As y'all may have seen in my other thread, I'm about to make the leap and customize some Rugers! My 10mm "M1877" idea was at the top of the list, but just this week on GunBroker I got a Buckeye Blackhawk in 32-20, and already it has a date with Hamilton Bowen for Bisley-ification, so we're on a roll and I'll see it back to me sometime next year.
At the same time I was asking Clements about Bearcat mods, and got on his waitlist for a .327 Federal Bearcat. However, since I now have an awesome .32 coming in (eventually), I'm less-inclined to spend the big bucks for a tinier equivalent, but I love my stainless Bearcat so just might make more reasonable mods to it. I've always thought of my Bearcat as an ultimate "bug out" gun (though I emphasize I'm not a 'survivalist' kind of guy) since it's tiny, ammo takes up little space and is bone-common, gat itself is nearly indestructible, etc.
Here are my thoughts:
- have Clements do the whole tune-up on the action, leave the sights fixed but maybe add some paint or tritium for visibility.
- Replace the steel grip frame with one of the old aluminum ones for weight? Maybe anodize it a neat color?
- Either take the current steel cylinder and lighten it as much as possible with heavy fluting and a BP chamfer, or else have a new cylinder made and see if it can hold more than 6 rounds, and also how light it can be made. If we get really crazy, are there people I can send the original cylinder too and then can make me an unchambered one in aluminum, scandium, titanium, or some other such lightweight exotic metal?
- In whatever case, have the cylinder chambered for .22 WMR, so that allows me to carry a much more powerful cartridge in barely more space than a .22LR.
- Here's the clever brainstorm that hit me: if I rechamber to WMR I can't (safely) shoot LR anymore, unless I carry around a whole spare cylinder which kinda defeats part of the "ultra-compact" purpose. But what if I got a cartridge adapter for WMR to LR, and then used Blue (non-permanent) Loctite to firmly affix it to one chamber? That way I could carry 5 shots of WMR ready for defensive use, but one chamber of LR so if I saw a groundhog or a quail I could free-wheel the cylinder to the marked chamber and pot-shoot it? And in my go-bag I could pack even more ammo since I could store .22 Short and CB for the smallest game.
I know it seems like a lot, but on the simplest level, based on Clements' prices (and I already own the Bearcat):
http://www.clementscustomguns.com/bearcat.html
Action job- $185
.22 magnum conversion- .22LR cyl rechambered to .22 Magnum, cal. designation removed from cyl. and remarked 22M on face of cyl. Firing pin protrusion maximized, gun is testfired for function with 3 different brands of ammo, forcing cone and crown checked and recut if needed at owners discretion with extra charge added for this service- $195 Not available for OM Bearcat
If I want to get fancier lightening it up
and making it look cool:
Remove rollmarkings from cyl.- $50
Flute above cyl.- $100
Add blackpowder chamfer to fluted cyl.- $70
Scollop recoil shield- $125
So just the .22 WMR conversion would run me $195 and then $28 for a chamber adapter, so no reason not to do that. Going deluxe (except for the crazy idea of having an exotic-metal cylinder made and sourcing an old grip), it would run me $725 in Clements-work (plus shipping and FFL fees).
That said, if I get an exotic cylinder made, especially if the cylinder-maker can flute and chamfer it as part of the design, I can deduct $220 from the Clements cost, and deduct maybe another $100 since I can sell the really clean original cylinder, so anything the new cylinder costs up to $320 is a freebie. Any idea who might make such a thing? It doesn't have to be a gunsmith, just anyone who does metal-milling (CNC?) who can scan/mic the original cylinder and copy it onto a different material, provided Clements thinks the new material can handle the pressure. And *big* if, but if the cylinder-reproducer can just scan and copy an (unchambered) cylinder, can I also send along the steel grip and have it copied in exotic metal? I realize a one-off might be pricey, so a group-buy may be in order, but the idea has potential.
How crazy and/or clever is this idea? Even if I just go with the standard Clements package and don't source any exotic parts, $725 is totally doable for my "dream Bearcat" since the donor gun is already money (happily) spent years ago.