A collection of posts often on colt E- and I-frame revolvers: pythons, model 357s, officer model specials, etc. Topics not limited to: action jobs, fixing Bubba-gone-wrong gunsmith mistakes, and revolver porn. And sometimes I'll wander off the reservation and type random nouns and verbs that have nothing to do with our sole purpose, because who the hell can really pay attention that long?

Sunday, June 28, 2009

micrometer party!

I'm getting old enough that I get more and more credit for what other people I work with do. In this case, I won a prize that came with a check.

We drank some of it, but now I'm going through buying as many different high quality (yet inexpensive w/ high rated sellers) micrometers as I can.

Currently on bid: helios, brown&sharpe, starrett, tesa. Already have mitutoyo. I can't seem to find a cheap etalon (go figure).

Anything in particular I missed?



Friday, June 26, 2009

lathe is up and running!




The electricity guy came out today. Lathe now works!

Not super accurate, I'm getting .001 variance at two ends of a 4" cut. I think it's b/c it's not level (yet) and the chucks are not very high quality. Hopefully.

Good solid clean lathe otherwise. The only issue is that the belt is starting to tear a bit.

We shall see how well it cuts bushings...


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Trip report: Frank Glenn gunsmithing lessons


I flew back Saturday after going to work with Frank Glenn on colts, mostly to learn how to eliminate endshake. In general, it's what you don't know that you don't know that causes the most harm, so having someone that knows what they are doing can be priceless.

  1. If you don't know an area it's very easy to do something stupid that seems fine. An example from when I picked up a file for the first time a while back: filing by sawing back and forth! Never occurred to me that it was wrong, and it's so stupid most gunsmithing books wouldn't even think to say "don't to that!"
  2. It's easy to have assumptions you don't think to check that will make things very hard. An example from this trip: I thought a gun had an endshake problem b/c the cylinder would contact the barrel, when in fact the factory had simply filed the barrel unevenly, leaving the right end too high. Didn't occur to me that a fairly pristine gun from the 50s would have a factory issue. Trust nothing (or "check everything") otherwise you'll get really confused.
  3. There's one real book on colt DAs and it's missing a bunch of stuff, unfortunately. (Dfaris stop writing fiction and do an update!)

In any case, the regime was simple: I flew out 4 colts with alleged endshake problems, my dad drove down two that weren't working, and I spent three days getting through them with Frank. I also learned how to curve the sear on a trigger using a torch so that you can eliminate stacking.

What we have to work with




Here's my initial four (dads' are not pictured). A really nice handling old style 357 trooper, a bull barreled python, a snub python, and a 1957 python that someone jacked up the front sight on and sold the checked grips:



All were selected to have endshake issues: excessive play or, worse, direct contact of the cylinder and barrel face.


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

emco unimat 3, compact 5 cmc, and south bend links.

I got all three machines, so this is a placeholder for useful links.

Unimat 3:

compact 5:
Quality chucks:

Monday, June 22, 2009

useful dfariswheel post on ultrasonic cleaners

From http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7329.

Further info at: http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20601


Here's a post I did on another forum concerning ultrasonics for guns:
The good points:
They really clean.
They usually clean FAST. Drop a dirty part in, and the dirt actually BOILS off in a cloud.
They DEEP clean, getting crud you normally don't even see. Ultrasonics get into cracks and holes that normally you can't get to with other methods.
They're especially good on harder fouling. (Ultrasonics work better on hard dirt).
You don't have to disassemble things. Ultrasonics are used by watchmakers to avoid having to disassemble some small components.

They work with a variety of solutions. Water with detergent works on many types of dirt, so you don't HAVE to use a volatile solvent.
The solution is heated up by the ultrasonic action. Warm solution cleans even better. Many tanks have a built-in heater also.
You can put an inch of water in the bottom and use small glass or plastic cups to hold solvent and small parts.
The ultrasonic waves are transmitted by the water in the bottom through the beakers or jars.

You can use the tank for MANY cleaning jobs, Paint brushes, dirty watch bands, electric razor heads, you're wife's jewelery, car parts, ANYTHING that you can fit into the tanks will clean up surgically clean.

The bad:
KEEP YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THE TANK. Ultrasonics and bones don't mix.
This isn't something that happens instantly, it's over time.

