Shop tiers

How hard each firearm is to take down to the parts that get coated and put back together working — Tier 1 easy, Tier 2 moderate, Tier 3 hardest — ranked against others in its group. 201 of 201 firearms rated.

How a tier is decided

• Tier 1 — easy. Few parts (handguns about 40 or fewer, long guns about 60 or fewer), punches and a screwdriver, nothing under spring tension that has to be held while something else goes in, nothing to time or index.
• Tier 2 — moderate. More parts, or one or two known traps: a captive detent or plunger, a spring-loaded part held while a pin goes in, parts that only go in one way, a common jig (slave pin, armorer's wrench, vise blocks).
• Tier 3 — hardest. Many parts (handguns about 70 or more, long guns about 120 or more), or timing and indexing, several tensioned springs going in together, special tools or fixtures, or widely reported as miserable to reassemble.

Part count alone never decides it: a gun with few parts and a notorious trap can be Tier 3. Each firearm's page gives its part count with the document it comes from and the specific pain points, each quoted from its source — the manufacturer, a military manual, a gunsmithing publication, or owners on forums. This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not any manufacturer's.

Pistols

Revolvers

Rifles and carbines

Rimfire rifles

Shotguns

Muzzleloaders