Posted on 09/23/2009 6:19:16 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!
Yes I did, it's on the Ruger TD in the picture above. And it's being replaced by a different brand of peep sight. I could not keep the tiny locking screw tight enough to keep the sight from sliding down the track under recoil. I'm getting one of those M1 carbine "clone" sights used to turn a 10/22 into something that looks like a M1 carbine. It has two apertures, and nothing to slide under recoil. Not that recoil is that brutal on a .22.
I also have some "product improvement" to try on the new Ruger 25-round magazine. Sometimes I feel like I'm an unpaid Ruger beta tester.
But that won't stop me from getting 10/22 Number Three, which will be used for a yet-to-be-announced project.
While I'm waiting for lots and lots of parts, I'll be doing some initial accuracy testing with my ACOG.
I also have a theory about Ruger and the rest of the firearms industry I'd like to try out on folks here later in the day.
As promised earlier, here's a little trick I use to "refinish" ("touch-up" would be a more accurate term) stainless steel firearms. First, a couple of examples of how stainless steel is finished, or re-finished.
The S&W Model 60 has the standard brush finish, while the Ruger Redhawk has a custom bead-blasted finish. Bead-blasting is done the same as sand-blasting, except fine glass particles are used instead of a more aggressive abrasive. Not shown is a "mirror polish", which is done with powered cloth wheels loaded with grease bearing some abrasive powder like iron, tin, or aluminum oxide.
The factory "brush finish" is done, mostly by hand, using soft wire buffing wheels made of fine brass or aluminum bristles. These powered wheels can not only be very aggressive if you lack the proper touch, they could also launch your workpiece into undesired trajectories.
Aware of all those shortcomings, I hit on using ordinary plastic kitchen scouring pad to slowly perform the "brushing" function.
This pad may be tough on baked-on food, but it's quite mild on stainless steel. So you'll have to use a lot of elbow grease (and risk reactivating my carpal tunnel syndrome in my case), but you can't get into trouble in just an instant. It's taking me several hours to renew a good-looking brushed finish in areas where wear from a leather holster has polished the stainless steel bright, but it will get done. There is also a coarser 3M maroon plastic pad in the automotive department, used to scuff up painted surfaces so new paint will adhere. It might speed up my job a bit, so maybe I'll get one for $4.
And I finally got the .40S&W barrel for my Glock 33. While .357Sig can be pricey and hard to find at times, .40S&W is almost as common as dirt, if not exactly cheap. This way, a quick barrel switch lets me use either kind. Oddly, Glock magazines in .357 and .40 have tiny differences in areas around the feed lips, but the ammo couldn't tell the difference. But Glock keeps coming out with different engineering changes on magazine followers without bothering to explain to customers what it means, either.
The Glock Model 33 will soon be my full-time carry piece, so I took both barrels to the range just to verify how well things work. Bar-Sto works some kind of magic with barrels for Glocks and the Sig P229, with little of no fitting involved. I'm still working on getting the fir right for my Sip P239.
Don't read too much into the target results, but I finally remembered proper Glock trigger control when I was shooting the .357. Overall, the barrels, and my skills, are about equal for both calibers. Works for all social interactions I can foresee.
Next week, I hope to have initial results with Ruger #3.
Afternoon Win-Mag; well, a trio of 10-22s nicely done. Laminated stock combines stability of synthetic and wood feel.
The Scotch Brite is right handy to keep on the work bench. I’ve used it for lots of chores. Me and power tools for tasks like this, well, that’s why I like hand powered stuff.
The .357 Sig is right pricey all right, great cartridge though. I understand that it is a truly trying endeavor for reloaders. How about recoil - .357 Sig vs .40 S&W?
The .357Sig has a bit less recoil due to lighter bullets. The .40S&W seems to have the best performance with heavier loads, with 180gr being the preferred bullet weight for LE use. Sig went in the opposite direction with the .357, because the higher velocity can make good use of lighter bullets. In fact, 125gr is about the maximum weight of commercial loads, while I'll be using Fiocchi 100gr frangibles.
I've also made progress on the painful "smack" my hand feels with heavy loads in light handguns. I now realize what I'm feeling on the back of my fingers is the slide coming to an instantaneous dead stop as the last step in the functioning process. Putting on some Packy grip covers eliminated almost all of that pain, except for the tiny bit resting against the bottom of the trigger guard, where the cushion didn't reach. I'm trying out another brand of softer, squishier, thinner material.
The laminated stock is nicely done, but it just didn't have the shape I was looking for. That's why I got the B&C synthetic stock for Middle Bro, because I felt it worked better for supported shooting using sandbags or a bipod. The original stock had too much drop at the comb, and the pistol grip wasn't optimized for scope use.
So, I bought another aftermarket stock ($150 this time, not $200) and decided to go for accuracy and bling.
Yes, that's a ProMag Marauder stock with the Ruger inside it. It's not a bad likeliness of a H&K G36, but I had an extra incentive to give it a try because of my stash of genuine G36 parts.