Expense. The larger tanks are COSTLY. However, if you want to clean a stripped pistol or small parts, one of the smaller $150.00 range tanks will work fine.
You CAN put a portion of a frame or slide in the tank at a time.
After cleaning it, turn it over and clean the other half.

Any solvent that will attack plastic or gun finishes, will attack it FASTER in ultrasonics.
Most sight dots or markings are nothing more than paint. These may be removed by the cleaner.
Some solvents like Simply Green attack aluminum, and other soap-type cleaners can attack finishes.
They will attack faster and more aggressively in the cleaner.

You've got to be careful to apply a THOROUGH coat of anti-rust lube after cleaning. Ultrasonics remove ALL grease and lube, leaving the part absolutely bare, including in tiny holes and crevices that ordinarily cleaning never touches.

They don't work as well on soft gummy grease as harder dirt. You can speed things up by pulling parts out and scrubbing with a brush.

They're electronic and heat the solvent. You have to be careful with flammables.

Ultrasonics do nothing for bore fouling. You still have to use bore solvent, brushs, and patches to clean the barrel.
It "may" help loosen leading, but a Lewis Lead Remover is faster and better.

Advice:
If possible buy a basket that holds parts off the bottom or make up wire hangers. Ultrasonics work better when the parts are suspended in the solution instead of laying on the bottom of the tank.

A tank cover is nice to hold down fumes.

NEVER run the unit when the tank is dry even for a few seconds, it'll burn out.

Be careful what cleaning solution you use. You can pull the item out and find finish or plastic parts GONE.

Be careful with Tritium sights, and sights with any kind of inserts or dots. Many can be damaged or removed in the tank.

The small tanks sold in discount stores for cleaning false teeth and jewelery really don't work too well, and most of them aren't even real ultrasonic units.

3,500+ lbs of revolver accessories!



A bunch of repairs need a lathe and mill. Fortunately I was finally able to score two at pretty good prices. They were dropped off last week.


The mill is a Wells Index 700 that seems to be around 3,000(!) lbs.

The lathe is a very old but very clean southbend engine lathe with a lot of tooling.

I was hoping to get a used hardinge or equivalent, but the SB was $1000 and close to my house. The guy that had it restored old cars and had an immaculate tool room. I want to buy everything from him :)

The mill was only slightly more, also close to my house. It *seems* I can use it manually. I hope so. If not, it seems I can sell it for more than I paid so at least there is always that escape route. (Same is true for the lathe.) It's dirty as hell, but the scrapings on the ways are still mostly there. The major downside is that there is no tooling, but I'm *hoping* I can fix this easily. The wells index people still service their machines , so at least it's not obsolete. (Update: it's also up in the air if I can make the quill hold the Z position w/o the servo on. Argh.)

The main barrier for both is that I don't have a 220 outlet in my garage yet, nor a phase converter. Hopefully the former will get sorted early next week.







Sunday, June 21, 2009

Back from a hiatus

Just got back from a trip to AZ to work with Frank Glenn on colts. It's pretty helpful to have someon experienced go through stuff & check for mistakes. I bought out 4 colts and my dad bought down 2 and we just went through fixing each (mostly eliminating endshake). I also learned how to curve the sear on a trigger using a torch so that you can eliminate stacking.

Frank is really helpful and very polite. The main hint that indicates he's concerned about your (lack of) technique is that the frequency of him offering a specialized tool to do what you're attempting will go down dramatically. Also, the time he holds the gun in question goes up substantially.

I'll post a longer run through later. Two big lessons: (1) the factory sometimes screws up and (2) cranking a colt down to 0 endshake will invariably expose preexisting problems.

The first case came up because a barrel cylinder gap of 0 turned out not to be from an overly worn cylinder collar but b/c whoever fit the barrel at the factory couldn't file that day, so left the right side higher than the left. Once it was refaced, things were just fine.

For the second: I used to be a hardcore "there must be 0 endshake!" type. However, that enthusiasm got tempered a lot. Generally you fix endshake by shoving the cylinder towards the rear of the frame (either using a bushing or lengthening the cylinder collar). 0 endshake requires pushing the cylinder pretty hard. It also means the cylinder must travel straight through any resistance rather having the play that lets it move around it. The end result: 0 play always exposes some preexisting source of binding. With play, the colt can often work around any such thing. Without, it will require forcing right through it. Often I could fix endshake in some amount of time (say X) but tracking down binding and eliminating would take 2X.

