I love guns because to me they are all pyro mechanical devices. They are like one lung, single cylinder engines that blow the piston out the top every time!
I have taken apart every gun I have ever had except a CZCombat 85 (way too many little parts in that trigger mechanism for me)! The rest of them all came apart, Colt and Kimber 1911's (easy to start with and learn on), brownings, berettas, walthers, smiths, kahr's, all of my rifles. You don't have to be a gun guru to take one apart and put it back together again. It is usually the very first thing I do with every pistol I buy.
It does help to get some gun tools like a set of punches, a tack hammer, a plastic hammer, some hollow ground screwdrivers. You will build some specific use tools as you go like take down pins and a few other things.
I have a one inch by two inch by seven inch piece of oak that I sharpened on one end so it looks like a fat carpenters pencil.
To get the side plate off of my revolvers I give a rap on the opposite side of the plate with the blunt end. I used to use the "sharp" end to take the cylinder/barrel key out of a black powder colt. If the gun is old and possibly corroded squirt it with clp and let it sit overnight. Then give it a rap. Be prepared for the hammer block to fall right out.
Wear safety glasses. Sounds like overkill until a hammer spring or a trigger return spring pops out and hits you in your safety glasses.
You can usually get a schematic of your pistol on the web. gunpartscorp is a great location for free schematics.
On the first take down there is not a thing wrong with taking notes and pictures if you need to. After you have done it a few times it is easier and easier and your notes will come in handy in the future.
Some of them are easy and some are really tough. I struggled for hours with putting a little browning baby back together. But you can always take comfort that a human put it together before you so with a little time and patience you can do it too.
