Stuck in purgatory - home gunsmithing

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wojownik

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So, living in one of these stay-at-home lockdown states is driving me crazy - all the indoor ranges are closed for ... months!!!

I'm in the middle of several build projects, and its driving me nuts (as I'm sure others as well).

1911 upgrade. I've was in the midst of tweaking one of my EDC 1911s. Already had just swapped in a factory Colt arched MSH on a commander (so I think I'm OK without range testing it), but I've balked at doing trigger change to a medium trigger (from the cruddy plastic factory trigger). I'm thinking that's too be a change to risk without heading to the range for a few hundred rounds to check.

AR builds - moving forward on several lower builds ... but of course, just dry fire testing is possible. At least I have several other ARs for SD/HD purposes.

Thinking of all those new gun purchasers, who have no real way of getting familiar with their new pistols, or making sure they even work without adjustments.
 
Thinking of all those new gun purchasers, who have no real way of getting familiar with their new pistols, or making sure they even work without adjustments.

I suspect that a lot of those new gun purchasers regard them as magic items that automatically repel burglars, gang bangers, and home invaders merely by their presence and brandishing. When firing them, they are a cone of death that require little if no knowledge as the media and entertainment have so frequently portrayed.

Not much different than those buying mountains of toilet paper and water just because they are on survival stuff lists on the internet.
 
I always have a small mountain of bottle necked brass to sort and process. That'll keep me out of trouble for the better part of 6 months I figure. That and a thorough cleaning of all my firearms I might just miss this problem completely. It sucks that you can't go to the range though! If I need to I can shoot out my back door as necessary. Hope you eventually get a place that you can do this as well. We'll all get through this mess if everyone does their part. It will just take time. Yeah I know thats easy to say but we all are in about the same boat and have to make the best of everything.:scrutiny:
 
Actually got a lot of projects done due to "cabin fever" including one that I hadn't planned until about May. Was gonna mount a scope on the little Savage Rascal .22 that's designated for the step grand daughters. Back in Feb. I picked up a real compact 4x scope made by Nc Star from Midway USA that had it marked down. Then got a Picatinny rail for a Rascal; yes, there is such a thing available at www.diproductsinc.com and got a set of medium height Vortex rings locally. Tried some low Weaver rings I had here but they were a hair too low. Now with a lot more free time I got it done sooner than planned. The Rascal comes drilled & tapped for optics mounting and I figured on doing this just for grins and eventually going back to the nice aperture sight that Savage puts on them. Recently finished it, and put the collimator on it so it should be halfway sighted in but my friends home range is pretty soggy and it's been raining regularly. My club's rifle, pistol, and sporting clays ranges are still open with social distance rules and only the trap, skeet, and 5 stand are shut down due to a lack of staffing. Such a little rifle looks pretty unusual with a scope and I'm sure it will draw attention. Here it is in use without scope last summer.... IMG_2022.JPG and here it is now... IMG_1242.JPG .... Works OK for my cheek weld looking through it but I hope it's not too high for the kids. Here's a shot showing how much higher your eye will be now for scope use vs. using the aperture sight just below the scope.... IMG_1245.JPG ...Should be interesting playing with this when the weather gets nice. Even I enjoy plinking with it, as do most other older folks who get a kick out of it just for the novelty of shooting a scaled down youth rifle. Why not ? It's accurate, and has a nice Accutrigger on it. But of course the stock fit leaves a little to be desired for us adults, LOL. Now on to my next purgatory project.
 
I suspect that a lot of those new gun purchasers regard them as magic items that automatically repel burglars, gang bangers, and home invaders merely by their presence and brandishing. When firing them, they are a cone of death that require little if no knowledge as the media and entertainment have so frequently portrayed.

Not much different than those buying mountains of toilet paper and water just because they are on survival stuff lists on the internet.

That so many people seem to leave their firearms unloaded, locked away separately, or even disassembled reinforces the same suspicion for me. I've had more than one conversation with non-enthusiasts where the topic of these ludicrous storage methods came up.
 
I have springs on the way for some work to be done on my Hi-Power, a Sig brace coming for my AR pistol, and a new upper and BCG for a .300 BO pistol build. Also need to clean my CC rig and my little revolver.

and a looooooonnnnggg list of actual honey-do’s.
 
I fixed the end shake on a security six. Improved a B squire bipod so it doesn't pan to far and dump the rifle.I'm

always tuning my cap and ball revolvers, they are kit guns even if they are bought ready to shoot.
 
That so many people seem to leave their firearms unloaded, locked away separately, or even disassembled reinforces the same suspicion for me. I've had more than one conversation with non-enthusiasts where the topic of these ludicrous storage methods came up.
I agree totally with your post and I blame the media for the perpetuation of idiotic memes.

Part of it is that media has hammered the idiotic message that a gun in the home means death and such things as if you try to use a gun to defend yourself, it will be taken from you and used to kill you. Sometimes the media's message is simply that the presence of a gun makes it more likely than someone in the household will die from it.

The media does nothing to promote programs like Eddie Eagle which teaches children to leave guns alone and tell an adult about it, provide context to home gun accidents where drug dealers/users stoned out of their gourd permit a child access to a firearm with tragic consequences, already existing domestic violence situations, or promoting safe storage techniques such as Hornady's RFID type or other types of personal gun storage safes.
 
No real gunsmithing to do at the moment. I am debating on ordering a AR pistol build and working on that. Would be my first build but have a few friends locally that have done a few and could help if needed. However my buddy already has one built that i really like and is willing to sell pretty close to what it would cost for me to build. Not sure which way to go yet, guess it depends on how bored I get over the next week or so.
 
Dude build one. Mine was too easy. The upper came fully assembled. All i had to do was assemble the lower and pull it all together. Maybe 3 hours? Good rainy day activity.
 
Ordered some Chicago screws and belt clips to do a Kydex holster for the Star Firestar. I've made a handful of Kydex sheaths for knives so this will be an interesting project for a gun holster.
 
I have springs on the way for some work to be done on my Hi-Power, a Sig brace coming for my AR pistol, and a new upper and BCG for a .300 BO pistol build. Also need to clean my CC rig and my little revolver.

and a looooooonnnnggg list of actual honey-do’s.

Thanks for reminding me about springs. I was thinking about that not too long ago.
 
I am building a 4 bore rifle from scratch. Just finished milling out the breech plug. Hopefully this lock down lasts another 4 or 5 months.
 
Not much different than those buying mountains of toilet paper and water just because they are on survival stuff lists on the internet.
There is a major difference- these people have experience (presumably) with the safe and proper use of TP and water.
 
Pics please. This is a very cool project.

I can do better than pictures! Type my name into the You Tube search. The series that I am currently posting is building a Lancaster rifle. There are 4 videos left in that series. The 4 bore building videos will start up as soon as I am finished posting those.
 
I ordered one of the $49 Teslong bore scopes and have just started taking a look at my chambers, ledes, bores and crowns. It's very interesting and revealing if you've never had a lighted, magnified, closeup view of all of this. The Teslong unit provides a very good picture and works well. Despite being pretty inexpensive, I'm not sure how a bore scope could be significantly better. There are some threads on the Teslong (and similar units) with photos and discussions, such as these:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-bore-cleaning-with-more-teslong-pics.860996/

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...more-teslong-pics.860996/page-6#post-11424199

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ying-and-if-so-what-one.862782/#post-11379848
 
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