn shops and try and find some guns to salvage.