What gunsmithing or repairs have you done today

You know it. It's the best and last 1893 Spanish action that I have on hand and has a born on date of 1922. I have a Green Mountain barrel chambered for 7x57mm that just needs to be finish reamed and blued. I have been piecing all of the parts together and have come up with a rock solid action that needs some good furniture. This will likely end up being a winter project in all reality but I hope to get started sooner. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
What has driven me to try my hand at making my own stock is the rising cost of anything to do with small ring Mauser's. I don't want to buy another semi inlet stock besides I know how do it. I just need to quit being lazy.

Just got my Mini-14 mounted in a new black A-TM folding stock. Hand guard doesnt match and is just a bit too fat to line up with the profile of the stock. So out come the rasps and sand paper. In the process of that now. Ill strip it and stain it to match after i get the contour better. It looks much closer in color in the pic than in real life.

Im not really in love with the front sight/flash hider combo. More to come on that and the barrel touchups.

For now, enjoy this pic

Had to repair my fiber optic sight on the 6 inch 617. The rod wasn't bright, nor large enough to see at the local indoor range so I had to put a new rod in and let it extend just a tad more so that when I burned it it would be larger and just enough bigger.

First rod did not stay put even though it was the right size. I had to super glue the front
in before it would stay put. Not a difficult task.

Nothing really to write home about. I'm reading my copy of Gunsmith Kinks II and I am liking all of the information in it. I can't wait to get into volumes III and IV.

I found a copy GK IV at an estate/garage sale a while back. Have yet to read it.

Im currently matching the stain for my A-TM mini 14 stock. The handguard is birch while the stock is a natural dark walnut. 4 tablespoons of Lenmar Dark Walnut lacquer stain, 1/2 teaspoon of New England Walnut, and a 1/4 teaspoon of red dye. It looks pretty good, just waiting for my sample to dry. Good thing this is my real job lol! Ill finish it with oil and wax.

BigBlue 94 said:

I found a copy GK IV at an estate/garage sale a while back. Have yet to read it.

Im currently matching the stain for my A-TM mini 14 stock. The handguard is birch while the stock is a natural dark walnut. 4 tablespoons of Lenmar Dark Walnut lacquer stain, 1/2 teaspoon of New England Walnut, and a 1/4 teaspoon of red dye. It looks pretty good, just waiting for my sample to dry. Good thing this is my real job lol! Ill finish it with oil and wax.

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I hear you. I bought my copy of the first volume from a member on another forum I frequent quite often and have read it cover to cover. The information in it was so extensive I know I'll never remember everything I read but it certainly has a dedicated place in my smithing library. After I bought that book I must have had the luck of the Irish on my side because my in-laws bought me the other 3 volumes for my library. I was absolutely gobsmacked when I opened my mail box. I am one lucky man.

Yesterday i chopped my mini 14 barrel down to 16 inches and threaded the end. The spindle on my lathe was about 3" too wide to run the barreled action through it. Hmmm... So i chucked up the muzzle end in the 4-jaw and supported the receiver end in a steady rest. Made my marks, turned the new muzzle end down to .495" and parted the old muzzle end off. Used a die to cut the threads, then some Brownells Oxpho Blue on the newly machined surfaces. Also used some on a few scratches and whatnot. Also finished waxing my newly re-stained birch handguard and mounted it all up in the Samson A-TM folder.

My order from Accuracy Systems came in today so next is putting on the new adjustable gas block and harmonic stabilizer, 580 series front and rear sights, and a buffer pad. Gonna finish it off with an extended A2 birdcage flash hider.

I do have one of the old school barrel shrouds that i may incorporate as well, depending on looks.

I had a neighbor bring me his Savage Varmint in HMR17 that would not eject. I got my bore scope out which would not go into the bore but would cover the chamber. This is what I found.


This give you an idea of the size, ~ 1/8" long.


The cause was the last round in the magazine hanging on the lip of the chamber.


Do not want to get carried away since this is a rimfire. This Savage has the FP on top of the bolt. The fix was to knock off the sharp edge to prevent it from shaving brass. I used a scraper to do this. Not a lot of room to work in. I used some Bore Shine to polish the chamber up after I finished up.

I took a set of Ebay wood stocks for a RB J Frame, refinished them and fit them to my old Model 1903 I Frame. At the same time I took some Flitz and cloth to the worn nickel finish and cleaned it up a bit. Came out really good, I am happy now Incan actually hold the gun. It’s a nice old shooter. Before and after, still need another coat and oil/buff on the stocks.

I took the CO2 bottle out of my 1911 BB Gun Pistol which looks and sort of operates like a 1911. I cut the end of the CO2 cartridge off and filled it with hot molten lead. After cooling, I placed the cartridge back in the mag, and the mag into the pistol. It now has about same weight as my 1911 Pistol with a empty mag in the well. Used my wife's kitchen scale to measure. I now have a pistol that I can use for exercising my pistol arm of the proper weight that won't ever shoot a hole in the wall.

