xtriggerman

The polish that can be archived with a hand rub compound or a 600 dry compound on a loose muslin wheel spinning at the correct 1800rpm is 2 completely different grades. The OP's posted picture is the result of the second form of polishing. Surface prep in the way of working down left behind machine cutter lines or course factory cut is a critical part of the process. Custom cutting wood sanding blocks to match contours to get to a 400g is a time consuming operation so much so that most don't do it. That's why I prefer to glass bead blast certain contours and save the high polish for flats to speed a job along like this one....

Yeah a quick search as suggested brought this up "Just an update. I emailed pietta and they responded very quickly. A gunsmith from EMF called and explained a short transfer bar from a .22 had been factory installed by mistake. He also stated it had happened to a few. They were happy to take care of it. Thanks to everyone for the replies. " Ha, Ha.... a improper transfer bar will certainly disrupt proper FP protrusion! QC didn't catch that......

If the piece in question is relatively well finished as it is to start, your in good shape at that price range. I had a Full service gun smith shop 83-96 after gunsmith school in Pittsburgh. I have all the proper tools & machines to do mirror with out washing out your stamps & edges out. PM me if your interested But it will not be done right away. I would get the piece from you only when I have time to run it threw in a couple days & give it back. Its just a hobby.....

OK, this what you need to know. First of all, how is the cylinder end shake? That is the movement of the cylinders forward and back "with" unfired cartridges in the cylinders. It really should not make a difference between loaded or empty since the head space should not effect it "if " the head space is good. But lets start out with end shake first. The cylinders should have very little forward and back movement to the tune of .003 0r .004 MAX. You can gauge it at the barrel cylinder gap with feeler gauges. If you have more than that, you start leaning on the head space to be more perfectly in step. It all boils down to how much cartridge movement do you have from the recoil face of the frame until the cartridge has a dead stop in forward movement from the firing pin forcing it forward. All ready, you are in deficit with only 1/16th FP protrusion. There should be 3/32 minimum, not 1/16th. So any extra forward "slop" of the cartridge will yield light hits. And the case for that increases as you get to the last cartridges in the cylinder simply because the fired cartridges will take up more and more of the cylinder end shake by there expansion holding the cylinder more & more forward in the frame, making the FP protrusion more critical. The cheapest way to make it shoot anything is to get improved FP protrusion and secondly a stronger hammer strike if better pin protrusion doesn't fix the issue all together. After that, it would be a cylinder end shake issue and or head space problem. Either of which is definitely a send it back problem. Pietta has a relatively good CS. So don't be afraid to send it back if you don't have a decent gun smith to tweek it right for little pocket change.

How much do you want to spend & on how much coverage?

Mine expires in 7 months. I'll find out about the requirements next time I'm past the DMV. For a C note of savings, why not.

I finally bought one with 67K on it a couple months ago. With a little basic work, I should see about 320hp under the hood out of the 4.6 Cobra engine and still get at least the 24mpg running 78mph steady as it got on the way home. These power everything inside are incredibly comfortable cars. I had to pony up 5K for mine but its a FL car with zero rust on its belly. I'm restoring it now in the garage. Haven't had a vehicle labor of love in a long time.... only 40,000 97 & 98's were ever produced.

On the contrary, Folks following directions of one article on the subject still believe its easy peasy simply because to quote the article, " Remove feed rails and widen frame to accept magazines". Hows that for cutting bubba loose with a dremil & grind stone. Lesson here is NEVER EVER buy a SKS that has been home modified for AK mags unless you take it apart and actually see the recoil shoulder is still attached to the receiver ring with most of the mag well metal. It pains me to think about how many good SKS receivers have been ground into a potential face grenade because of these old DIY instructions over the years. Like the old saying, Why study & learn when ignorance is instantaneous!

