Yesterday I took a vacation day and went for a hike in French Creek State Park in SE PA. It was my first chance to try out my new Hill People Gear Kit Bag. It’s a great option for carrying a handgun plus some basic survival gear out in the woods. I posted a full review over on Survival & Emergency Preparedness.
Aside from the Kit Bag review, I’ve also posted some pics from the hike in my gallery at Flintlock.org. Linky.
One pistol that it’s taken me a long time to warm up to is the Beretta 92, AKA M9. Compared with more modern pistols like the Glock, Springfield XD, or S&W Military & Police, the traditional DA/SA trigger is obsolete. Further, the M9’s size is very large for the cartridge it fires. Many people with small hands have a difficult time comfortably gripping the piece due to the bulk of the grip. This last point had always soured me on the gun.
However, opinions chance over time. Back at the beginning of April I picked up a Beretta CX-4 Storm 9mm carbine which uses Beretta 92 magazines. I regard the CX-4 as a good choice for a defensive carbine and the idea of a pistol that would take the same magazines is something I find very attractive. So, I went over to my parents’ and took another look at my father’s M9. I wound up buying my own about a week later.
The pistol came in a blue plastic hard case with a manual, warranty card, lock, two 15 round magazines, and a Jello mold or shot glass.
(Actually, it’s there to help keep the case from getting crushed in transit.)
I’m a bit surprised that it doesn’t come with a basic magazine loader. Double column/single feed pistol mags are a bitch to fill to capacity without a loading tool. In any event, I highly recommend the Butler Creek LULA magazine loader. It makes loading double column pistol magazines a breeze.
Note that in the pics of the gun above, it has a Mec-Gar 20 round magazine in place. Mec-Gar has made mags for Beretta in the past and currently make a flush-fit 18 rounder. Their 20 rounder is the bod of an 18 round mag with a +2 extension on it. Were I carrying the gun in the military or as a police officer, the Mec-Gar 20 would be my preferred magazine, with the 18 rounder as my second choice.
I bought the M9 at Surplus City in Feasterville, PA for $599 + tax. I immediately took it to the range, field stripped, cleaned and lubed it, and fired it alongside my Springfield XD9.
On the initial outing I put 111 rounds through the M9, including some Brown Bear with lacquered steel cases, PMC, and Federal American Eagle. The Brown Bear and PMC were 115 grain FMJ, while the FAE was 147 grain FMJ-FP.
One of the things that impressed me was how easy it is to shoot the Beretta accurately in SA. In the picture below, the left hand target is 50 rounds through the M9 while the right target is 30 rounds through the XD9. Distance was 10 yards.
On the target I shot with the Beretta all the fliers were my fault.
The other thing that made a favorable impression upon me is how pleasant to shoot the M9 is. It’s not an especially heavy gun because the frame is made from aluminum, but it’s bulky and the grip spreads out the already mild 9mm recoil across your hand, rather than concentrating it in one spot.
The following weekend I brought it with me on a camping trip to Tioga County, PA, where my friends and I ran a couple hundred more rounds of CCI Blazer Brass 115 grain FMJ through it, shooting at steel plates.
As an aside, on this trip I also got the chance to do night firing for the first time. I used a Fenix LD20 flashlight held in my right hand while shooting the M9 with my left. The only ambient light was from a campfire. The hardest part about getting hits was acquiring the front sight, but when I was able to do so hitting a 10” gong at ~15 – 20 yards wasn’t too hard.
One of the valid criticisms (IMNSHO) of the M9 is the trigger pull. It’s flat-out heavy and long in DA. Combined with the weapon’s girth, this makes it hard for those of us with small hands to get off accurate DA shots. I’m not normally one to tinker with a gun until it’s got through a 500 round break-in period, but in this case there is an easy, cheap fix.
The factory hammer spring is rated for 20 lbs. This was specified so that the gun doesn’t have any problems firing ammo with even the hardest of primers, e.g., some SMG ammo. I don’t have to worry about that, so I replaced the OEM spring with a a Wolff hammer spring rated for 16 lbs. This drops the DA pull down several pounds and the SA pull a pound or two. The gun is now much easier to shoot, especially for the first shot in DA.
Last night I put another 110 rounds of CCI Blazer Brass through the gun. I’m now up to ~400 rounds down the pipe and it hasn’t had a single malfunction. My father shot his M9 last night, bringing the total in his gun up to 1100 rounds, and he has yet to experience any malfunctions.
