MG2-E disassembly.

[Ricardo]

I'm going for the first cleaning of my Matchguns MG2 Evo. I see that this model lacks the screws on the top that are shown on YT to remove the slide cover. This model also has two pins on the side that are absent in the older version. Just checking if these are the pins I need to remove. One is forward of the hammer spring pin and the other is where the slide cover meets the frame, near the very back. Thanks!

[jscot111]

Here are the instructions for taking a MG2 EVO apart. They do not appear in the instruction manual. Scroll down for English.
Basically you remove the grip and the bolt under the muzzle.
Hope this helps
Scott



SMONTAGGIO MG2 EVO
1. Inserire la sicura con cane armato.
2. Svitare la vite 2099 e togliere l’impugnatura.
3. Svitare la vite 2001 e togliere canna e contrappeso. Per facilitare l’estrazione della canna, arretrare il carrello e rilasciarlo di colpo.
4. Tirare il grilletto per assicurarsi che lo scatto non sia armato quindi spingere il copricarrello in avanti (2 – 3 mm circa) , sollevare la parte posteriore e a seguire la parte anteriore.
5. Arretrare leggermente il carrello e rilasciarlo in modo da consentire l’uscita delle aste guidamolla, dopo averle estratte il carrello sarà libero.
MONTAGGIO MG2 EVO
1. Rimontare carrello con guidamolla e molle.
2. Posizionare il copricarrello facendo attenzione che la leva 2059 sia correttamente posizionata come da figura, spingere in avanti il coperchio quindi tirarlo indietro fino a metterlo in posizione.
3. Rimontare la canna ed il contrappeso e avvitare la vite 2001
4. Rimontare l’impugnatura con la vite 2099.
DEMONTAGE MG2 EVO
1. Insérez le pivot du cran de sureté.
2. Dévissez la vis 2099 et retirez la poignée.
3. Dévissez la vis 2001 et retirez le canon et le contrepoids. Pour faciliter l'extraction du canon, déplacez la glissiere vers l'arrière et relâchez-la brusquement.
4. Appuyez sur la gâchette pour vous assurer qu'elle n'est pas armée, puis poussez le couvre-glissiere vers l'avant (environ 2 à 3 mm) et soulevez-le.
5. Reculez légèrement la glissiere et relâchez-la de manière à laisser sortir les tiges de guidage des ressorts. Après avoir retiré le chariot, il sera libre.
MONTAGE MG2 EVO
1. Remontez la glissiere avec les guides de ressort et les ressorts.
2. Positionnez le couvre-glissiere en vous assurant que le levier 2059 est correctement positionné, comme indiqué sur la figure, poussez le vers l'avant, puis tirez-le vers l'arrière jusqu'à ce qu'il soit en position.
3. Remplacez le canon et le contrepoids et serrez la vis 2001.
4. Remplacez la poignée par la vis 2099.
DISMANTLING MG2 EVO
1. Put the safety on with the hammer engaged.
2. Unscrew the screw 2099 and remove the grip.
3. Unscrew the screw 2001 and remove the barrel and counterweight. To facilitate the extraction of the barrel, move the slide back and release it suddenly.
4. Pull the trigger to make sure that the trigger is not engaged , push the slidecover forward (about 2 - 3 mm) and lift it up.
5. Move the slide back slightly and release it so as to allow the spring guide rods to come out, after having removed the slide will be free.
ASSEMBLING MG2 EVO
1. Assemble the slide with spring guide rods and springs.
2. Position the slidecover, making sure that the lever 2059 is correctly positioned as shown in the figure, push the cover forward and then pull it back until it is in position.
3. Assemble the barrel and counterweight and tighten the screw 2001
4. Assemble the grip with screw 2099.

[spektr]

When you take it apart,place the gun inside a 2 Gallon clear ziplock bag.
Its so much easier to find things when little spring loaded parts try to fly away

[Gwhite]

You do NOT remove the two pins! They slide into grooves in the frame to lock things together.

You should have the pistol in dry fire mode, and have fired it so the trigger mechanism isn't cocked.

Just unscrew the front bolt and then slide the barrel out to the front.

Pull the slide cover forward about 5 mm, which disengages the two cross pins from the grooves in the frame. and then lift the top cover straight up off the frame.

It you cycle the slide back & forth about 1 cm, the guide rods will usually shift forward a bit, and you can pull them out. The recoil springs will usually just bow upward, but occasionally one of them will try to launch itself. Free the front end of the springs, and pull them forward out of the frame.

You basically reverse the process to reassemble the pistol.