The new carry handle has a Hensholdt 1.5x BDC scope, with a fiber optic/battery red dot sight on top of it. Not your average tricked-out Ruger 10/22. The magazine is a 25-round banana mag with a removable cosmetic cover. I may buy a couple more just to keep up appearances. If I can find any advantage, I might replace the faux forend and stock with the real things.
I read a lot of reader reviews on the stock. While it may look like a simple drop-in (and the mechanical aspect is simple), everything fits so closely, at least with my setup, that it took me eight hours of finicky work to bolt things together for the first time for this picture. Tomorrow I'll work on enlarging certain tolerances for quick takedown and reassembly, just like a regular Ruger has. Just like with the real G36, this gadget really depends on push-pins and screws to hold things together, and not micro tolerances.
I don't know why, but this project looks more tacticool than Ruger's factory "tactical" 10/22.
Morning Win Mag - nope it’s not your Barracuda stocked 12-40V scoped etc. tricked it out 10-22. Nice job on the conversion, guess I gotta get out more, didn’t know abou that kit. Hope there is a range report in the offing. OB
First, the S&W M66 snubbie is completely overhauled and test fired. As I was working in the components with my trusty Nanolube, I noticed that the machine work was the finest I had ever seen on a Smith & Wesson, except maybe for the "golden years" between the two world wars. The revolver would have been perfectly functional with cruder machine work ("crude" is a relative term here), but this was the equivalent of a Swiss watch movement inside.
The picture just doesn't do justice to the brushed, polished, or machined surfaces. After almost forty years, and probably a minimum of a thousand rounds fired, there was barely a trace of wear or drag on any part, indicating meticulous fitting. My Nanolube treatment was just a bit of gilding the lily. From a standpoint of craftsmanship, this is about as perfect as a revolver intended for mere mortals can get.
The same could not be said about the springs, unfortunately. The smaller springs were starting to rust, and had taken a "set" in their compressed state, meaning they did not return to their original length, and had almost no spring power left. I haven't seen this in my other older Smiths, but I bought a bunch of replacements for all the coil springs used in this revolver. Fortunately, these springs are common to about 99% of all 20th century S&W revolvers, so I have a supply of spares, if needed.
With that little problem out of the way, I went to the range with a box of 110gr Fiocchi +P .38s, intent on testing the gun, and not my skills. There were no surprises, either way.
I had to think hard for the proper description of how the revolver functioned (all factory standard spring rates, except for the trigger return spring changed from 17 to 13 pounds), and the best I could come up with was, "like melted butter flowing down a stack of hot pancakes". My shooting skills don't do it justice, but the 9-pound "long" trigger pull registered by my Lyman digital trigger gauge did. If this snubbie was a cat, it would purr if you just picked it up.
I'm sure something from the S&W Custom Shop could exceed this, but St Barbara must have had a good reason to smile on the S&W plant while this weapon was moving down the assembly line. I wonder where its littermates are?
Aside from that, my Ruger 10/22/G36 project plods along, mainly because it's taking a phenomenal amount of handwork to fit the action like it would in a normal factory, or aftermarket stock, would work. But after about 50 hours of work, I can seat the action in the stock with just a couple ounces of hand pressure, rather than beating it to death with my rubber no-bounce hammer. Once I have achieved zero-force assembly, which the stock stocks have, all I have left is some cosmetic fitting. There is a vey long technical story behind this, better suited for another day, or year. I can see why so many other owners whine about this. If it wasn't for my limitless patience (courtesy of working the help desk), and my determination not to let a piece of plastic beat me, I'd have some other stock on it by now, and be well on my way towards accuracy testing.
But my "new" revolver reminds me why I do this stuff. The project just about "fell together" all by itself, except for the spring business, which I'm glad I caught.
Evening Win Mag - 50 hours of sanding on the stock; hmm, one thinks this is the ‘some minor fitting may be required’. I doubt 99 out of 100 owners would bother, makes your effort exemplary.
I’ve considered the SW 66 among the best revolvers made for duty use for some years. Glad you’re restoring it, good catch on the springs. Try it with some 158 grain SWC loads at the range next time. They are a sweet combination with a K-Frame.
As with the S&W Model 66 snubbie, another handgun was waiting to ambush my emotional propensity for old, odd, rare, beautiful, or ugly weapons. This time, it was an unfired H&K VP70Z.
The previous owner was obviously a collector, because he had four used, but still in good shape, extra mags, along with the two that came with it from the factory.
Originally developed as a police weapon, the non-American versions could be had with a detachable shoulder stock/holster, and three-round burst. Nothing that exotic here, but it's the immediate ancestor of the P7 family, except for being straight blowback rather than gas-retarded.
I also came up with a new excuse for buying it. "I'll hate myself for the rest of the day for spending the money, but I'll hate myself for the rest of my life if I let it get away". "Rationalizations 'R Us", original lame excuses custom crafted for a small fee.
