56FordGuy

I wonder if the entire barrel is off a bit. If the gap in the receiver were a bit too wide, or the pin on the barrel a bit too small, the gas block could theoretically be installed on the barrel properly and the whole thing is out of whack.

I like it!

You can still buy nice metal gas cans, but they're expensive. Last I looked they were about $80.00.  :stunned:

Actually selling for, or just asking? 

I'd go with .357. My .357 levergun is one of my favorite rifles. It can share ammo with a revolver, and you can tailor loads anywhere from .38 specials for plinking or recoil sensitive shooters all the way up to .357 loads that are rifle specific for hunting. You can load for most lever actions that way, but the .357 in my opinion has a much wider range that it can cover. 

  :rofl:  I forgot all about that!   It wasn't as exciting as Rightwinger makes it sound. Someone attempted to add some cleaning patches to a boresnake, they were too big and got wedged about 2" into the barrel. Wouldn't pull through, was unable to push them out the opposite way with a cleaning rod. Wound up pulling the whole mess out through the chamber.    As for the parts kits, I've seen them around on a couple of websites. One of the rifles that got the trigger kit (the one that got stuck) is the one we put together a few years back. The second, I bought from a friend who decided to do something else. :)

Sorry to be late getting back to this. The kits arrived earlier this week. I installed one in my newly tapped Spikes lower, works great.  :usa:   My second lower was tapped all the way through from the factory, I checked first this time.  :rofl:

I've been thinking about doing an 80% build, just because I like to build things and I think it would be fun.    Don't really need another AR, though.  :popcorn:

  Mmm. Believe it when I see it. I doubt the rank and file WalMart clerk has much more of an inside line on high level corporate decisions than the general public. If anything, they're subject to more rumors and speculation in the breakroom...

      I, on the other hand, will probably pass.  :rofl:

Sounds like a good call!

  It seems like some things that would never happen to anyone else can happen to me. :lol:   Dolomite is the only part of this whole deal that can be said to be completely faultless. His kit performed perfectly, until the Spikes lower trapped it because I didn't check it first. Yet he's the one stepping up to make sure everything is right, when he has no obligation to. You just don't find people like that every day.  :up:

Before I say anything else, I want to be very clear on something. None of what I am about to post is the fault of Dolomite, or a failure/ weakness in his product. Everything you are about to read is due 100% to my dumb luck, and is no one's fault but my own.  :up: I'm only posting so that other folks can check first and not make the same dumb mistake that I did.    A while back I picked up one of Dolomite's AR Trigger Improvement kits, and took my time getting it installed. I began the installation last night. It's a brilliantly simple design, if you have one you know what I'm talking about. I removed my grip, and began installing the set screw into my Spike's lower. Everything was going just fine, I had my thumb on top of the allen wrench and was spinning it in quite easily when it came to a very abrupt, hard stop.  :ugh:  I wiggled the safety lever and it was still very free, so I knew the screw had not yet made contact. Something was wrong.    I flipped the lower over and removed the fire control group. This is when I discovered that while my grip screw hole was drilled all the way through, it wasn't threaded all the way through! Okay, no big deal. Take the screw out, tap the threads on through, and problem solved. The trick became taking the screw out. I don't understand how it happened, or why. My best guess is perhaps the end of the threads in my lower weren't as wide as they should have been, like how the end of most taps taper down to make starting them easier- or perhaps it was just my lucky night. In either case, when I tried to remove the screw it was stuck, hard. It was stuck so hard that the allen wrench stripped out removing it. Great.    At this point, I knew more was going to be required than I could accomplish at the kitchen table so I took my lower and went to the shop. I tried a myriad of things, holding the lower in a vise and trying to get something to bite in the screw. No dice. After about an hour of fruitless attempts, the last option was to drill it out. I clamped the lower in the press vice, and very carefully began drilling the screw from the top, inside the lower. I was hoping the bit would get a 'bite' on the screw and run it out, but no such luck. I drilled the center out of the setscrew, then used a Torx T20 to unscrew the last bit of it. Today I plan to tap the threads all the way through.    The moral of my story is this: When you remove your grip screw from a Spike's lower, take a flashlight and check to see if the threads go all the way through. You can also use a small pick, or even a toothpick to feel inside the hole and check. From what I understand, most lowers are tapped cleanly all the way through. Maybe mine was just made on a Friday, or they had an old worn out, improperly set up mill doing the tap work. That might explain the threads not going all the way through? In either case, check a Spike's lower before you insert the screw. If yours is not tapped all the way through, it's easy enough to do. Just go buy a tap, and start from the bottom. Thread it in just like the grip screw, so it uses the existing threads to start and the new threads line up correctly.  :up:   Again, none of this is Dolomite's fault, nor a flaw in his product. It's due to what I believe is a machining oddity from Spike's, and my own lack of due diligence in not checking the hole first. I assumed it would be tapped all the way through, and we all know what assuming gets you.  :rofl:  Now I'm off to order two more trigger kits, one for my Spike's lower and one for a second build.  :usa:

I love my .357 lever action. It's lightweight, handles great, and if you reload you can tailor some .357 rounds specifically for the rifle to get a little more power. Like the others have said, black rifles are bringing a premium right now so you just might find a .357 lever for a reasonable price and buy the semi auto in a couple of months when things calm down and panic buyers start getting their credit card bills.  :popcorn:

  I thought it looked kind of like a toaster oven. :lol:

It's not that they don't want to I'm sure, but they can only produce so much in a limited amount of time. I'm sure they're all running at or very close to max output right now. 

The cab has to come off to do a lot of service work on the newer Fords, I think it was the 6.4 liter where it became standard. They're actually designing the trucks to make removal an easier process now. 

I think you're the 3rd person to pick 420. :)

  I've saw people do that to grammar, too. :)

15   Thanks Dolomite!

I saw some 5.56 for $500/ 1000 yesterday. :lol:

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Spots" data-cid="864928" data-time="1356060989"><p> Let me know when it shows up, make sure somebody didn't carry it in the house and wrap it as a Christmas present.. I really need to get that one back, that one has a special place here on the mantel due to everything its been through and it being my favorite. Can you pm me your address, and 56 pm the address it got shipped to so they for sure line up. And I'm not to worried yet, the post office is getting notorious for this shit. They scan it in as delivered, then it shows up a few days later.</p></blockquote> You have all the info I have! :) A USPS good wouldn't be terribly surprising, would it?

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="TheBisch" data-cid="864158" data-time="1356007470"><p>I was told it was being shipped to me.... haven't gotten it yet.... :shrug:</p></blockquote> <br /> It was put in the mail on the 15th, let me check the delivery confirmation number and see if it says where it is.

I took the knife out for some chopping last night. All I did in the first picture was to hold the knife about a foot above the board and let it fall under it's own weight. I was surprised at how far it went into the board. The next pictures are of the knife vs a 4x6" timber. The knife worked pretty well. The handle had a tendency to slide in my hand just a bit, I had to regrip after a couple of swings. Not a big deal. Overall, I was impressed with the knife. I haven't had any others that I would've attempted this with!

Opened some feed sacks, stripped the outer insulation off some multi conductor cable, lots of baling twine. :) It's not something I would want to carry every day for those type of tasks, but it works. Tomorrow should be more in it's wheelhouse, I have some timbers that need to be shortened.