Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day. I made my dad a holster, and gave it to him last week, but I'll let him tell you about it.

My wife is leaving to visit family next week in Florida, and she's taking my car, because it's a gas-saver, so I'm picking up my dad's motorcycle tonight. it's a Honda Goldwing. Super-gas saver, and about as comfortable as you can get on two wheels.

And next Monday? Why the old man, my brothers and me are going to a 300 yard range.

Heh.

.308 Monday

Monday, my father and I traipsed off to our private range for a little trigger time. I recently updated my .308 with a Choate stock, and I wanted to see how it shot. Results were good, with my group average being around 8/10ths of an inch. Most groups were around 3/4 of an inch. I also brought a Handi-rifle in .308 of my father's that I will probably be hunting with this year. It shoots well, but I will probably take it out a few more times to make sure it's right.


Dad brought two hunting rifles as well, both in .308. He had a Savage and a Remington with him. both gave great cold barrel shots. both are capable of taking game.


It was a great day.

Meatstravangaza

Being that my friends Emily and Will werein town last week, we had a party last week. it involved lots of food, and we dubbed it the Meatstravangaza.

Here you see Brisket; Roast pork; Roasted potatoes and carrots; Potatoes smothered in ranch ,cheese, chive, and bacon; pit beans; and pistolettes.

Also there was beer. lots of beer.

Also, my friend Jess, and my brother Barrett decided to do shots of pork drippings.

No Crap.

New Shooter

So last week, my friends from Florida, Emily and Will came for a visit. They were great house guests... you know, the type you don't mind having around. Anyway, Will informed me that he had never shot a gun before, so I knew what I was going to be doing on Tuesday.

We started with .38 special loads from a 4 in. Taurus .357 magnum. Recoil was minimal, and he handled it easily, keeping 6 shots in about a 6 inch group at 7 yards. Not bad at all for a first timer!

We moved on to .357 magnum loads, and he handled those with ease as well, So I gave him my S&W snubbie with .38's. I think he only shot one cylinder... obviously not a recoil junkie.

I moved him to my 1911, and he truly enjoyed that, putting 30 or so rounds downrange. I think it was his favorite handgun.

Finally, I gave him a 20 ga. pump shotgun. He REALLY liked that!

Anyway, I didn't get any pictures, but he had a blast.

Count that as one more citizen that has been acquainted with guns.

Keychain Flair.

I was at my Dad's yesterday, and I was looking at his reloading bench. I became inspired.

That's the bullet I fire in my Savage. Well, it would be if I had put powder behind the bullet. And there was a primer in it. And if I hadn't drilled out the primer hole and hammered a cotter-pin into it...

But it makes a nice keychain, no?

Leatherworking+Guns=WIN

It's no secret that I like guns. It's also no secret that I enjoy leatherworking. I have recently combined the two. It's pure awesome.

The 'JD' in the welt? we in the family refer to that as the 'Rocking Jay, Dee'. It was my grandfather's and father's cattle brand. I've taken it as my maker's mark.

It rides very well, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Now, I do live in Louisiana, and during the summer, condensation will form on the firearm because it is relatively cool, and my skin, which the holster rides next to, is relatively hot, so I only use this holster if pocket carry isn't an option due to the fit of my pants or the cut of the pocket. If I use this holster, I have to clean the weapon afterwards to remove moisture and re-lubricate it, but I LOVE the way it rides. During the winter, It will probably be my everyday carry holster.

Now, I'm left-handed, so it rides on my left hip, right above my wallet. I don't have to remove it to get in a car, and it will stay comfortably there all day.

It turned out.

Stock Finished (or 'Look, I Made a Gun!')

Ok, so I didn't actually make a gun, I just put a stock on one, but the Wife and I were at a friend's house eating barbecue the other week, and said friend commented that my blog had two types of posts :Look, I made something! , and Look, I have a gun!....

I responded by commenting that I also sometimes posted about food, but whatever. The parenthesised title is for her.

Anyway, I filled the right-handed bolt handle hole in my rifle stock, then I painted it. The paint isn't an exact match, but it's close. And, yeah, I'm no professional gunsmith, but I'm happy with the results.

After the bedding compound set up, I cleaned it up with a pocketknife and a file. I then put a light coat of ultra-flat camouflage green paint on the epoxied spot. After it dried a bit, I put it in it's case and left it alone for a week. It's hard to tell in the photos, but apparently the epoxy wasn't fully dry, and it reacted with the paint, giving the epoxy a slightly textured appearance that more closely matches the stock. Happy mistake. Here's a wider shot.

