JC Higgins Model 30 and 33

The JC Higgins pump action Model 33 was the first .22 I ever bought, and it remains my favorite small borer shooter. When it comes to good shooting the question lies with how well do you know your gun. I have shot several guns that are supposedly more accurate than my Model 33, but I have consistently shot with my Model 33 for years and I can shoot more accurately with it than any other.
I bought the JC Higgins semi auto Model 30, because I liked the Model 33 so well, they both have the same length barrel (24") the same basic action, the only difference being that the model has a blowback system rather than a pump action. The Model 30 has several features that are not found on any other .22, for instance the shoulder strap that retracts into the stock, using a spring to coil it neatly into the butt. And the cocking lever is on the left side, while the action is on the right, I personally love this feature, it enables me to hold the gun in a good position to fire while cocking the gun.
I bought the model 30 on Gunbroker.com, and got an extremely good deal, what the seller never mentioned was a huge problem with the trigger pull, it took about 15 lbs of pressure on the trigger to get it to go off, and the weird part was I had to pull the trigger to the right to get it to go off at all. That obviously did not sit well with me. but since I got a good deal on it I didn't give up and return it. I took apart the trigger mechanism and analyzed the problem and found that a little lever on the piece that held the hammer back was bent a little from gradual wear. While trying to bend it back I snapped the little lever off! Well this had me down for a few days, I felt like I couldn't send the gun back now for sure. But while looking at the broken piece that was left I figured it couldn't hurt the try to fix it. So I got out my dremel tool and created a new lever by cutting off the projecting pin hinge (upper right piece in the photo), using a metal grinder until it was flush with the projecting metal. Then I used the dremel tool to cut into the metal, starting at the base of the pin hinge and cut up to 1/8 in" away from the end where the piece had broken off. Basically I recreated the piece only it was slightly smaller in width. From there I just needed to custom tool the piece that tripped the lever so it would fit my lever. The result was much better than I expected! the trigger pull is down to about 4 lbs pull, and I am able to adjust that easily to whatever I want it, I like 4 lbs though. Being able to do this has been a huge confidence boost for me, and although it did not start out a good buying experience, I learned a lot and I am very happy.