Bubba's Custom Shop Examples

[Tallball]

I thought it would be cool to have a thread where we could show some interesting work that Bubba has done.

Post a pic and/or tell a story about Bubba's amazing work!

I recently got a pistol from Bubba's Custom Shop myself...

The Kahr MK9 is a nice pistol. It's a micro-sized 9mm with a six-round magazine, smooth DAO trigger, and a stainless steel frame and slide. I really like the Kahr pistols, and this is their fancy model. These days a new one costs in the low $800's.

Even though Kahr pistols are very nice for someone who wants a small DAO pistol, any good thing can probably be improved on...

The first step Bubba took in tactically optimizing the pistol was to make the slide very, very shiny. The stainless slide was originally the ordinary matte finish, way too low-key. Bubba added BLING! He shined and shined until you can literally see your face in it. (Peekaboo!) I own another pistol that he did the same custom finish on. The secret to this tactical optimization is that shiny things are very slippery... so racking the slide on a pistol this shiny is very exciting! Exciting is a Bubba trademark! And yes, he polished the slide release, too! How could there be too much of a good thing?

The second step involved the idea that a heavy pistol with low bore axis and textured grips will probably move in your hand a whole lot if you shoot 9mm rounds through it. The only way to prevent this, according to Bubba's careful research is... can you guess? If you guessed "gouge the metal grip 100 times with a sharp tool", you are correct! Congratulations! That's just what Bubba did! The gouges are a way to improve your grip from "100% not moving in my hand" to "101% not moving in my hand". They're also an amazing way to customize the look, by adding bits of dirt and corrosion to the new "moon crater" finish.

In all seriousness, I won this thing for a $339 bid on GB. I knew that the finish was messed up, but it was described as being in good mechanical condition, so I bid the minimum. It looks terrible beyond belief, worse than the picture. It was shot a fair amount, but it does seem to be in solid mechanical condition. It was dry and dirty (my favorite combo), but not noticeably worn beyond a smiley face at the end of the barrel. I'll shoot it next Wednesday or Thursday. I'm expecting it will shoot fine. If so, it was a good deal for $339 plus shipping and FFL.


What did Bubba do to your gun? Make us laugh or cry!

Kahr MK9.jpg

• Tallball
• Sep 8, 2023

 

[Riomouse911]

I have purchased a couple of square butt S&W K-frame handguns that had the front of the grip frame cut off at an angle. I think the previous owners were either trying to make round butt frames out of them or they had some grips

Luckily aftermarket square butt grips fit and cover Bubbas handiwork.

I also bought cheap a CAI reimport 3” model 36 that Bubba Jr. “polished” with what looks like steel wool to remove all of the bluing. Junior also buffed away half the S&W logo trying to remove the CAI electro pencil markings that were under the cylinder on the left side.

I had it repolished to get rid of most of the damage and reblued to give it a bit of respectability. It’s not pristine, but it looks a heck of a lot better than it did and it shoots just fine.



Stay safe.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

This was a doozie-


Story was when it got stolen it was a bone stock Army Special and when it was recovered years later, Bubba had tried to convert it to a Python, adding a full underlug, upper rib, and S&W rear sight assembly. The trigger was homemade and the hammer would push-off if you looked at it crosswise!

 

[12Bravo20]

I've seen some doozies in my time. One of the worst is when a guy used an old fashion hand twist drill to try and drill holes in a Polymer 80 pistol frame and then wondered why it wouldn't work. He actually did this twice with a hand drill and even messed up a third frame using a cordless drill.

Here is the latest hack job I have seen where the guy posted it online and asked for everyone's opinion. It is a PSA Dagger frame cut down to take G26 magazines.

 

[Tallball]

@12Bravo20, that magazine well job is amazing! I'm apparently WAY undereducated about Bubba's custom work.

 

[12Bravo20]

@12Bravo20, that magazine well job is amazing! I'm apparently WAY undereducated about Bubba's custom work.

Bubba the backyard gun wrecker definitely can amaze people with stupidity.

 

[Mike J]

I've seen some doozies in my time. One of the worst is when a guy used an old fashion hand twist drill to try and drill holes in a Polymer 80 pistol frame and then wondered why it wouldn't work. He actually did this twice with a hand drill and even messed up a third frame using a cordless drill.

Here is the latest hack job I have seen where the guy posted it online and asked for everyone's opinion. It is a PSA Dagger frame cut down to take G26 magazines.

View attachment 1170621

That looks like he cut it with a grinder.

 

[bbqncigars]

What, no black bondo for that custom mag well flare?

 

[12Bravo20]

Here is a photo of Bubba the backyard gun wrecker's skills when it comes to barrel feed ramps. The ID10T took a Dremel with a grinding stone to his feed ramp.



And here is one of an AR when someone kept trying to shoot M855 ammo with a M4 cut upper receiver and barrel without feed ramps.

 

[12Bravo20]

That looks like he cut it with a grinder.