Unfortunately, the M9 doesn’t have a rail under the dust cover, so for me to mount a light it will require an add-on. (If this is critical to you, the 92A1 or M9A1 come from the factory with a rail.) Brownell’s sells a rail section that can be affixed to the dust cover which I’m considering getting. Surefire also makes a no-gunsmithing rail that secures to the trigger guard.
The Beretta’s safety/decocker is mounted up on the slide and unless you have gorilla hands, it’s difficult to reach with your thumb, without radically changing your grip. There’s a simple solution to this: don’t use the safety. IMHO it’s superfluous on a DA autoloader anyway. If the gun is being carried in a proper holster the chances of an AD are pretty much zero. I use it strictly as a decocker.
I’ve done a total 180 on the Beretta M9. It’s a big, old fashioned DA/SA autoloader, but it’s accurate, pleasant to shoot, and reliable. If you’re in the market for a 9mm pistol it’s worth a serious look.
I'm not sure how to best put this in words so bear with me please.
I've been doing some thinking over the last few days on how I have changed in the last year and a half and I figured I would share, as these thoughts/observations may help bring more people to our side.
First off, some back story. Or "how D's are made"
I was raised by Democrats. Working dad, stay at home mom, hippy-ish types. At least for the first 12 years. Not hippies but live and let live, to each their own, myob types. I was raised to think this way and taught that this was the fundamental standing of the D philosophy. We weren't into talking politics much other than Republicans were all greedy, dollar worshiping idiots who only cared about themselves and couldn't give a shit about me. And that we were the opposite. Except my lessons that the Government will do what it wants and there's nothing you can do about it, so why bother worrying. Just go about your day.
Public school education pretty well enforced this and most of my friends and classmates were taught the same. No emphasis on researching or learning anything further on the matter. Instead, subtle pushes to do the opposite, as they were taught by their parents, and they by theirs. This, I believe, is where the D's get their strength. The blind leading the blind and children trusting that their parents are teaching them the right things. As we all trust of our parents growing up.
I was raised, however, with a love of hunting and shooting. Plinking and target with my father and later on hunting and larger bore firearms with my step-father. My first firearm was a Ruger 10/22 for my 9th Christmas.
The first 28 years of my life were lead that way. Voting D because I didn't pay attention to the world outside of my little bubble or think that I could change anything if I saw something I didn't like or agree with. I went to work, paid my bills, and enjoyed myself. I've always held strong beliefs about and love for this country and the principles on which it was founded. I just never saw how those were being eroded by the very people I thought were the same as me.
I caught a bug for black rifles around 2010 and bought one in 2011.
Then came Newtown and Furer Cuomo's Unsafe Act. WTF? I'm about to be a criminal overnight? By the swipe of a fucking pen and the changing of a definition? I started paying attention. I woke up.
Fortunately I was blessed with a very analytical thought process. I just never applied it to this before, I never needed or wanted to. I began reading, here and elsewhere. Learning what I could. I realized that I had been wrong my entire life. My basic beliefs were flawed, some/most outright backwards. I was fucking pissed, enraged. I had been lied to. I had been suppressed. No more. Unsafe Act, Obummer's try (and fail) at the same on a federal level (I do thank Andy for that though), Obama care, the NSA, the fucking welfare state, National debt, and so much more.
I've spent the last year and a half doing what I can to open others eyes and point out the false logic they have come to accept as fact. I've realized it takes a soft tough. No one wants to learn what I did. They don't want to know that they've walked through life with blinders on. They resist. It requires small points to be made, subtle suggestions on topics to learn about or small facts to be given. Like the trickle of water that created the grand canyon, just a little at a time until there comes a tipping point and you see the light dawn in someones eyes.
I make these points to maybe help you, my brothers and sisters, in your efforts to do the same. Having been the person that I'm trying to convert lets me understand them and do so better.
Or maybe I just needed to get this out, my disgust, my hatred, my realizations and rebirth. I welcome any comments or criticisms but I probably won't check this thread till later tonight or tomorrow as I'm off to work soon.
A good day to you all and GOD bless.
This month’s Practical Rifle match at my club was shot on the 50 yard range so I decided to shoot my TNW M-31SA Suomi. As a pistol caliber carbine, the Suomi is best suited to 100 yards and under.
