Recent content by Ian83

Made in Spain, and so far can't find a pin holding it. And I was lucky with the barrel. After I got all the rust out, found the rifling in fair condition. Drilling the old nipple out seems a better option than removing the drum. That thing is as stubborn as the breechplug and I'm starting to...

Just took over this project after the previous owner gave up. I'm aware that not all of the pieces are here, much of the lock seems missing. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. For now my task is to get the broken piece of nipple out of the drum, and get the drum and breechplug out for...

A note on casting your projectiles- Clean the lead first. Most lead will have tin and/or antimony, as in the case of wheel weights, fishing sinkers, even lead from modern ammo. When you first melt these down the metals the lead is alloyed with will rise to the top. Let the lead harden with this...

I recently gave a friend of mine the rifle I started with because he wanted to teach his son to shoot. It was a model 1883 Springfield, bolt action .22 long rifle. My favorite things about it were the weight, small caliber, and incredibly smooth action. I mention the weight first, because it...

Had no idea those continued so far into modern times. Thanks for the history lesson. But kBob has a good point. I think I'll wait until I finish the mould and get some proper lead down range.

I live in Rhode Island and the laws are pretty Bravo Sierra here, too. Into my 30's now and still never driven a car. Dedicated cyclist, need to keep a bad knee from deteriorating. While being pulled over for a non-motorized speeding ticket, I dismounted and leaned on my staff, which the officer...

Lost a third of my left kneecap at age 9. Have 2 sticks. Both straight and as tall as I am. One is a leather wrapped Chinese bamboo with a rubber foot, the other is maple with an iron foot and a bayonet fitting at the head. They take some practice to use for self defense but absolutely worth the...

True, hso. They all looked more like the stiletto-type top pic you posted. Still have yet to face one of the modern ones. And every broken blade I've pried out of such wounds has been stamped "MADE IN CHINA." And I realize that knife wounds are a bit of an acquired taste... It took a few before...

For an elevator, have you thought about an old style screw type car jack fixed by barn door hinges? I can throw something together and work on posting pictures of how it would fit together...

I tried a snubnose once. It was an over/under breakaway .38 derringer. I can positively say that if I am ever attacked by a cantaloupe at 75 yards I'm better off running away.

Just put the finishing touches on my 1860 Colt. I remember as a kid I visited the Gettysburg Battlefield museum, saw some wooden bullets from larger caliber rifles, but don't know if they were ever used in revolvers. Has anyone ever heard of this? And would they get ripped apart in transition...

The battle of the Alamo was in the 1830's, and nitroglycerine used in double based powder was patented in the late 1860's, just after the close of the Civil War, almost 30 years later. Still looking for any reference to double DuPont... Hopefully by the time I find it I'll have figured out how...

As far as oil is concerned, I've found that vegetable based oils will seep into the steel, which has microscopic pores. Much like those old cast iron pans that would season from use. Petroleum based oils will strip this seasoning away, making them more prone to wear in the future.

Name's Ian, live in the U.S. started making my own weapons and hunting about age 10, started with Neolithic era stone implements and gradually progressed through the human advancement of technology until I arrived at building firearms a couple of years ago. My first attempts were a little...

I've owned many automatic openers and found they all have the same design flaw. The opening spring is under tension when not in use. Thus, they all break. The space they occupy in the blade channel means the blades are invariably long and slender and useless for slicing, slashing. This would not...