Tips on installing the springs & guide rods: Do them one at a time. Slide the back end of the recoil spring into the frame as far as it will go, and slide the guide rod so 5 or 6 mm is inside the slide. Grab the front end of the recoil spring and slide it onto the end of the guide rod. The spring will want to bow upward, or inward to the opposite side, and it will be too curved to easily slide the rod the rest of the way in. Push the middle of the bowed spring into the corner between the frame and the side of the slide with the rod. It will now try to bow outward, but the side of the slide prevents it from curving much. You can then easily slide the rod all the way in.

Two additional tips:

1) I am too used to working on Pardini SP's, where the barrel bolt is captive, and I was constantly dropping the screw out the front of my EVO. Get a 1.8 x 4.5 mm O-ring to stuff in the front. (https://www.mcmaster.com/3799N21/ ) It's a reasonably snug fit & won't fall out easily, and the hole is big enough for the hex key.

2) Some EVO slides have cracked at the thin section above the barrel hole. It's not a guaranteed fix, but you can probably prolong the life of your slide by adding a buffer at the front of the frame where it hits. I use a polyurethane O-ring as for the buffer. The O-ring is durometer 70A, 0.070” cross-section, with an ID of 0.551” (https://www.mcmaster.com/9558K21/). You can park it on top of the recoil springs in front of the main barrel hole in the frame, and slide the barrel right through it. My slide cracked anyway after ~ 12000 rounds, but I only installed the O-ring buffer after about 8000 rounds. My wife's EVO hasn't been fired nearly that much. I installed an O-ring buffer on hers as well, but after only ~ 600 rounds. Her slide is still OK after another 1200 rounds fired.

[Ricardo]

Very helpful; thanks to all!

[Gwhite]

Apparently I wasn't entirely clear on where the O-ring slide buffer goes. It goes on the front of the middle section of the frame, so the back of the front of the slide doesn't slam into the frame there.

Before I installed the O-ring, there was visible damage from the inner corners of the slide hitting the frame:

Here's where the O-ring goes:

[Ricardo]

Super clear; thanks!

[CastonR]

Thank you for posting the O-ring placement it was driving me nuts trying to figure it out in the manual. I just took apart mine after 500 rounds for a cleaning. Actually surprised with how simple it was !

[Gwhite]

The factory is constantly tweaking things, and the manual frequently doesn't keep up. The manual I have shows a square flat buffer with holes punched in it, but that is from an earlier version. I could see where my slide was hitting the frame, and the US importer and I came up with the O-ring idea as a replacement for the buffer.

[Ricardo]

The slide block on my MG2-E has fallen off twice during normal use. Luckily, I've found it both times, but I wonder if should keep in place with Locktite 242. According to their documentation, "Loctite Threadlocker Blue 242 is designed for the locking and sealing of threaded fasteners which require normal disassembly with standard hand tools." Any suggestions are welcome.

Also, can anyone tell me what is the purpose of the little hex wrench that seems to have had the short leg cut almost off? I see it works perfect for the slide block, but I can't believe that's its purpose.

Finally, I've been using Norma Tac-22 with pretty good results; occasional stovepipes but not bad for practice.

I'm continuing on this thread just to keep things together

[Gwhite]

My wife's slide block also kept coming loose, and popping up mid-string to lock the slide open. I tried purple LockTite (#222), but my notes say it came loose again. I don't know if the screw came loose and then the slide block caught, or catching on the slide block knocked it loose. I put a small bevel on the back corner so it was less likely to catch, and it's been fine, but my notes don't say what flavor of LockTite I used the second time around.

I'd clean the screw & the threads in the frame with solvent, and try purple LockTite first.

The short hex key is used to adjust the inner screw that sets the second stage trigger weight.

[Ricardo]

Mine hasn't ever popped up on its own. The tiny spring in there keeps it in the down position unless I push it up, and it's held in place by the force of the slide spring. The screw does come loose after a very few shots, though. Thanks for the advice on the Lock Tite and the tip about the hex key!

[Gwhite]

My wife's may have acted up because I moved it to the right side. That way she can operate it with her trigger finger. There may be something about the twist from recoil that makes it pop up when it's mounted on that side. Also, the slide rolls a bit, and the rail may sit lower on that side during recoil. In any event, it's been fine since I beveled the corner a tiny bit.

[CastonR]

For a deep cleaning I have a question. Recently I have been getting alot of jams with feeding. I normally take the gun apart after a brick to clean it good. My question is has anyone used an ultrasonic cleaner. I have shot about 1500 rounds through it so far and am wondering if my issue are coming from grime in the frame that I can't get to. I have been shooting sk standard plus and aquila pistol match.

[Gwhite]

I haven't used an ultrasonic on any of my target pistols. My concern is always getting lube back into the places it needs it, without drowning the thing. The MG2 has a lot more little nooks & crannies than many pistols, and getting all the moisture out afterward would require a long bake.