If I had to guess, he used a Dremel cutoff wheel.

 

[drk1]

Sorry this isn't about a handgun, but it applies to anyone who is thinking that they might like to do some "custom" work themselves or even have a professional do it. Many years ago I had a customer that went to Alaska every year for a week-long hunt. He would have a pilot fly him and a friend into a remote area and then pick them and their trophies up a week later. One year he decided that he really wanted a new light-weight custom rifle for that year's hunt. So he shopped around and decided on a well known gunsmith that specialized in light-weight rifles. He even went to met the gunsmith and explain exactly what he wanted. Eight months and about $2300 later the rifle showed up at the place I was working. The customer was getting nervous because he was due to leave on the hunt a week later. So, he picked up the rifle, installed the scope himself, a really nice Swarovski, I think, and went to sight it in. Problem -- he couldn't hit the paper at a hundred yards and this was supposed to be a 500+ yard rifle. Brought the rifle back to me in a minor panic. I looked it over and pretty quickly diagnoised the "problem." When I took the scope and scope mounts off, even he could see the "problem." This well known custome gunsmith had made so many "lightning cuts" on the rifle, including the receiver, that he had weakened the receiver to the point that when he put the barrel in a vise and then tightened the receiver on the barrel with a flat bar through the receiver, he bent the receiver! The holes for the scope mount in front couldn't possibly line up the holes for the scope mount in the back. I don't really know how he had gotten the scope on there, but he did. It was off about 40 feet at 100 yards. I told the customer that I'd send it back to the smith, but he wanted to take it on that year's hunt, because he'd already been telling all the folks in Alaska but this great custom rifle he was having made. So I managed to get some adjustable sope mounts to work after I did a little modification of my own, but I also warned him not to use any really hot loads because the receiver was so weak that I didn't think it would handle them well. He never did tell me if he sent that rifle back to the guy that butchered it. I think that he did say that he decided to borrow a rifle from one of the folks in Alaska even if it weighed a little more.Sorry I don't have any pictures, but there is a moral, I guess, and that's be careful what you wish for but even moreso, be careful about the "gunsmith" you choose.

 

[StrawHat]

I have shown this one previously,



A crudely cut barrel, probably a chop saw, not square in either axis. No crown, no front sight. The grip frame was decently rounded but a bit small for N stocks and maybe a bit small for K frame round stocks, but workable. The action stacked horribly and it showed signs of being fired, a lot! Here is what I found when I removed the stocks.



The strain screw was backed out to substitute for an action job. And the strain screw was lost, so an appropriate Allen screw was used in it’s place.

It was only a step or two ahead of a basket case.

Kevin

 

[EMC45]

Looks like that Dagger was cut with a Stihl.....

 

[Jim Watson]

I have purchased a couple of square butt S&W K-frame handguns that had the front of the grip frame cut off at an angle. I think the previous owners were either trying to make round butt frames out of them or they had some grips

Fuzzy Farrant of the LAPD made grips on the side along with Guy Hogue.
One pattern called for the corner of the butt to be beveled to allow for stocks giving a more pitched grip angle.
Very well known and respected in police revolver collecting.

It was only a step or two ahead of a basket case.

Didn't you clean it up with front sight, etc?

 

[Hillbilly Hydrographics]

 

[DustyRusty]

A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[Riomouse911]

Fuzzy Farrant of the LAPD made grips on the side along with Guy Hogue.
One pattern called for the corner of the butt to be beveled to allow for stocks giving a more pitched grip angle.
Very well known and respected in police revolver collecting.



Didn't you clean it up with front sight, etc?

Thanks for the info, I will look it up.

Makes sense that it was some sort of regular modification because more than one of my older revolvers has that same angular cut on the front of the grip frame. (I can’t recall if it is two or three that have it. All were bought used.) I know my 1930’s vintage Colt Officers Model Heavy Barrel is one, because I just changed the grips this past week.

Weird part is none of them had grips on them that would need such a cut to fit, which is why I assumed that this was some weird “grip lightening cut” or something similar. In fact, the Colts grips had a teeny bit of play, possibly because of the cut, even when cinched down tight. That’s why I bought it some new grips that now fit without the slop.

One certainly can something new every day here!

Stay safe.

 

[Riomouse911]

Just found this on a Colt forum about Fuzzy Farrant’s grip mods. That cut on the image at the bottom is exactly what my guns have had done.



Too bad the grips were gone when I bought the guns.

Stay safe.

 

[Jim Watson]

Thanks for the info, I will look it up.

He made regular grips, too; you might have to dig to see the beveled butt pattern.
Check post #6 at

Model 14 questions.

Hello S&W friends. I have a Model 14, with 6' barrel, made in 1959 that has an unusual shape square frame. The front of the lower butt is cut at a 45-degree angle. I have worked on several S&

smith-wessonforum.com

 

[whatnickname]

I’m gonna have to sign off. These pictures have pushed me to the point of temporary insanity. About the only thing I haven’t seen is the custom engraving that Bubba applies to his guns with an electric pencil. The last one of these custom engraving jobs I saw had been applied to a near mint 1911 Singer that read: “ This pistol belongs to Buddha, so keep yer $**$## hands off.” I needed professional help after that one!