This is a most common question amongst SKS shooting enthusiasts. How can I get my SKS to use AK mags? The sensible answer to that is don't bother, or buy an AK, SKS M or D or get one of Marcus's various adapters that uses AR type mags. Technically, there is a lot of modifying to be done to a standard SKS receiver to get a AK mag to run in the gun AND still maintain the strength & design integrity of the SKS action. A few years ago Shot Gun News ran a gun smithing article on how to do the conversion and in my opinion it was a total butcher job. First of all, the SKS being of tilting bolt design relies on the left and right rails of the receiver to support the bolt locking shoulder. Cutting away at them willy nilly so a AK mag can fit up in there is a good way to ruin your SKS. I don't even like the SKS D or M models that were factory SKS AK mag-ed for commercial sales. For one, they weakened the right side receiver rail by milling completely threw one area of the mag well "flat". Also, the SKS was designed to have a bolt hold open. This integral part of the design is a crucial component to keep it "mil Spec" duty. Deleting the BHO creates 2 mechanical shortcomings that was designed out of the AK. 1) the SKS firing pin, upon many dry firings can "volcano" the firing pin hole in the bolt face leading to blown primers from a cookie cutter effect. The AK Firing pin design is not prone to that miss fortune. 2) When the SKS bolt is free slammed on to an empty chamber (no bolt hold open function), the 9-12 o'clock position of the barrel chamber face will eventually be peened out into the chamber wall resulting in a inability to eject fired casings. The ONLY thing that has kept my interest in this AK conversion is the idea that it can in fact be done without harming the structural integrity of the receiver design AND modify a standard steel AK magazine to function the SKS BHO just as the original 10 rd fixed box mag. The following information is NOT a solicitation for doing this for work! I am not in business. This is only one of my beloved hobbies. That said, paying some one to do this is more than likely way, way beyond what any one would want to spend on a SKS but hey, its still a free country just PLEASE, if you decide to do this on a SKS, do it on a bubba'ed up mis matched clunker of no collector value! The first consideration is to remove the most minimal amount of metal from the inner mag well to allow a steel AK mag to fit comfortably in it. In this pic, please know it is imperative you do not mill the radius area any deeper than it is in this pic. I go deep enough on it, just to take the blued finish off and no more. This is also critical to allow the AK mag to function the BHO. The leading edge of the radius is chucked up "level" in the mill vice so each pass replicates the original angled cut. The cutter used for this operation is a 9mm ball nose, 4 flute carbide end mill in a 10mm milling collet. All dimensions in this article relate to a Yugo SKS. The standard width of the SKS receiver is aprox 1.258". The mag well width needed to be achieved in this particular operation is 1.022 - 1.025" . To achieve that, Aprox .025 needs to be milled away from the flat of the mag wall on both sides leaving a finished receiver wall thickness of .118". I set the mill bed stops to the original cut lengths so you simply move the bed over to the opposite side, keeping a mirror length cut of the opposite side as shown. The next operation requires a 4 flute 1/4" square nose carbide end mill cutter. Level the bottom flat of the receiver with the flat of the milling vice to mill parallel with the bottom flat of the receiver. Dye the original flats as pictured and measure 1.480 from the face of the receiver ring back to the flat and scribe a line on both sides of that distance. Zero the cutter off the dyed flat. There are 2 cuts to this operation. one is to maintain the prior cut wall thickness of .118 forward in the well and mill that dyed step down by .075 right up to the scribe line as pictured on both sides uniformly. Once this is done, There will be no more cutting of the receiver side wall. The next cut requires you to bring your cutter back up to your set zero of the dyed flat. This original dyed flat will be maintained with the milling to be done across the mouth of the opening as pictured. The depth of the cut foward could be anything from .035 to .050 as it varies in receivers. But as measuring as before from the face of the receiver ring to this new cut across, you should end up with .985" as pictured here. The width of the cut is only enough to make it across the opening of the well as pictured In this next comparison shot, I have sharpie blacked out the original uncut flat. This high lights the last across cut and pictures the next 2 cuts above it to be made. The next being the same as last using the same 1/4" cutter to form a new "step" over the last across cut. Zero the cutter off the very top of the receiver flat (actual bottom) and bring the mill down .180 and mill across as before. Bring that cut forward toward the ring until you have .940 as the finished distance measuring as before from the face of the receiver ring back to the front wall of this new cut. The final cut here is the use of a 1/4" ball nose carbide 4 flute end mill