The course of fire was three magazines of 5 rounds each from behind 5 different barricades. The first barricade was a picket fence. The toughest stage required a very low prone that had me canting the rifle to the left so I could shoot under the barricade. The one stage each strong side and weak side, and finally, one through a window.
The coat is a German surplus Sympatex (similar to Gore-Tex) rain coat, which is about the best deal available in a breathable membrane rain coat. At $30 or less it’s a steal. I bought it several years ago specifically for shooting in matches where I’d be getting muddy. I’ve also used it when camping and hunting. My hat is an old REI Explorer, which is similar to a Tilly Hat. I treated it with Tectron waterproofing spray this week and it kept my head dry in today’s light rain.
To carry my 36 round sticks mags I used a French MAT-49 pouch that I bought from Keepshooting.com.
The targets were IDPA targets with yellow duct tape on them to simulate the spine and brain. Only hits on the tape counted, because they represented zombies. ;)
We had some drizzle early on and then it started a light steady rain towards the end of the match. My groups were good but the gun shoots several inches high at 50 yards so my score was only OK. It was a lot of fun though.
The ammo I used was Brown Bear 9mm 115 grain FMJ. The Suomi eats it like candy. Zero malfs except for when I charged the gun for the first time a live round ejected. I've had that happen with the same magazine previously so it needs some tweaking. I didn't use it for the rest of the match and had no more issues other than that it's awkward to cock left handed, which slowed down my reloads.
I had a friend shoot some video with my iPhone on my final stage.
Here’s a short video of me shooting my TNW Firearms M-31SA Suomi. This is a 9mm Parabellum semiautomatic carbine based on the Finnish KP/31 Suomi submachinegun. This TNW reproduction is an inexpensive way to experience a cool piece of history.
My TNW Suomi functions perfectly when using 36 round box magazines but my 72 drum needs some fitting. The ammunition used in this video was Russian-made Brown Bear 9mm 115 grain FMJ. I've also shot it with Federal 9mm 115 grain FMJ.
For several years TNW Firearms of Oregon has made the M-31SA carbine, which is based on the KP-31 Suomi submachinegun adopted by Finland in 1931. The KP-31 gained famed during the Winter War of 1939 – 1940, and saw extensive use during the Continuation War of 1941 – 1944.
Click the pic for full size photo.
The KP-31 was a very influential weapon. Before being exposed to the Suomi, the Soviet Army didn’t employ SMGs in significant numbers. They were regarded as “gangster guns.” However, being on the receiving end of fire from Suomi SMGs wielded by Finnish troops changed Soviet leaders’ minds. For example, the drum magazine of the PPSh-41 is a nearly straight copy of the Suomi’s 71 round drum.
The specifications of the KP-31 are:
Specifications of the TNW M-31SA are:
Because the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 amended previous Federal laws, no new fully automatic weapons for civilian, non-law enforcement ownership may be brought into the United States. Therefore, when Finland sold off their stock of Suomi SMGs in the 1990s, they had to be demilitarized into torch-cut parts kits before being sold on the US market.
18 U.S.C. Section 922r also restricts the number of imported parts that may be used in the construction of a new semiauto firearm for American civilian use, so when building new rifles from the Suomi parts kits, TNW had to use the following US-made parts:
As a shooter with a background in military history and a long time interest in the Winter War, the Suomi has long held a fascination for me. TNW’s semiauto version caught my eye several years ago. Their primary online dealer, Centerfire Systems, has been out of stock for a little while now but the M-31SA remained available directly from TNW. Not wanting to miss my chance of owning this piece of history, a couple weeks ago I decided to pull the trigger (sorry) and order one.
A note on purchasing firearms over the Internet:
There has been much misinformation spread about buying guns on the Internet. I.e., calling it a “loophole.” In fact, unless you have a Federal Firearms License, the only way for you to buy a gun online is to have it shipped to a local FFL, who will then have you come in and complete the same paperwork and go through the same background check as if you go into a gun shop and buy something from their stock. The Internet merely gives buyers access to a wider variety and better prices. The local FFL will charge a fee for processing the paperwork. The FFL I use charges $30.