Monday, June 15, 2009

What he said


The sad reality is that the legal conception of evidence is absolutely worthless from an intellectual standpoint. The mere fact that it is possible to exclude evidence from courtrooms, even though it is known by all parties to be factually valid, demonstrates beyond doubt that a law degree is completely without value in any field that deals with objective fact.

And other generally enthusiastic statements at: http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/pscindx.htm

Sunday, June 14, 2009

A data on boy/girl pay disparity

Canadian girl doctors work 30 hr/week vs boy doc of 35 hr/week which, unsurprisingly, can show up as a pay difference: http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2009/05/gender-gaps.html#comments

If hours worked vary by gender, then we expect average salary differences across genders. If we don't have observations on hours worked, average differences then show up in the coefficient on gender in a wage regression.

the godzilla frame wrench



I spent friday night making the mother of all frame wrenches(*) from a ginormous chunk of aluminum. There's really no need for it to be this size other than the aluminum was such a nice piece I didn't want to remove any of it.

It took four hours rather than the needed 30 minutes, but was fun nonetheless. It's not quite done since I am still debating whether to make it take inserts or cut it so it only fits colt I/E frames (which is all it will ever get used for).

Those of you who reload might be amused by the repurposing of the stock dillon handle. I have three of these things that have been sitting in my closet. Finally there is a use!


(*) Frame wrench = wrench used to hold and rotate the frame in order to remove the barrel.

The python is a 6" used for scale. I put a photo of the frame wrench in the shop manual so you can see what a well adjusted adult would have made.








1980s communist germany underground fashion.



A photo essay of the results of struggling with (unfortunately topical) problem of how to make something interesting out of State Supplied articles:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,628632,00.html

UK seemingly recovering better than US, without wasting huge amounts of money.

No less a robo-partisan than Krugman admits that the UK's use of inflation and negligible "stimulus spending" seems to have the odd result of having it recover when no one else is: http://blogsandwikis.bentley.edu/themoneyillusion/?p=1530

It's always amusing that the same people apoplectically, rabidly, and screechingly against flat taxes seem to shrug off inflation when, in fact, they are basically the same thing. In fact I always look at inflation as being even more of a flat tax than an official "flat tax" could ever be, since it taxes everyone holding the currency, not just those that fall under the reach of the tax code.

AU sub cooks make more than admirals.

Being on a 45 crew AU sub is pretty boring. Throwing money at the problem makes for some amusing results: http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsub/articles/20090609.aspx


Hat tip: Marginal Revolution.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Quick photos of a 41mag python


Recently went to my FFL to start the DROS (and 10 day wait) on a 41 magnum python (conversion done by Jack Huntington) I picked up recently.

I talked to Huntington on the phone today and he asserted that I can 1000 fps loads down it all day long without doing any damage. We're about ready to test that theory: Bullets, dies, brass, and the 650 caliber convesion all arived this week. Only thing left is the end of the 10 day wait.

The additional good news is that (1) it is indeed 41 mag and (2) the seller did send it.

The bad news is that the guy seemed to have stored it in his glove box for an extended off road rally race (perhaps a decade long one). There are numerous scratches. It's extremely extremely irritating. I can perhaps sympathize with a single scratch (e.g., the gun rack breaks and the python falls) but so 5 or 10 is symptomatic of a serious problem. The guy is going through a divorce so perhaps his wife dragged it through the mud. Also the grips have silver medallions.

In any case, here's some quick photos. Lightings not that great. The scratches are actually less bad in person. But still!

Hopefully the thing will hold up under modest loads. From the shell plate doesn't look like the guy fired it much. (He claimed 6 rounds, which I can believe.)



Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Hilarious: procedural coup of NY legislature.

GOP gets two dems to switch (including one under investigation for slicing his gf's face w/ glass) and using some unfortunately not well explained procedural tricks to seize control of the NY senate:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jedUgJTHa0zwCbpFZb88bZMp_PfQD98O1JK00

NY is a gift that keeps on giving; this is the first thing that made me look forward to reading news in a while...

