Stage one, Plains Pistol Re-make, Complete.

Ugly Sauce

Ugly Sauce

Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2020
Messages
6,183
DSC07824.JPG
I de-farbed both barrels, and took the golf-club grip off the handle. The .50 barrel, bottom, I experimented my de-farbing on before I did it to the .54 barrel. On the .50, I left the "Plains Pistol .50", and the "Middletown Conn." address on the top flat. The .54 is totally naked, except for the serial number. (in case any creepy big town lawyers are reading this)(the serial # remains on the .50 barrel also)

The defarbing went well, didn't take long. Kept all the lines straight. On the .50 barrel, in just the right light you can see the trace of a "Y" on one flat. The .54 there is no trace of any lettering ever being on it. And the .54 was bad. Warnings and this and that, "read the instruction manual" "call your lawyer" "call 911 before using", had ".54 cal" on it in two places/flats, one place it said "Plains Pistol .54", and on another flat said just ".54 CAL" real big. And the big "I", and made in Italy, blah blah blah and dang you needed a book mark to read the whole thing. Anyhow, I'll leave them in the white, and in a couple years or three they will age and gray nicely. Hey...no hurry...right?

The last stage will be to cut the end off the handle, just the very end, and put on a silver butt-cap.

Side note, when I took it to the shop, the barrel was loaded, so I took aim at a soaking wet chunk of 6X6 beam (or bigger) that none of the revolvers will shoot through. Wow, that .54" ball over 70 grains of Pixie Dust DESTROYED it. !!! Went through, blew out the back side. That ball didn't even know it was there. ! I was impressed. I don't think it would be my first choice to smack Grizz with, but I'm pretty sure it will get his (or hers) attention!!!

The Baby Beast says: "thanks for listening". And: "I feel much better now". :)
 
Good-looking work in progress. A silver butt cap will really spruce it up.

Glad you were able to remove the unnecessary billboard advertisements and warnings. Too bad they aren't all on the bottom flat, just ahead of the breech plug.
 
Acorn Mush said:
Good-looking work in progress. A silver butt cap will really spruce it up.

Glad you were able to remove the unnecessary billboard advertisements and warnings. Too bad they aren't all on the bottom flat, just ahead of the breech plug.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was thrilled to find that .54 barrel, or actually it found me, but the billboard got to me more and more, and today I cracked. But, I really like it now, I think I'll take the rest of the lettering off the .50" barrel too. Now it looks, (and "feels"?) is like what it's supposed to be, a single shot percussion pistol. Not a portable, very noisy billboard. :) Ha ha, yeah, on the bottom flat. Maybe they could just put stickers on them when new, that one could peel off. That would be good. You can peel the stickers off chain-saws, snow blowers and such, why not single shot pistols???
 
I liked the look of the totally naked barrel on the .54 so much that I took the remaining lettering off the .50" barrel. I had left the "plains pistol .50" on the next to top flat, and the Lyman address on the top flat. Thought that was okay at the time, but boy do they look good scrubbed of all markings. (except the serial #, creepy big city know it all arrogant lawyers)

Gives the pistol a whole different "vibe". Yes, a bit too bright at the moment, but they will turn a nice grey eventually.
DSC07826.JPG
 
Ugly Sauce said:
Maybe they could just put stickers on them when new, that one could peel off. That would be good. You can peel the stickers off chain-saws, snow blowers and such, why not single shot pistols???
Click to expand...
Hoo boy! What do you want to do, give all them high-priced corporate lawyer-boys and girls the vapors? 🤣
I think it's a great idea myself.
 
Acorn Mush said:
Hoo boy! What do you want to do, give all them high-priced corporate lawyer-boys and girls the vapors? 🤣
I think it's a great idea myself.
Click to expand...
I hope they get the vapors...and may their car windows not roll down. You know if one is halfway skilled with a file, and is careful, it does not take long. I was afraid the lines of the flats would get all catty-whompus, or whacky, but they are as straight as ever. I cross filed until I could just barely see the lettering, then I draw-filed and SHAZAM! All gone. Then some sanding with rough and then finer and finer sand paper, finishing with steel wool and scotch brite. Maybe two hours on the pistol barrels, I'd like to do my TC short .58 smooth barrel, but that's a whole lot more surface area. One of these days.....
 