I already own a Suomi parts kit for another project, so I was already familiar with the quality of these guns as originally made. What was done to them was a crime from an historian’s perspective. They are a product of a bygone era. The metal parts were machined from large pieces of high-grade steel. The steel was given a nice, blued finish. The wood stock was well-crafted and fitted.
My initial impressions of the TNW M-31SA are as follows:
TNW included with the rifle one 36 round stick magazine. This is actually a post-WW2 design, originally made for the Swedish m/45 Carl Gustav SMG. During the Winter and Continuation Wars, the Finns used 20 round stick, 50 round “coffin,” and 40 and 71 round drums with their KP-31s. The 36 round mag wasn’t adopted by the Finnish Army until the 1950s. It is one of the best SMG mags ever made. Because they are a double column, double feed magazine, it is easy to load. They are very well made. This 36 round stick was later used in the S&W Model 76 SMG, which itself was a copy of the m/45.
The 71 round drum is the magazine most associated with the Suomi. I have one, which required fitting to the rifle before it would latch in. As I understand it, the Finns individually fitted and serial number drums to their KP-31s, so this wasn’t a surprise.
The rifle was shipped with the barrel and shroud removed so the package would be shorter. Removing and installing these pieces is easy. To remove them, rotate down the latch that’s in front of the magazine well, then rotate the barrel shroud and pull it off. You can then pull the barrel straight out. Reinstalling these parts is simply the reverse of this procedure.
To remove the bolt and clean and lube the inside of the receiver, first remove the trigger group. This requires removing the screw behind the trigger guard. Then, with one hand pull the cocking handle back a couple inches and hold it, then unscrew the receiver cap. Make sure that you have a good hold on the cap because it’s under a lot of pressure. (Note: Early M-31SA’s made by TNW were striker fired and had two springs in the receiver. The later, hammer-fired guns have only one.)
Reassembly is basically the reverse but you need to be careful that the cocking rod doesn’t jump over the bottom of the bolt. Getting mine back together took a few tries. I don’t anticipate removing the receiver cap after each range session. I generously lubricated the bolt and it should be good for quite a while.
My rifle’s stock has evidently seen a lot of use. It was rough sanded and has several repairs. The sling swivel on the left side of the butt is in a different hole that it originally was. It looks as if the swivel somehow got torn from the stock at some point. The length of pull would be considered short by most Western shooters, but this is for good reason. It allows you to properly shoulder the rifle even if you’re wearing a thick winter coat. Given Finland’s climate, this is important. The stock from my parts kit is in better shape and has nicer grain, so I’m going to swap them.
TNW also included an original Finnish sling made from leather. It was in fair shape. I gave it a healthy coat of Sno-Seal to preserve it. The sling is a simple carry strap about an inch wide.
The front sight is a simple blade. It isn’t protected but it’s thicker than many other military blade sights and looks sturdy. The rear sight is an open tangent. The notch on mine was a little buggered so I cleaned it up with a file and widened the notch a little to make it easier to use with 45 year old eyes.
Today I took the TNW Suomi out to my friend's place to shoot it. We put 150 rounds through the gun with only a couple of issues:
We shot from about 10 yards in my friend's yard. Recoil is like a .22 and the report isn't much louder. We put 100 rounds of Federal 9mm 115 grain FMJ from a Walmart bulk pack, and 50 rounds of Russian Brown Bear 115 grain FMJ with steel cases through the gun. There were no function issues other than what I mentioned above. It fed, fired, and ejected as expected.
SMGs may be obsolete for the military, but shooting this was just plain fun. Assuming it'll feed JHPs and continues to be reliable, it would work fine as a home defense gun, albeit a very heavy one.
If you’re interested in historic military arms, the Winter War, or Finland’s military history, the TNW M-31SA Suomi carbine is a fantastic buy.
Over on Survival and Emergency Preparedness, I’ve started a series of posts on making a wool blanket capote. Parts 1 – 3 are up.
Yesterday I received the PSA AR15 lower build kit that I’d ordered from Amazon and built of the lower receiver that I milled out from an 80% unit. The Spike’s Tactical mid-length upper that I ordered for it from AIM Surplus has arrived yet, so to test fire the lower I mated it with the top half of my Colt 6520.
Sorry for the pic in potato-vision.
