Need suggestions on a cheap winter project. $300 budget

[WestKentucky]

As said in title, I'm looking for something cheap to occupy my time over the winter after I'm done with deer and coyote. Figure it's better to start looking early so I have more time to pick and find a project. I'm wide open. Handgun, long gun or even mini artillery. Let me know what soundalike fun for $300 or less. I want to build and modify, not buy something to put together.

 

[illinoisburt]

Build your own can. Lots of design options, component costs are low. Majority of cost will be filing and tax payment. Would certainly be interesting and have really good personal satisfaction when complete.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Buy a surplus-something parts kit and machine your own receiver?

Scour classifieds sites and build the world's cheapest AR?

 

[Legionnaire]

Do you reload? My winter project is usually in that vein.

 

[WestKentucky]

I do reload but since we became a single income family I cut back on shooting. I don't have much reloading to keep me busy. I have been thinking more and more about the project and I think I want functional AND decorative. I'm thinking hard about a scaled down cannon but I am still wide open. I will be doing my normal ritual of hoarding scrap lumber to make target stands. Hopefully this year I can get some time in on building something fun out of something much less fun. I might go to the junk-bin at the gun shows to find a starting point.

 

[zerobarrier]

Buy a old beat up revolver on gunbroker and reblue it and fix up the insides

 

[barnbwt]

Convert and reweld a PPS43 or CZ26 to a closed-bolt semi auto pistol.

TCB

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Get a used dept store brand pump gun and trick it out.

 

[Steve CT]

Get a stainless revolver and high polish it, it can be done entirely by hand with patience and careful work, or speed things up with a bench grinder/polishing wheel set up.

Winter evenings sitting in front of TV with a pile of old t-shirt rags, Mothers Mag Wheel Polish, and the beverage of choice?

DUH!

 

[N1vram]

How about a old lever action like a marlin 336 or Remington as a project?

 

[IlikeSA]

Flintlock or percussion cap pistol, rifle or shotgun. They can be had in varying degrees of completeness.

You could also buy a Cold Steel Tomahawk and trick it out. Here are some images from another forum to get you started: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/483042-Mod-ing-The-CS-Trail-Hawk

It is 117 pages long.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

Thunder Mug (black powder noise maker) BIG noise!

 

[dprice3844444]

emotion lotion,baby oil and a few good books on massage

 

[Mosin Bubba]

Bubba a Mosin. Refinish the stock, reblue it, mod the trigger, glass-bed it, etc. I butchered my rifle and it was pretty darn fun.

 

[rcmodel]

Find an old Plumb or Winchester ax or hatchet head at a flea market and make it new again.

Good cheap fun, and a useful item when you get done!

Check out this thread from end to end.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=716765&highlight=Plumb+hatchet

I had a real good time doing it & spent less then $10 bucks.

rc

 

[WestKentucky]

RC might be onto something. My truck bag has a few essential survival tools in it including a 3lb axe and a 4lb maul, both without handles, and a dozen steel wedges. Handle-free makes them VERY compact (and useful) I figure if I ever need them I can limb down a sapling and make that work in a pinch. Another very nice bonus to not having a handle on them means I'm not constantly dragging them out of the truck for other purposes. The maul works well as a kayak anchor...hatchet works well as a butt-rest when trying to get precise elevation for long range rifle shots...so they still come out but not as much.

 

[srtolly]

I do this too but with a smaller budget. Last year was an old Taurus revolver, year before was a coast to coast shotgun, before that was a Mosin. Lots of fun and less than $200 cash into each (I'm not counting any labor of course).

 

[Legionnaire]

I think I want functional AND decorative.

How about a cap'n ball revolver project? Black powder is a hoot, and a project to "age" an open top Colt or an 1858 Remington would be cool. Here's my project 1847 Walker ... It's fully functional, and very decorative. I'm into it for less than $300.

rc, the hatchet thread/project is very cool!

 

[clg114]

I am going to build a Trebuchet. I got the plans online. This should be a interesting project for those snowy days. I've got lots of time and can gather materials as I need them. Technically, this is a weapon.

 

[WestKentucky]

A trebuchet sounds pretty friggin sweet. My issue with that (which is why I haven't built one) is that I have nowhere to play with it so my size is restricted to pickup truck bed and that doesn't seem like fun. I have built a miniature trebuchet in high school that would fling marbles.