cutter. Zero the cutter on the top flat and make this cut .140 deep and .100 forward toward the ring and the finished cut will be centered in the receiver as a .320 wide cut. If every thing went as directed, you should have a mag well capable of fitting most steel AK mag dimensions.... At this point, the AK magazine latching hook should be aprox .050 rising up above the receiver flat as in the above pic. Behold.... how the right rail is not milled threw with the high point of the magazine feed lip showing. The next segment of the conversion requires a steel latching step be fabricated and welded over then newly machined latching notch. I use a 110v mig welder for this purpose since it puts very little heat in the receiver. That's a good thing for not disturbing the heat treat hardness but will require an oven re-heat treat at about 375F to relieve some of the stress in the weld joint its self. If not done, the new latching piece could just snap off the receiver at some point with rough use. In my first conversion I simply drilled & taped 2 holes at the latch flat and screwed a latch plate on there and that was more than adequate so you really have a choice here. The next few shots are the making of said latch plate. 2 of them side by side. The relief mill cut is .055 deep. Once the new piece is in a clamped position, take the largest length wise AK mag you have and rock it in and out from under the plate. This will force the plate forward to a position that allows the insertion and removal. Be for warned, AK mags vary greatly in this spec of from under the latch hook to the rear of the mag at the very top of the lock in plate. My widest mag runs 2.515" and I have one at 2.478" So be prepared to mill the leading edge of the welded on plate forward a tad if you run into mags that wont rock into place or you can trim the back edges of the mag. Your choice. The only way this minimally invasive machine work will work out as a reliable feeder is you will have to cut 2 new feed ramps into your chamber face at the 5 and 7 O'clock position. I have never had a single hick up with this feeding or ejecting. As a matter of fact, the pictured feed ramps will feed the big blunt round lead soft points that I don't remember who makes flawlessly. In the next segment, I will describe in detail the AK mag mods needed to function the SKS BHO. OK, The AK magazine works well for its intended purpose due to its robust design and that entails a very strong follower spring and a follower that can slop on past whatever may fall into the hull. Its these 2 features in particular that allow for a follower and hull modification that will reliably function a modified SKS bolt hold open device. First off, The SKS receiver to be used in this conversion can not be a D or M model since neither was machined with the traditional BHO devise. There is only one receiver mod that must be done to the receiver its self. That is to mill down the BHO spring hole wall. I use a 1/8th diameter carbide end mill cutter for this operation. With the receiver chucked belly up flat in the milling vise, set the cutter to zero at the top edge of the wall that separates the spring hole from the mag well its self. Mill this thin wall down by .060" and clean up the cut so as to have the Bolt Hold Open piece slides up toward the bolt by the additional; .060" of travel. It must slide up and down smoothly so any fine edges in the new cut needs to be cleaned out with a dremil and the little spring nub on the back of the hold open can be trimmed a tad for smooth function. The spring need not be cut. The next step is to mod the BHO piece its self. Mill .060 off the very top and .060 off the very bottom of the little hook. This gives a over all new height of .675 and a hook height of .170". The bottom edge must be beveled off as in this pic. The next step is to mill away the follower where it stops on the hull follower nubs. I milled .175" down from the top flat of the follower. Find this area by scribing around the hull stop nub with the follower pressing up against it as in a empty unloaded mag. The intension here is to make the feed lip be the follower stop rather than those 2 nubs in the hull body. Next you need to find a thin leaf of spring as pictured. The spring I used was about .015 thick and I trimmed it to a length of 1.550 and a width of .315". Its welded position allows the top of the spring to protrude .180 above the top of the follower bed. A small relief is cut at the top follower flat where the spring will touch when pushed all the way forward to touch the follower bed. The depth of that cut is to allow the spring to be flush with the top back edge of the follower. This picture captures that thin relief cut and what the final job will look like compared. The back of the hull must be milled as pictured. The top protruding edge is milled down ward by .110". The next mod is to mill a relief of the inside of the magazine as pictured. The mag is set up in the mill vise with the feed lips set at a 70 degree angle from the top of the vice flat. Bring the cut down so it will make a blunt edge at the top of the last operational cut. This cut will allow the slight bend in the spring to get under the BHO as the last cartridge leaves the magazine. Spits em out & locks open like factory!