Ugly Sauce said:
I hope they get the vapors...and may their car windows not roll down. You know if one is halfway skilled with a file, and is careful, it does not take long. I was afraid the lines of the flats would get all catty-whompus, or whacky, but they are as straight as ever. I cross filed until I could just barely see the lettering, then I draw-filed and SHAZAM! All gone. Then some sanding with rough and then finer and finer sand paper, finishing with steel wool and scotch brite. Maybe two hours on the pistol barrels, I'd like to do my TC short .58 smooth barrel, but that's a whole lot more surface area. One of these days.....
Click to expand...
I am happy for your success. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to work with a file on anything of any value whatsoever. :D
 
I think steel 1/8 " thick and about 1/2 or a little wider custom hot forged inlaid and polished smooth and checkered and browned pistol grip cap to trigger guard and trunnion would Uber kewl.eslecilly with .54 barrel keep the grip from crack at wrist
 
I have one of these kits waiting my attention as we speak. It was a gift, and it turned out the barrel was in the "recall" range. It took a while to get the new tube from Lyman, and other projects passed it in importance. I intend to fire-blue the hardware, but I'm torn between browning the barrel or, as Ugly Sauce has done, just leave it in the white and let the elements toy with it.

Very nice work, sir!
 
AJumbo said:
I have one of these kits waiting my attention as we speak. It was a gift, and it turned out the barrel was in the "recall" range. It took a while to get the new tube from Lyman, and other projects passed it in importance. I intend to fire-blue the hardware, but I'm torn between browning the barrel or, as Ugly Sauce has done, just leave it in the white and let the elements toy with it.

Very nice work, sir!
Click to expand...
Thank you. It takes a while, but leaving in the white does pay off eventually. I have tried in the past to put some cold blue on, then gently steel wool most of that away to speed up the process, but that often results in bright spots or patchy spots. Getting a light surface rust on it might work good, but I've never tried that. Seems like the modern steels really don't want to rust, other than rusting really bad and then getting pits. I've never tried rusting a barrel in an enclosed environment like some kind of sweat box. I suppose there's an art to it.

I like fire-blue, have done it on other guns. Not a lot on the Plains Pistol to blue. The under rib, nose cap, lock plate and hammer I guess. The barrel might look great fire-blue, but I don't know if it's good to get a barrel that hot. ?

Good luck whatever you do, yeah get-er-done and shoot that sucker. I was going to do some chronographing with my .50" barrel, and some penetration tests, to compare with the .54 barrel later, but not only is it raining, but it's quite windy too.
 
I've browned dozens of barrels. I wouldn't ever attempt to fire-blue one, and that process is generally reserved for small parts in any case. I want this pistol to stand out from the rest of my collection. I may have failed to mention that this one's a 54.

Thinking about it, I may run two concurrent projects. The pistol needs to be built, and I need to refinish and somewhat re-sculpt my old TC Hawken. It was an early effort, and I left a TON of wood on that stock. Compared to the last one I cobbled together, the wrist feels like a 2x4. Accordingly, I'll try to slender the grip of the Plains Pistol a bit as well.
 
Ugly Sauce said:
Thank you. It takes a while, but leaving in the white does pay off eventually. I have tried in the past to put some cold blue on, then gently steel wool most of that away to speed up the process, but that often results in bright spots or patchy spots. Getting a light surface rust on it might work good, but I've never tried that. Seems like the modern steels really don't want to rust, other than rusting really bad and then getting pits. I've never tried rusting a barrel in an enclosed environment like some kind of sweat box. I suppose there's an art to it.

I like fire-blue, have done it on other guns. Not a lot on the Plains Pistol to blue. The under rib, nose cap, lock plate and hammer I guess. The barrel might look great fire-blue, but I don't know if it's good to get a barrel that hot. ?

Good luck whatever you do, yeah get-er-done and shoot that sucker. I was going to do some chronographing with my .50" barrel, and some penetration tests, to compare with the .54 barrel later, but not only is it raining, but it's quite windy too.
Click to expand...

hawg said:
If you want a gray finish you can use Naval Jelly on it.
Click to expand...
What’s the stuff Kibler sells? Jax Black or something? Isn’t that used to make a French grey?
 
hawg said:
If you want a gray finish you can use Naval Jelly on it.
Click to expand...
I might check that out. "Durability" is always my concern. With a pistol it may not be a problem, but with most artificial greying methods, with a rifle, one will get a shiny spot at the balance point of the rifle, where you/I/them carry it at one's side. A natural, time produced grey won't do that. Anyhow, I think I have some of that thar jelly around.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ugly Sauce
Comparing Apples to Grapefruit. (Plains Pistol, heavy loads/.50" and .54")
Replies
16
Views
295
Ugly Sauce
Ugly Sauce
Ugly Sauce
Phase 2 and conclusions (vague) Comparing grapefruit to oranges/Plains Pistol.
2
Replies
25
Views
438
hawg
hawg
Ugly Sauce
The Plains Pistol Graduates to .54" First Impressions.
2 3
Replies
74
Views
2K
Acorn Mush
A
Ugly Sauce
The "BABY BEAST" says: "Happy New Year to you all". See ya in 2024
2 3
Replies
65
Views
2K
Acorn Mush
A
Blackpowdershooter44
  • Locked
.44 Kentucky Pistol Ball Size Question
Replies
10
Views
2K
Blackpowdershooter44
Blackpowdershooter44
Back
Top