I've got ~ 15000 rounds through my MG2 now, and have always done just manual cleaning. One thing that might help feeding issues is to take the carrier out to clean down inside the frame and relubricate it. When I first did that on my wife's, I also found a burr around one of the carrier detent holes inside the frame that was potentially causing issues.

Removing the carrier isn't too difficult if you are careful. You unscrew the small set screw (#2070) that locks the carrier pivot pin (#2042A) in place. It's in the top of the left frame rail. You don't have to remove the screw, you just have to back it up enough to clear the notch in the pin. Push the pivot pin slowly out to the right, while hanging onto the ejector. It will pop up a bit when the pivot pin clears it. Don't lose the ejector spring! Pull the pin out until the carrier is free. The carrier will be tight because of the two detent balls/springs, so you may have to wrestle a bit to get it out.

Clean everything, and lubricate the frame where the detent balls ride with a bit of grease. Oil everything else & reassemble. Other than compressing the detent balls to get the carrier back in, the only tricky part is the locking screw & the notch in the pin. Push the pin so it sticks out far enough on the left to get the notch vertical, and then slide the pin back into place.

The set screw screw does NOT clamp the pin, it just fits into the notch to keep it in place. The screw only needs to be gently snugged so it won't work loose. Do NOT get carried away with tightening the set screw, or you run the risk of stripping the threads.

It also wouldn't hurt to clean your magazines a bit.

If it worked well with the exact same ammo for a long time, it sounds like a dirt/lubrication issue. Depending on your pistol's vintage, and the exact nature of the problem, feeding issues may be from issues with the ejector and/or the carrier. Very short rounds (~ 24.5 mm long) can cause problems loading the first round, and very long ammo (like CCI, which can run as long as 25.3 mm) can cause jams with the last round. Given that you are shooting SK & Aguila, it sounds like you may have a short round problem. If you changed lots, the new ammo may run shorter, and you might need to get a new carrier, which has been shortened to help with that problem.

[CastonR]

Thank you for the advice I just cleaned it by doing what you said. Will try it Monday with a new brick of aguila. I will measure some cases to see what the overall length is.

[Gwhite]

The MG2 feed system is brilliant, but the length spec on .22 LR ammo has a huge tolerance range, and that can cause problems. The SAAMI spec for overall length is 25.4 +0/-1.27 mm. That's a full tenth of an inch of possible length variation, all still within spec. CCI tends to run between 25.0 and 25.3 mm. The Aguila I've measured runs between 24.6 and 24.9 mm. Wolf (made by SK) tends to be shorter, but a bit more consistent (24.50 to 24.7 mm). I measure some SK Target Pistol, and that was a bit longer, running between 24.7 and 24.9 mm.

On my pistol, the original ejector held the cases forward quite a ways from the back of the carrier. That worked fine with short ammo like Aguila, but longer CCI rounds caused jams with the last round. The magazine spring doesn't holding the last round back with much force. Under recoil, long rounds could slide far enough forward that the nose of the bullet was clipping the bottom of the barrel. Here's what a badly jammed round looked like:

Rnd 5 Jam 7-2-20 (sm).jpg (52.69 KiB) Viewed 3889 times

Even if it didn't cause a jam, it frequently chewed up the bullet nose to the point where I would get keyholing. The factory changed the ejector design so the rounds would sit back further, which mostly eliminated that issue. I haven't shot enough CCI (due to the ammo shortage) to determine if the jams have been completely eliminated, and if any residual bullet damage occurs with longer rounds.

However, with the new ejector, I started having issues with shorter ammo. The 1st round would sit back in the carrier far enough that the 2nd round would stick out the the magazine far enough that the rim would be caught as the front of the carrier swung up:

The carrier is under the rim of the 2nd round, and it has lifted the back up far enough that the round can't slide back into the magazine. Depending on the length, sometimes the 2nd round would slide back into the magazine, but occasionally it would jam and I couldn't get it to load until I released the magazine far enough to get the 2nd round out of the way.

I mostly fixed that by beveling the front of the carrier so that it would push the 2nd round forward, combined with a slight bevel on the back of the magazines. The factory fix was to redesigned the carrier so it is shorter in front. Once I got one of the redesigned carriers & installed it, the short round jams went away.

[Leon]

For ease of disassembly and repair of your Matchguns MG2-E, may I suggest that you also use the only tool that they reckon is needed to repair a Russian Model 1895 Nagant revolver?

[Gwhite]

In the absence of such a precision instrument, I have been strongly tempted many times to hurl mine against a brick wall.

Fortunately, I managed to resist, and I now have a very reliable pistol (at least until something breaks...)