Useful dfariswheel posts, part II



Endshake

fixing endshake:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16628&postcount=2
with a bunch of follow up:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20620

Barrel stuff:

removing / changing barrel:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=90610&postcount=3
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7934
replacing trooper barrel:http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=92303&postcount=3

barrel threads, python / trooper:
http://www.pistolsmith.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=29225&p=157225&hilit=+colt#p157225

fixing leading, and what not to do: http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=95812#post95812
getting rid of bore rust:http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=94066#post94066

chopping python barrels shorter:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=97533#post97533

Other

ultrasonic cleaners:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=39029&postcount=2
fixing stainless finish:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=84584#post84584

long term storage:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=89125#post89125

on the sintered action of KC or MKIII:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=83778#post83778

on kc action being better than MKIII:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=83589&postcount=2

on misfires:
http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=85628&postcount=4

This is beer

Dark beer, high alcohol content, only a few types, only sold in a few states (unfortunately): http://food.theatlantic.com/mixmaster/duck-rabbit-brewery.php

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Fishpaw grips on a purported Sherman action OMS


Finally got (a colt with) Fishpaw grips. I see why he was so justifiably famous. The workmanship is exquisite. Unfortunately it seems that he stopped doing work.

I took a couple quick photos. These came on an OMS that I'm really happy with.

I'm naturally a bargain hunter for colts: the number I bought since they were shooters for "below market value" is, well, probably more than I should have.

With that said, the two guns I've been most happy about were two OMSes that I paid a steep premium for. In both cases the function is just superb, and the finish flawless.

The most recent one (this one) the seller stated as having a sherman roller action. From feeling it I can well believe so. Hopefully there will be enough time to take it apart soon and see what's going on.

So, in any case, here's the grip porn. The gun is much better in person...



Step I to fixing endshake: making bushings.



So, still a lot of steps to go, but just made 20 of the bushings that are needed to fix endshake (unless you stretch the collar). Spent about 12 hours at the shop doing a bunch of projects, which would likely have taken a normal person about 30 min. But what can you do.

Most of the time I spent on the DRO hardinge that has a powerfeed. It'll be hard to get used to something w/ less luxury!

Unfortunately I used cold rolled steel instead of something harder, so they will likely wear too fast. I'm redoing them with "A2" tool steel, which is soft enough that cutting isn't a chore (which it would be if I used drill stock) but you can then harden it using a torch and a blower ("A" in "A2" is for air hardening).




Monday, June 8, 2009

First attempt at making a barrel fixture


Spent a bunch of hours tonight slowly figuring out how to make the fixture used to hold the barrel in the vise while unscrewing the frame from it. I'm not sure what took so long other than I didn't realize very quickly that you could just take a big ass milling tool bit and bore out the central hole rather than first piloting it, drilling it, then finally milling it out. By the end I was able to work out a system and the last one took 10 or 15 minutes (including squaring up the pieces since I made them from scratch). Not having to change the bridgeport tool multiple times was a nice thing.

Here's the current version. I still need to put in some some press pins in and then mill out the main hole more to ensure it doesn't touch the barrel much (I thought the main round part of the barrel was supposed to be in contact with the fixture, but only just now realized that would be A Dumb Idea):



In the future it's probably better to not make the cuts below the barrel and above the rib so far away. Live an learn. Hopefully.


The amputated barrel was a rusted one I got from Poppert for $33: it's turning out to be a great investment. I may be able to make the threaded piece into a short barrel, getting practice with crowning and cutting the shoulder back. The one with the sight I'm going to make into a tool so that you can quickly narrow a front sight on a mill. And the middle piece I can bring into the shop w/o much comment, which is a happy thing.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

A fool and his money: buying a 41 magnum python


For those that don't know, dfariswheel has an excellent post on (paraphrasing) why a colt python in 41 magnum is stupid:
http://forums.1911forum.com/showpost.php?p=1975569&postcount=2

But, I just couldn't help myself and bought one anyway and currently it's at my FFL. However, there are extenuating circumstances!

It's a conversion done by Jack Hungtington:
http://www.jrhgunmaker.com/
He does a lot of work on freedom arms and according to the people I've talked to is very highly regarded. I called him on the phone about this and his view is that 1,000 fps 41 mag loads will be fine in it. He stated he worked at colt for a few years before starting his own shop and that he's worked on around 2,000 pythons. I am taking him at his word. He runs his own shop with 5 guys, so sounds like he is relatively respectable.

So, excuse #1: He lives close enough to me so that if the gun breaks I can drive over and throw it at his shop.

Excuse #2: he did action work on it, and I'd like to take it apart and see what he did. He's supposedly very good, though Grant C does not know who he is, which is a bit worrying.