Kudos Win-Mag; that’s a real nice find. Haven’t seen one recently and IIRC, they were never all that common. To find an unfired example, wow. I would think the mags are sky-high themselves. I admit I had to do some research on it; didn’t realize it was made for almost 20 years, commencing in 1970. You did good, real good. Normally I ask when the range report will be posted, guess that one might just qualify as safe queen. I concur on the rationalization, done it myself, more than once. OB
Even my "safe queens" have earned their stripes on the firing line, even if it's just one box of ammo. I suppose if it was gold-inlaid, fully-engraved, and custom-made, I might skip even working the action. But every one of them is capable of answering the call to duty, to the best of its ability.
After I get out my postage scale so I can measure the trigger pull (something conveniently omitted from their specs), I'll work all the pristine contact surfaces with Nanolube, and put in a one-pound-lighter trigger spring, the only item available from Wolff.
Spare parts are mostly non-existent, at least on Numrich. Magazines, if available, are about $75. I might try to assemble a set of surplus small springs.
And the range report will include a shoot-off between "daddy" VP70, and "son" P7.
At seven yards, 13 of 18 rounds made it to the paper with the VP70. The P7 went 16-for-16, although I could have done a better job. I forgot I had optimized the P7's spring rate for 100gr defense loads, so it kicked more, and I had to make some minor adjustments in my shooting stance for the second magazine. When by brain functions properly, the P7 can keep all the rounds in the black, even with my meager skills.
The VP70 was just a truck with bad springs. I could get used to the 20-pound trigger pull, which was fairly consistent. But the trigger finger also cocks that hugh recoil spring, which is of unknown, but heavy, power.
Being a straight blowback, too, the VP70 provides a real slap to the hand in both directions that heavy slide moves. The grip-cocking mechanism and retarded blowback of the P7 makes for a much more pleasant shooting experience, until the gas cylinder just above your trigger finger gets too hot to tolerate after about four magazines of rapid fire. The VP70 could probably fire around the clock with no problems, buy my hand said "uncle" after 36 rounds.
The clear winner, and my favorite 9mm handgun, is the H&K P7. But the VP70 is an interesting piece, and an evolutionary example of something H&K almost got right. Still happy to have it in the collection.
Only conversation I ever had with Col Jeff Cooper was over a P7 one of my troops brought to gunsite long ago.
He called the P7 a stapler ever time he saw one. As to its operation I just don’t like the squeeze cocker based only on my own inability to engage the damn thing as fast as I could a 1911 or Browning high power . Only Hk handgun I carried for a long time was a P9S in .45.
Loved that Hk !
Good reading as usual. Thanks.
Stay safe
Very interesting as always, Mister Mag. :-)
Excellent range report - Win Mag. 20 lb trigger, straight blow back, still it was made for nearly 20 years. HK P7 is one that I really want to shoot; just to see how it feels. I think 1 mag would have convinced me the earlier gun needed some more time on the drawing board. Very glad you made the test for the rest of us.
I really didn't have any doubts about the VP70. It's sort of an evolutionary side-track, but it made it into movies where something futuristic or sinister was needed, something H&K seems to specialize in. It made a couple of appearances in "Aliens", for one.
Now that I have a decent stock of "optimized" Federal .22s, I took the CZ453 to the range last week for another quick test. While the Ruger 10/22 target model showed a marked preference for only one "flavor", the CZ had better "table manners", and did well with just about everything, although a couple sizes worked better than others.
The .499" group with .0420" rim thickness beats the best of what the Ruger has done so far, although much more research needs to be done. One convenient feature is that the Ruger seems to like the .0415" rim thickness, while this CZ likes the more common .0420" rims. In both rifles, bullets resized to .222" are the obvious best choice. I'm expecting similar results when I get around to testing other rifles.
My big task for this particular rifle is to continue checking out a couple of different rim thicknesses, and see how consistent the results are. More shooting, and more statistics to ponder.
I also have to remind myself not to use the factory single-set trigger in the "set" mode. I had completely forgotten about it until the last couple of strings, and then I realized it was causing me more trouble than it's worth. In "normal" mode, there's a slight but very crisp pause before starting the "for real" part of the pull. Three pounds of expected pull beats 3 ounces of "surprise" while you're settling in on that bullseye.
Most of you will remember that my mom passed last September. MrsEx, my sister and I were supposed to meet up at the old homestead this week to begin splitting out, and prepping for transport, the various stuff that remains there. My sister was unable to come, but MrsEx and I managed to get five boxes of mostly books and personal items packed up and placed conveniently for later movement. Doesn't sound like much, but I'm actually quite pleased with the progress. If I had a place here to put it, I could bring most of what I intend to keep in two minivans and a couple of trailers. Oddly, that's almost exactly what I plan to use when the time comes.
We were going to stay until Saturday but decided there was nothing to do but waste time under sub-optimal weather. Had the weather been more cooperative we might have stayed to enjoy the beach etc.
The ol' Hobbit Hole seems strangely silent-- a faint tap tom, tom tap faintly sounds from the Moria-like gunsmithy...
Welcome Back, EGE -
Your observation is true enough, Win Mag has done well in his role as ‘flame keeper’. Were it not for him, I fear that darkness would fallen on the Hobbit Hole. For his efforts, he is to commended.
Roger that... Got to keep the hearth fire lighted. After all... We have The Hobbit movie coming soon. Gotta keep the place all warm for new visitors.
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