Stone Soup – Part 2
While waiting for the rest of the parts to arrive, I stippled the front strap and cut the grip safety tangs to .250 radius using my rotary table. I then hand fitted the grip safety using gauge pins and sharpie to mark and file down the high spots. I blasted the frame and the slide […]
Stone Soup – Part 1
A club member brought me a no-name GI-style 1911 made in Philippines and asked to rebuild it as a ball gun suitable for the CMP service pistol EIC matches. This project reminded me of the old European folk tale Stone Soup. Pretty much every single part of the gun needs to be replaced. Even the […]
Ruger Mark COVID-19
A free weekend, a length of an aluminum tube, and coronavirus lockdown…
– 1911 + 745 = ❤️?
I have a love/hate relationship with 1911. I really admire the way the gun is designed, it is truly the JMB’s masterpiece work. I love working on 1911, enjoy building or accurizing them. And the only one thing I cannot do well is to shoot them. I simply cannot control the trigger, I take my […]
Colt 1903 Part III
I guess I can call this one done. I found a new barrel on eBay (still ~$120, oy!), a proper disconnector, a period correct magazine and a replica grips. Reassembling this little pistol was not easy at all, nothing like 1911, but I figured it out. Haven’t fired it yet, but everything seems to function […]
10/22
In one of the episodes of the Top Shot Colby Donaldson asks the competitors, “Who does not own a Ruger 10/22?” The response to this question is a bunch of strange looks and laughs. Indeed, is there any serious shooting enthusiast who does not have at least one 10/22 in his collection? 10/22 was the […]
Colt 1903 Part II
I polished all screws and pins and blued them with torch and quenched in oil. Wow, they turn out just amazing! I tried to take a picture but my phone camera is just not good enough. As I started assembling the frame, I noticed that the disconnector looks just like 1911 disconnector. Then I realized […]
Colt 1903
I found this old Colt 1903 on Gunbroker and decided to buy it and try to make it great again. As you can see, most of the original bluing was gone except small area under the grips. The grips themselves are the ugliest ones I’ve ever seen, they somehow remind me of Spanish Inquisition. I […]
Here We Go Round the Barrel Bushing
A new bushing came this morning from EGW. It fits like a glove, very tight and very well made. In fact, it was just a hair too tight on the barrel, so I put a dab of very fine grit lapping compound on the tip of the barrel, assembled the slide with the barrel and […]
A Little Help For My Friend
Rebuilding a Springfield RO Elite Target for my friend. As usual, the bushing is loose, there’s a bit of a play when I wiggle the barrel between the breach face and the top lugs, and the trigger group is nothing to write home about (unless, of course, you want to whine about how gritty and […]