Installed the Accuracy Systems adjustable gas block and stabilizer bar on my Mini-14, as well as a rear Tech Sight and a factory 58x series front sight.

I didnt have a new roll pin for the front sight so i drilled it with a #36 drill and tapped it to 6-32; all the way through, so even the barrel has threads on it. Then i put a set screw in one side then two in the other side, all jammed together.

I had previously chopped the barrel to 16.x inches and threaded it for a flash hider. Mounted in an A-TM samson stock and a refinished ASI birch handguard.

Found the old Weaver C4 scope that i think was on it 20 some years ago. Ill probably sight it in then remove it just because i like irons on the mini.

All thats left is the flash hider i havent ordered yet...

BigBlue 94 said:

Installed the Accuracy Systems adjustable gas block and stabilizer bar on my Mini-14

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Good stuff! Too bad factory mags are so expensive and aftermarket are crap. I keep telling MagPul that if they came out with a Mini mag they would own the market. So far that's fallen on deaf ears.

troy fairweather said:

I see factory ruger mags all the time for $20ish

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I don't. Usually $35+ for a 20 round. $50+ for a 30. And I won't pay $50 for junk mags of any type. MagPul is proven by myself and many others on the 2 way range. They were issued to us at Bragg before we deployed along with the older style GI mags. The MagPul worked much better in that environment.

Point me to your source with the good prices.

troy fairweather said:

I like the pmags don't know if they make any for the mini tho. Are mags are 10 round here but did see them for good price at Tommy gun warehouse in pa.

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I have had fine luck with the Promag mini 20rd mags. Been using one for like 20 years. Most Ruger factory mags i see are $1.50 per round

Lol i read that as pro mag instead of Pmag

I ordered a stainless guide rod for my cz 75. Then my in-laws arrived so I swapped out a good alternator and new belt for on old pair in their Kia Soul. There is not a lot of room under that hood.

After that finger blistering, hand cramping, 90 minute solo escapade, just about any gunsmithing task seems easy. The things we do for love…

Stay safe.

Broke a driver bit off. Trying to disassemble an AI bipod so I can try to convert from AI spigot to Parker Hale spigot but man the screws do not come out, with liquid wrench, or heat so far. Starting to get frustrating.

Got a new rebound spring for my Colt Gold Cup Trophy 1911-22. Makes the gun recycle much better.

Assembled my GAU-5A/A inspired build. Built because my uncle gave me a SinglePoint OEG that my grandpa had.

A1 upper
A2 lower
10.5" rosco barrel
XM-177 faux moderator, extended and welded on for 16.1"
Correct 2 position collapsing stock
Correct tapered CAR handguard
Incorrect A2 grip, but it was free...
Small Magpul MOE cantilever pic rail
Duracoat in Colt Gray with flattener added
Mil-spec trigger stoned and polished to a perfect 5 lbs.

Shown on my newly built reloading bench, because its the only clean area


Colt gray vs black. Duracoat takes forever to air cure so i got a few touch up spots to do.

troy fairweather said:

Nice did you have the upper already, I've been trying to find one for a retro build. Aero used to make them but I don't see any.

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Ive had it almost a year now lol. Cant remember where i got it. I wanna say its a Luth-AR part.

I have installed a front and rear sight on this rifle today. These are the before pictures. I did refinish all of the metal and the stock once upon a time. I also jeweled the bolt, peened the screw heads back into shape, removed most of the pitting that was on the barrel and re-blued all of the metal.
Now I'll tell you all the history of how I became the owner. It was 2018 when I was cruising through a gun show at the Orange Show fairgrounds in San Bernardino Ca. My home town by the way from which I moved away from 30+ years ago and never looked back. Except to visit family and friends.
When I bought her she was in rough shape as you would expect from an import from SAMCO in the early 1990s. There was black paint covering all of the visible metal and even in the action. The rear sight was missing and the stock had deep gouges but overall functional for a truck gun.
As many of you may note it has been sporterized. I didn't do the initial chopping. The only parts that are # matching is the barrel and receiver. It has a born on date of 1907. She is an 1893 action the escaped the arsenal modification of 1916. Note that she doesn't have the oval gas escape hole milled in the left side of the receiver. Her serial # is a low production # and begins with Q.
What was cool the seller let me disassemble her in front of him to let me check the metal below the wood line. She has a very little bit of pitting on the right side of the receiver below the wood line. That alone gave me the haggling room I needed. He was asking $500 and didn't know the chambering. She is chambered for 7mm Mauser and passed the headspace gauges. I paid $250 for her.

More pictures to follow.