What gunsmithing or repairs have you done today

I managed to not screw up any of my gun projects today.

How's that you say? Well, with the nice weather I decided that the yard needed my attention. So my day was spent outside.

I am not a gunsmith, but that has never stopped me from having fun (with some cussing and spitting) and attempting the rescue of some vintage firearm. I am proud of the ones I successfully repaired or restored (depending on your definition of repair and restore) . I apologize for the ones this amateur dicked up.
 
Ordered/received/installed a set of Wolff springs for my 1989 King Cobra; I found it easier to install the trigger spring first before putting the other parts back in (gave me more room to work). This is really smooth now and I've put about 100 rounds through it since, it's reliable.

I was nervous at first but after watching how it's done I decided to tackle this on my own (first time doing this to a revolver)...

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Incredibly pedestrian project but I touched up the innards of my Savage Model 7 as the release plunger was a bit wonky. This was a $40 or $60 acquisition picked up during the last .22 shortage with about 10% finish.

I dug it out of the safe to contemplate adding a Weaver side mount and scope. Still undecided.



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This was a "just because" project. Add a red dot optic to a North American Arms Black Widow .22 Magnum revolver. The factory sights are dove tailed; the 60 deg rear has a set screw in addition to interference fit. I sourced a dovetail mount for optics from EGW to whittle away material for a good interference fit. Drilled - tapped -countersunk the top strap for a 6-32 screw (should have used a 6-40 if I thought about it longer) for a belt & suspenders rear sight fixation. Off to the range for dialing in the red dot. Desert Gun Leather holster's are willing to try
and fabricate a proper prototype holster for the optic mounted version. Here we go.
IMG_7943NAA Black Widow Rear Sight Dovetail EGW Mount Project copy.jpg IMG_7946NAA Black Widow Rear Sight Dovetail EGW Mount Project copy.jpg IMG_7947NAA Black Widow Rear Sight Dovetail EGW Mount Project copy.jpg IMG_7948NAA Black Widow Rear Sight Dovetail EGW Mount Project copy.jpg IMG_7949NAA Black Widow Rear Sight Dovetail EGW Mount Project copy.jpg IMG_7952NAA Black Widow Rear Sight Dovetail EGW Mount Project copy.jpg IMG_7968NAA Black Widow Rear Sight Dovetail EGW Mount Project - Fabrication 01.30.21 copy.jpg IMG_7973NAA Black Widow Rear Sight Dovetail EGW Mount Project - Fabrication 01.30.21 copy.jpg
 
Incredibly pedestrian project but I touched up the innards of my Savage Model 7 as the release plunger was a bit wonky. This was a $40 or $60 acquisition picked up during the last .22 shortage with about 10% finish.

I dug it out of the safe to contemplate adding a Weaver side mount and scope. Still undecided.



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I worked on many of those early Savages model 6, etc. in my early days 1960s. Sadly none stuck with me.
 
Nothing too dramatic. I installed a trigger tech diamond trigger into an Armalite AR10T and Wilson anti-walk trigger/hammer pins. I was concerned about fitment given that this is not a DPMS pattern rifle or even a modern Armalite AR10A series, but rather a B series Armalite rifle (from the Ban era). But it all fit perfectly. I wouldn't have even mentioned it but because of all the confusion about compatibility of parts among the various patterns of AR10s (or Large Frame ARs if you prefer), I thought I should add some key words to the data base for anyone else that might be wondering about this. There's really not a lot of out there on the internet about the B series. It definitely installs and fits perfectly and it passed a simple function check so if anyone decides to upgrade the trigger on their old Armalite AR10B, the trigger tech diamond is good to go as are the Wilson pins.
 
...........

WOW!!!

What a fantastic job. That must be fun to shoot with a dot and probably much better than with the stock sight.

Truly thinking out of the box and you nailed it.

I only had a small project today. I was doing a repair on my 1911-22 and the hammer pin decided to miss my magnetic tray and run across the garage never to be seen again. My replacement from Numrick came in today and I was able to finally assemble the gun.
 
For evaluating various ammunition point-0f-impact from J-frame sized revolvers and zeroing optics I began my search for a Ransom rest type of bench fixture to secure the firearms. I was surprised at my empty internet search results, so I fabricated a appropriate sized fixture for the task. Host is a $20 Harbor Freight articulating vacuum base vise. Delrin block milled to accept shortened aluminum v-block gunsmith vise inserts, that mounts on a steel plate. Ransom has several products for handguns but they accommodate pistols not revolvers. I prefer to use tripods to sight-in optic mounted pistols.

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8-40 because bigger is gooder and you got to compensate for all of that massive recoil. :)
Not the recoil, but not doing so is one more lesson that a proper gunsmith would have selected 8-40 to begin with, not the rank amateur 8-32 in a thin stainless
steel revolver top strap. The fastener functions fine, but it's a distinction with a difference for me to be remembered. "Good judgment comes from experience, Experience sometimes comes from bad judgment".
 
I made a firing pin from a nail for a Monkey Ward 12ga. single when I was in college. Changed springs in J & K frames.

Managed to replace the ejector spring in a Rossi lever action with a lighter one with only two hands, although a third would have been very helpful.

Assembled an AR with household tools having never touched one before.

My next attempt is to polish all trigger surfaces on a Mini-14, ultra fine triangular crock stick is on the way. While Mini's are not known for accuracy, this rifle has the worst trigger of any gun I've ever owned. Hard and gritty, it has to be adding to the inaccuracy. I'll watch the video again and follow it step by step. I'm no gunsmith, but this gun really needs help. While I still like it, I think a better trigger will add to my pleasure.
 
Freshened up some of my dulling fiber optics. And discovered the rear sight on my 10mm 1911 was off to the side. Here it was loose. There is 2 small divots on the slide. And i can see the end of some set screws. But i did not have a bit to fit them. Ended up using red loc-tite.
 
Not really gunsmith stuff today, played some Legos today. I picked up a aero m4e1 black lower the day, got it 15% off since it had a small problem. The gun shop said the hole for the front takedown pin spring was not drill deep enough. I figured to take the risk, at worst I'll just call aero.

This is very weird and not sure how or what happened, I get home look at the lower. I had a small Allen key to use to measure how deep it needed to be drilled, the Allen was magnetized and when I pulled it out I see red rust on the end. I start thinking maybe the tooling broke off in the hole and was rusting. But i would think they may use carbide, but tool steel maybe he stronger being the hole is so small. Tool steel doesn't rust very much, but maybe since it probably was in there when they anodized it maybe it had a affect.

So I do more poking and more comes out, very red and super fine steel powder. It feels solid in side but more and more comes out. Then I grind some angels on the Allen and go to town, I took out over 5/8" of this powder. Then hit a wall, feels like the end of the hole and after doing some measuring it was.

I can't not think why or how this got in the hole, this lower is getting paired with a san tan tactical billet upper and a diamondhead 15" handguard . Not sure on the barrel or stock yet. See when I have the money to finish it .
 
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