 

[Riomouse911]

That modification and reduction in the lower edge of the grip frame changes the angle of the hands. It almost looks like it spawned the J frame Ergo Grip.

Stay safe.

 

[Riomouse911]

I’m gonna have to sign off. These pictures have pushed me to the point of temporary insanity. About the only thing I haven’t seen is the custom engraving that Bubba applies to his guns with an electric pencil. The last one of these custom engraving jobs I saw had been applied to a near mint 1911 Singer that read: “ This pistol belongs to Buddha, so keep yer $**$## hands off.” I needed professional help after that one!

I was part of the prosecution of some bigot who shot at a guy in a racially motivated assault. He had Bubba’ed a JC Higgins 20 gauge pump shotgun by chopping the stock with a handsaw and engraved “Cuzz Killer” into the receiver in big letters.

That one took the jury just a few minutes of deliberation to return a conviction. (I think most of their time was spent picking a foreman and filling out the forms.)

Some folks are really, really dumb.

Stay safe.

 

[lee n. field]

I thought it would be cool to have a thread where we could show some interesting work that Bubba has done.

Post a pic and/or tell a story about Bubba's amazing work!

I recently got a pistol from Bubba's Custom Shop myself...

The Kahr MK9 is a nice pistol. It's a micro-sized 9mm with a six-round magazine, smooth DAO trigger, and a stainless steel frame and slide. I really like the Kahr pistols, and this is their fancy model. These days a new one costs in the low $800's.

Even though Kahr pistols are very nice for someone who wants a small DAO pistol, any good thing can probably be improved on...

The first step Bubba took in tactically optimizing the pistol was to make the slide very, very shiny. The stainless slide was originally the ordinary matte finish, way too low-key. Bubba added BLING! He shined and shined until you can literally see your face in it. (Peekaboo!) I own another pistol that he did the same custom finish on. The secret to this tactical optimization is that shiny things are very slippery... so racking the slide on a pistol this shiny is very exciting! Exciting is a Bubba trademark! And yes, he polished the slide release, too! How could there be too much of a good thing?

Nifty thing about Kahrs, parts are actually available straight from their website.

Price of the slide makes replacing that kind of unattractive. Bead blast?

I see people on the Innernetz doing the mirror finish polish thing on matte stainless Taurus revolvers. "Ehhh." Let use and carry polish it.

The second step involved the idea that a heavy pistol with low bore axis and textured grips will probably move in your hand a whole lot if you shoot 9mm rounds through it. The only way to prevent this, according to Bubba's careful research is... can you guess? If you guessed "gouge the metal grip 100 times with a sharp tool", you are correct! Congratulations! That's just what Bubba did! The gouges are a way to improve your grip from "100% not moving in my hand" to "101% not moving in my hand". They're also an amazing way to customize the look, by adding bits of dirt and corrosion to the new "moon crater" finish.

Are you talking what I see on the front of the grip?

In all seriousness, I won this thing for a $339 bid on GB. I knew that the finish was messed up, but it was described as being in good mechanical condition, so I bid the minimum. It looks terrible beyond belief, worse than the picture. It was shot a fair amount, but it does seem to be in solid mechanical condition. It was dry and dirty (my favorite combo), but not noticeably worn beyond a smiley face at the end of the barrel. I'll shoot it next Wednesday or Thursday. I'm expecting it will shoot fine. If so, it was a good deal for $339 plus shipping and FFL.


What did Bubba do to your gun? Make us laugh or cry!

I once contemplated an XD40 subcompact as a spare/spare parts gun. Shop had it used for, I think, $200. Original owner had stippled it, it looked like with a ten penny nail. I was hideous. I passed.

 

[whatnickname]

I was part of the prosecution of some bigot who shot at a guy in a racially motivated assault. He had Bubba’ed a JC Higgins 20 gauge pump shotgun by chopping the stock with a handsaw and engraved “Cuzz Killer” into the receiver in big letters.

That one took the jury just a few minutes of deliberation to return a conviction. (I think most of their time was spent picking a foreman and filling out the forms.)

Some folks are really, really dumb.

Stay safe.

Nicely done, sir. Thank you!

 

[12Bravo20]

I’m gonna have to sign off. These pictures have pushed me to the point of temporary insanity. About the only thing I haven’t seen is the custom engraving that Bubba applies to his guns with an electric pencil. The last one of these custom engraving jobs I saw had been applied to a near mint 1911 Singer that read: “ This pistol belongs to Buddha, so keep yer $**$## hands off.” I needed professional help after that one!

I don't know if I want to cry or go hunt that bubba down and give him an old fashion attitude adjustment. I have seen Singer 1911's go at auction for $80,000 and up.