I know it's a bit amateur-ish, but hell, I'm an amateur. I'll let ya'll know how it shoots.

Big Shooty Boom-Stick

So I mentioned recently that I’m in the process of fitting a stock to my gun. Well, the stock in question is a ‘The Ultimate Sniper’ stock made by Choate. It’s made to fit a Savage model 10, with the short action and a heavy barrel. I just so happen to have one. BUT…. This project is anything but ‘drop-in’ The biggest thing is that the stock is made for a right-handed action. I’m left-handed, and have a left-handed model 10.

So I had to cut a chunk out of the stock… after measuring and eyeballing and marking for a good twenty minutes, I took a hacksaw and made two cuts on marked lines down the stock to a marked ‘stopping line’. I then made perhaps six or eight cuts between the first two, and basically chipped out an opening. I attached the action and checked the fit. The hole was the correct width. I removed the action again. I then used a bastard file and a triangle file to set a slope to the bottom of the notch, and to dress the sides and clean up the hack-saw marks. During this process I played the ‘attach/detach action’ game perhaps half a dozen times. Everything finally fit!

I went to screw in the action screws. The one closest to the trigger guard bottomed out on the bolt, essentially preventing the action from being cycled. I found a #6 split-ring washer and put it on the action screw, and it fit properly. Next, I went to insert the forward action screw. It was too short! (no, I didn’t reverse them. I had them marked) I brought the stock out to my shop, and searched until I found a bit that fit the hole snugly, without binding. I seated the screw in the action, sans stock, and counted threads, then subtracted that number from the total number of threads on the screw. Keeping this number in mind, I slowly removed a few millimeters from the bedding block’s screw hole. I inserted the action screw in the hole. Not enough threads. I drilled some more (repeat, repeat, repeat)…. Eventually, I had enough screw sticking out that I could mount the barrel and action to the stock. That went off without a hitch.

Next, I tried to figure out how to mount my bipod to the stock. It has some weird rail system that I’ve never seen before, and it doesn’t really work with an off-the-shelf-bipod from Gander Mountain. I was able to remove one of the rail’s hex-head retaining screws and insert a sling swivel into the forend, but I had to add 3 washers in order to get it high enough up past the rails to mount my bipod. This led to me realizing that the bottom of the forend of this stock is flat, whereas the bipod was made to fit onto a standard, curved-bottomed rifle stock, so the mount isn’t exactly secure. I’m going to have to either find a bipod with a flat mounting area so it will mate to the stock better, or I’m going to have to find the mounting components for this rail system and invest in a few parts.

I believe I’m going to get some bedding compound and fill in the bolt handle slot on the right side of the gun. It’s not hurting anything how it is, but I’d like to clean it up a bit to make it look nicer and to help prevent dust and things form getting on the underside of the receiver.

And fitting this stock has taught me a few things. Like ‘there’s no such thing as a drop-in stock’… and that while washers may sometimes help, like with the action screw, sometimes they just help over-complicate things, like with the bipod. Overall, though, I like the stock. It adds a lot of weight, which is a help with a target rifle. It looks nice. It was a fun project. And hell, it brought a bit of excitement back to this gun for me. I have less than 150 rounds through the gun, and I get 1 and ¼ inch groups at 200 yards consistently. Maybe I can wring more accuracy out of this gun now. Hell, maybe the accuracy will go to crap now, and I’ll have to eventually put the old stock back on. But I’ll tell ya’ll something… I’m having a blast working on the rifle, and I’ll have a lot of fun shooting it this summer while I find out what it can do. I’ll post some more pictures when it’s done!

A Gunnie Household

What do you find next to the root vegetables in a gunnie’s kitchen? .45ACP brass, of course!

Leatherworkin'

Sometimes, I make things for other people while I’m at work, because, well, I’m demonstrating a period craft anyway, so if I bring my own materials, why not? Over the past two days, I’ve made a dice cup with a lid (used work’s materials, so it stays there) 2 credit card wallets, a hair tie, a bracelet, and these: It’s a purse and ID wallet. No, they aren’t period correct, but the woman I’m making them for doesn’t re-enact. Her initials, ‘AG’ are monogrammed into the flaps of both. Also, the ID wallet is just big enough to hold an ID, a credit card, and a few bills, so if she doesn’t want to carry her purse out, then the ID wallet will just tuck nicely into a hip pocket. Check out an inside view of the set. Oh, who is the mystery woman I’m making a purse for? No, my wife’s not jealous! It’s my mom. She’ll get it as an early mother’s day present.