If you are still using the original flash hider and intend to keep it, remove the sight base from the barrel and have a machine shop remove about .045" off the front end and taper the cut to zero at the back end. Putting shims up there where it gets hot might loosen up over time. If the .045 get you back into adjustment range, lock the base down with blue loc tight. Its an expensive rifle, correct it the right way providing the scope tests out good on a known good rifle. As odd as it sounds, changing out the flash suppressor on a M1A can completely change the elevation POI.

When I was at Buds a couple months ago, they had quite a few French police trade in S&W 64's & 10's. I think they were like $249 & $269 a pop. Had me thinking seriously on one but then I settled on the near mint Star BM 9mm for $199.99 on the box. Give em a call and see if they still have any. They all ready are vehicle seasoned!

Just from what I see in the vid. I REALLY love the way they blended a low fixed barrel into a low profile slide assembly. This is as revolutionary as a spring over barrel design of 100 years ago. The Steyr GB was innovative with its gas operated fixed barrel 9 but was just a huge pistol. This design could make compacts into a whole new level of conceal ability. depending on pricing, I think this thing will rock the conceal carry & competition worlds.

We were only 5 miles from the center of town, The Cumberland County seat. Nobody around here flinched about the noise. The 35 or 40 on lookers were mostly from J.C.'s Church and he has this shoot every October. Folks Love it. These are my kind of people....... Love it here!

Time for the scale mountain howitzer shoot! We shot everything from golf clubs to pool balls at the targets. 13 rounds in all. What you see is 3.5" bore with 4 oz of pyrodex or goex. In this case....... BIGER is always Better! The cannon belongs to the guy I bought my home from. We shoot it right along my drive way. Sorry, the audio isn't recordable in Imagur off a PC. Needless to say, its pretty beafy. https://imgur.com/mI2DBl1 https://imgur.com/NOyuf5W In one shot, J.C. got 5 clubs in there in front of a soft ball for the seal. From the amount of leaves they knocked out of the trees down there, it would be a great way to get apples down out of an apple tree. One base ball bat went completely threw one of the press board sheets side ways. Biggest key hole on a target I ever saw. Made a hell of a slapping noise on that one On the second shot, it scored a direct hit on a full size race car driver card board cut out with a pool ball. He has blue leathers on. You can see him go down.

https://www.wsmv.com/news/four-months-after-i-team-investigation-gun-range-goes-out/article_9aed0b77-a01d-5901-9367-57d546b0ff5f.html

I didn't think to ask about that. That would probably take some doing since it has a bad case of lead contamination from what I'v read. That's what got the place shut down n sold in the first place.

While we are on the subject, We have a new gun shop here in Crossville in the old Dave's Pawn Shop store just south off exit 317 I-40. The folks that own the Gun Shop & Trading Post in Livingston set up the second store in Crossville as "The Gun Shop". Their gun prices looked to be pretty reasonable. When it was Dave's, prices were ridiculous. There only like 3 or 4 miles off the exit..... worth a peek for sure.

They have no appeal to me ever since they cut them for a cross bolt safety. It just grinds me to see it sticking out. No matter how much I try to kinda like it.... I just can't acquire a taste for the political butchery of a fine traditional design that has stood the long test of time.

If your going to hit Buds, you also need to hit Smoky Mtn knife works next door. Their ammo prices are a bit better on some types and I saw the same on their guns for some models. The knife works has expanded their gun area enormously during the last 3 or 4 years.

