Fixing A Brand New Parris Toy Kadet Trainerifle

It was Max’s Birthday yesterday and we bought him a few gifts. He’s at an age where he still enjoys playing with toy guns and is developing an interest in history, so I bought him a Parris Mfg. Kadet Trainerifle. A bolt action is a lot more fun than an automatic anyway. I had a similar rifle with a gold coloured wood bullet (anyone know what brand it was) in the 1970’s as a child, until I left it on top of the family car one afternoon after playing and my dad drove off on an errand…I was a little unhappy when I found out what had happened, but it was my fault entirely.
The Parris Kadet Trainerifle is ugly as sin and poorly made (no surprise considering how inexpensive it is) but he was having a lot of fun with it until the trigger guard came loose this afternoon. So he asked me to fix it. Which I did.

The loose trigger guard. First thing was to remove the cam lock screw that holds the bolt in, thinking that it would allow access to the trigger assembly. I don’t know what or why there is that plastic around the screw head. Made in China (to a price point). Maybe if I remove this I can access the trigger. Nope. So it looks like I need to pry up the two nails. Notice that the mechanism isn’t flush to the stock. I pried up the trigger assembly. Note the use of some cardboard to protect the stock. The clicker mechanism. It is well made, comparatively speaking. Pulling the trigger… Snap!Two crappy ring shank nails with bend heads. The trigger guard was bent back into shape but wouldn’t fit into the slot? It’s wider than the slot, so either the bending die used on the assembly was worn, thus curving the floor and making the slot less wide, or the trigger guard die is worn and the tab is too wide. In any case this is why it came loose, because they twisted it to fit it in. I filed the tab down and now it fits. I massaged the shape a bit. At first I was going to straighten the nails and reuse them. The assembly rocks in the pocket in teh stock. So out came the chisel. I put some ink on the edge of the assembly and pressed it into the stock, it left a black mark where it was contacting the stock, so I knew where to chisel. Now it fits flush. I decided to use some machine screws as wood screws. They may loosen over time but will be better than the nails for now.All done. Back in action.