We shall see how things go. I'm not very proud of being so frivolous with money, but it will be an interesting gun and hopefully educational. I also have an extra NOS barrel and cylinder so in theory I can just convert it back to .357 as a "rescue" operation if need be. (Assuming shooting doesn't quickly damage the frame or kill the shooter, of course)

In any case I'll be: (1) running light loads, (2) measuring measure the barrel / cylinder gap every trip, (3) keeping an eye out for peening, forcing cone issues , or cracks in the frame.

I don't even push my 357 pythons. They don't make frames no more and that steel seems pretty soft. It's always midrange loads and I've switched to lead bullets to be easier on the barrel.

Funny enough on the day I paid for it, Grant Cunningham was talking about the 41 special in his blog:
http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/f57f295a776fd50568d342158a004b7d-530.html

He references this article, which looks like it may come in handy:
http://www.reloadingroom.com/index_files/41%20Special.htm

Must be fate!

So it's about $160 for a dillon 650 caliber conversion + dies, about $70 for 500 starline cases, around $117 for 1000 lasercast 215gr bullets. Adds up pretty quick! Now I remember why I was reluctant to have too many calibers in the past...

Part III: shooting the 2.5" smoothed out python


I finally got to shoot the 2.5" snubby that I spent much of memorial day
weekend working on:

http://coltpython.blogspot.com/2009/05/part-i-fixing-most-loose-25-python-ever.html
http://coltpython.blogspot.com/2009/05/part-ii-tuning-now-very-tight-25-python.html

It's currently at 5.5lbs DA (measured w/ cylinder open) and has been really worked over for smoothness. It also had a couple undocumented tricks that were suggested to me by colt smiths.

The damn gun works fantastically: despite the light spring I didn't get a single misfire in 300+ rounds using a hodge podge collection of reloads that I'd made over the past two years. (CCI and winchester primers, no federal.)

The smoothing seems to work really well too. In DA my gf was able to make just two holes for all six bullets: it was only 7 yards, but it's a snubby and she hardly ever shoots DA. (Probably twice before?)

I had two of the most jaded range guys try it and as soon as they pulled the trigger both started laughing. :43: They then showed it to all their pals. They all had trouble believing it could ignite anything at all. It's really cool to go from something that was pretty much the worst python I'd ever handled to one that is of the best (of course my opinion here is a bit suspect).

On the other hand, when I went to wash up, one of the range guys told my gf I must not have other things to do if I spend this much time fussing around with revolvers...

I have to say, the colt pach's worked really well for recoil. They are big enough that even pretty hot loads were controllable, which I didn't expect for a snubby.

Definitely going to be shooting this a lot. One changed I'd like to make is milling the front sight a bit narrower. Or putting a fiberoptic in.



Thursday, June 4, 2009

Powder valley shipped 18K primers today

Order placed on March 25th. Prices were $112 for CCI SP primers, $120 for CCI LPM, $127 for federal SP, and I don't recall for LR and SRM.

They currently have AA #5 and AA #7 in stock: 8lb jugs for $112.

Perhaps the shortage is working its way to a close?

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Interesting conversions: .357 to 44spl


Clements Customs has a bunch of interesting guns, including this king cobra 44spl conversion.

Excellent article on health care costs

8 pages, in the new yorker (but actually reasonably objective), by a surgeon :



Best news in a long time: Reeves Jungkind is taking work.

$250 + shipping for action jobs on pythons. He said 2 month turnaround.

He is widely referenced as one of the very best colt action smiths ever, but articles from 15+ years ago claim he retired.

Very good news.


Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Wow. This is wildcatting.


Necking 357 sig down to .17 : designed dies from scratch along with everything else. Very cool set of articles:



Tax breakdown.


Given the fiscal derangement of the administration it's good to keep in mind the current tax structure:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html

A random quote:

The top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $64,702) earned 68.2 percent of the nation's income, but they paid more than four out of every five dollars collected by the federal income tax (86.3 percent). The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $388,806) earned approximately 22.1 percent of the nation's income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 39.9 percent of all federal income taxes. That means the top 1 percent of tax returns paid about the same amount of federal individual income taxes as the bottom 95 percent of tax returns.



BTW, it's a rerun, but the clarity of this graphic on deficits is well worth it:



Stopping power



Many many many many interesting photos with large tiff files you can download for prints. A bit clunky to navigate, but still.

A fortunate, surprising verdict.

If you wander outside your premises and shoot someone, you want to have Teresa Caffese as your lawyer.

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