I wanted a set up to do small receivers up to Rem rolling block size as a max and this was the cheapest way to do it. First I bought a used pottery kiln off Ebay for about 280 if I remember right. Now what makes a pottery kiln no good for the intended purpose is they general have a pretty cheap temp regulator. You need a Kiln that will hold 1500 Degrees F within a few degrees. That's where this unit comes in. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Plug-Play-PID-Temperature-Controller-Box-Kiln-Probe-Pottery-Glass-Annealing-/111131612124?hash=item19dff5d3dc Now comes the tinkering of putting the new controller in the old control panel. I kept the original analog temp gauge just to have a match to the digital add on one. This is what it looks like under the lid. Next up was to make a crucible to contain the part and the carbon mix. I had to size it carefully so it would fit inside the small kiln without being to close to the heat coils. heating slow and evenly is part of the equation. here it was specifically sized to fit the long griped stevens An aerator pipe was fabricated to bubble the water for at least an hour prior to a quench. High oxygen content is needed for good colors. The coiled bottom has a series of tiny holes drill for fine air release. Here, the bucket is a industrial laundry detergent unit that will hold my 15 gallons of Distilled water from Walmart. The crucible frame holds the container solidly and you can see the window screening that catches the part. Here you can see the crucible lift fork that can lift the container out of the kiln and the trap door hook screw driver I made up to yank the trap door open over the water. Quenching must be very close to the water and instantaneous. If the trap door hesitates to open in one swift motion, Its spoiled, and needs to be repacked and heated again. Ask me how I know The second receiver I did was this Marlin 47 pump 22. The quench warped the bolt enough to where I had to refit it but it worked out nice in the end. That used to be a fire damage gun that got new wood. The forend I made from an old butt stock scrap

Been on a 45 kick lately. I had bought a 645 back when they were still in production and after shooting groups, I knew something was wrong with its obsession with flyers. Some how, Smith bored the chamber out of center with the bore. It was pretty drastic. On one side of the chamber throat, the lands had a long taper cut into the bore WITH some of the groove diam. On the opposite side the lands had virtually no tapered throat at all. they just started at full depth just forward the chamber. The woman at S&W CS referred me to the performance center and after I described the issue, he simply sent me a new barrel flat out! He didn't want the gun or the bad barrel back. Now that was in the early 90's so I don't know whats going on over there these days. Any way, the big 45 was a good shooter with the new barrel but still not great because the slide had its share of walk in battery. Enter everygunpart.com and I spot a parts set for a 4516. Hmmmmm, My mind goes full retard thinking "carry....carry....carry" Well, it took some mill work up front on both the slide and frame but that's actually great because I was able to machine and hand fit the front end to a really nice no wobble mate up. THIS puppy should shoot! Just finished it up tonight and I love it. Smith blew the 3rd gen when they deleted the checker aluminum back strap for that crappy plastic wrap around garbage on the 4506. Sooo, I got the best of the old world Smith in this little guy IMO.

Thanks for the comments. As for the beaver tail on a BHP, the fly in that soup is after welding that much material onto the back web spur, it will be brittle where the weld cooled on the frame steel. So it should be stress relieved once again and just doing that is a marginal band aid. In reality it should be re hardened out to some 1500 deg F , quenched and then re heat treated to get it back to spec again. I'm not familiar with the details of the exact specs so personally, I would pass on the job. One thing to keep in mind is the round spur hammers are a bit on the small side as to thumb grip and a beaver tail would need to be cut just right as to not loose any control over the spur. I have some pics of the CCH set up so I'll do a post on it. maybe tonight.

I don't remember how I ended up with a 1915 favorite that some one had cut the top tang off and the bottom one was cut in 2 places then brazed one break and bugger ark welded the other into something it never remotely ever looked like. So I figured Id play with an idea and see if it would work out and bingo, After finding a local that can blue steel, I got it done. The barrel is cut from a Ruger 10/22 with a mini14 cut sight soldered on top and threaded in to the receiver. The rest is fab-ed up from scrap. This was my second color case hardening try at it with my home made out fit. The flyers are sight ins with CCI std vel at 32' from a wood block rest. This was like a mountain climbing expedition. Once its done, it needs to become a memory before some federally gets his shorts up in a knot. Ruger barrel mounting groove welded up to get a Luger style barrel formed out of it.

THAT... is pretty cool. a 1911 on a 1911, who would have thought that one up? A tribute to a by gone era of Tech conquering the north American continent. I really like that one of a kind stuff like that.