1911Tuner
Moderator Emeritus
This thread
Has turned into a great thread. Everybody sharin' little things that they've picked up and figured out along the way lets us all benefit.
Old Fuff said:
If you ever inspect a mint or like-new Colt Government Model National Match pistol made around 1935 to ’41 you will see what polishing and metal finishing REALLY is.
Amen Fuff! Wish some of the younger guys could see what Colt and Smith & Wesson used to be capable of. They had honest-to-God craftsmen
on the job, trained and supervised by honest-to-God Master gunsmiths
and armorers.
Another little trick here...
Sometimes we find that a chamber shoulder is a bit sharp, and accumulates
carbon fouling. When this happens, it can screw up the headspacing and cause failures to return to battery. Even if it doesn't cause functioning problems, the more anal retentive among us likes to have the chamber
area CLEAN, and sometimes it takes a while to get it all with a bronze brush and solvent.
Get a fired .45 Colt case and lay it on a bastard cut mill file mouth down.
Use a 4-ounce hammer to tap on the rim wile lifting and turning the case
to establish some "cutting" teeth in the mouth of the case. Run it over the expander ball in the die set that you've set the ball deep enough into the case to bell it a little. Keep increasing the belling intil you get a light interference fit between the case and the chamber wall. When it's just barely finger-tight, you can push the case to the shoulder and turn it
while pushing lightly. The rough edge on the case mouth cuts through the
carbon and leaves the shouder clean. It also cuts heavy carbon fouling out of the whole chamber. Follow up with a brush and solvent.
Keep'em comin' guys. No matter how lame YOU think your tip may be, it
might just turn out to be a real help to somebody. If it's simple and it
works, it ain't stupid. Don't be bashful, now...and don't assume that
the experienced among us already knows about your idea.
Cheers!
Tuner
Has turned into a great thread. Everybody sharin' little things that they've picked up and figured out along the way lets us all benefit.
Old Fuff said:
If you ever inspect a mint or like-new Colt Government Model National Match pistol made around 1935 to ’41 you will see what polishing and metal finishing REALLY is.
Amen Fuff! Wish some of the younger guys could see what Colt and Smith & Wesson used to be capable of. They had honest-to-God craftsmen
on the job, trained and supervised by honest-to-God Master gunsmiths
and armorers.
Another little trick here...
Sometimes we find that a chamber shoulder is a bit sharp, and accumulates
carbon fouling. When this happens, it can screw up the headspacing and cause failures to return to battery. Even if it doesn't cause functioning problems, the more anal retentive among us likes to have the chamber
area CLEAN, and sometimes it takes a while to get it all with a bronze brush and solvent.
Get a fired .45 Colt case and lay it on a bastard cut mill file mouth down.
Use a 4-ounce hammer to tap on the rim wile lifting and turning the case
to establish some "cutting" teeth in the mouth of the case. Run it over the expander ball in the die set that you've set the ball deep enough into the case to bell it a little. Keep increasing the belling intil you get a light interference fit between the case and the chamber wall. When it's just barely finger-tight, you can push the case to the shoulder and turn it
while pushing lightly. The rough edge on the case mouth cuts through the
carbon and leaves the shouder clean. It also cuts heavy carbon fouling out of the whole chamber. Follow up with a brush and solvent.
Keep'em comin' guys. No matter how lame YOU think your tip may be, it
might just turn out to be a real help to somebody. If it's simple and it
works, it ain't stupid. Don't be bashful, now...and don't assume that
the experienced among us already knows about your idea.
Cheers!
Tuner