I shot it this morning at the monthly Langhorne Rod & Gun Club practical rifle match. At the December match they allow for sighting in of new rifles and optics, and so they let me put a few downrange during this time to function test it. The rifle ran fine so I shot it in the match. (I brought the Colt lower just in case there was a problem but thankfully I was able to leave it in the case.) So far I have close to 90 rounds on the lower and it’s looking good. Zero malfs.
The Spike’s upper should arrive Monday and I’ll post a follow up pic after it’s all together. Initially, I’ll need to run it with irons using the carry handle from my Colt 6721. For an optic, I am pretty set on getting a low power variable such as a Burris Tac 30 or Nikon M-223.
I don’t recall posting any movie reviews here on the blog before but there’s a first time for everything.
When it first came out that The Hobbit was being filmed it was supposed to be two movies, which made sense. "There" and "Back Again," ya know. When I heard it was a trilogy I questioned it.
For example, The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey had way too much padding that didn’t add anything to the story, IMHO.
I saw The Desolation of Smaug yesterday. IMO it's much better than the first movie, even though there is a lot of stuff in it that was not in the book.
Beorn was really well done, IMO. Smaug was fantastic. The CGI is excellent and Benedict Cumberbatch did an wondeful job of vocalizing him.
I've read The Hobbit and The LOTR 4 or 5 times. I was pleased with how faithful the LOTR movies were to the books. For The Hobbit I'm looking at them as movies inspired by the book and just enjoying them. It's not like Jackson went all Paul Verhoeven on them, the way the latter did to Starship Troopers.
I’d say that if you like fantasy movies or Tolkein in particular, go see TH-DOS. Just keep in mind that it’s not a faithful interpretation of the book.
The MacBook Pro I’ve been using at work since 2009 has been getting long in the tooth. It’s still usable but running apps like MS Office, it has noticeable lag. Since it’s out of warranty I was able to put in for a new machine.
Of the standard builds we can order one is a 13” MacBook Pro, non-Retina model, with a 750 GB hard disk, onboard Ethernet, and a SuperDrive (DVD burner). My old MBP has a 15” screen but I use a 24” external monitor at work, so I figured I’d save a little weight and go for the 13” model to make it nicer to schelp back and forth.
Well, a couple weeks passed and I got informed that my new machine was ready. Instead of ordering the machine I asked for, someone in the purchasing department ordered me the 13” MBP with Retina display, 2.9 GHz Core i7 CPU, and a 256 Gb SSD.
OK.
This model comes with two Thunderbolt ports, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and an SD card reader.s
There’s no SuperDrive or onboard Ethernet. I did get ahold of a Thunderbolt to Gig-E adapter, and we have a USB DVD burner at work, so I’m OK there. I’ll have to keep an eye on disk usage, but I had a Western Digital 640 GB USB drive laying around at home that I added to my bag, so that I can offload stuff I don’t use a lot.
The new machine is fast. Really fast. Redonculously fast. A cold boot to the login screen takes about 5 or 6 seconds. Word and Excel launch almost instantly. Outlook takes a bit longer but it’s bloated compared even to Word and Excel.
It was also setup with Parallels Desktop and a Windows 7 VM, which runs much faster than the Windows 7 VM in VirtualBox on my old machine. My primary uses for the Windows VM will be accessing MSDN and running Visio, which unfortunately isn’t available for Mac OS X.
Battery life is great. I haven’t really wrung it out but when fully charged it shows about 9 hours remaining. Depending on usage I could probably go all day if I happened to leave my power supply home.
I figure it’ll last me about four years.
Over on Survival Preps, I’ve posted a review of the Kovea Spider canister stove. If you need a compact, lightweight stove for camping or backpacking, check it out.
Anyone with access to a welder and the Internet soon could make his or her own replacement parts or tools with a new 3D metal printer that can be built in any garage.
...
Now, scientists have built an open-source 3D metal printer that costs under $1,200, sharing their design and software with the maker community.
"We have open-sourced the plans," in the hopes of accelerating the technology by allowing others to build upon the design, said project leader Joshua Pearce, a materials engineer at Michigan Technological University in Houghton.
Today I went with a friend to Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays and shot a round of 100. By halfway through the gun was opening up quite a bit more easily.
The gun had no misfires with Federal and Winchester 12 gauge No.8 target loads. I did have some sticky extraction in the bottom barrel but only with the Winchesters. Both my friend and I have had problems with this ammo in the past, he in a Browning O/U, so as far as I'm concerned this is an ammo issue, not a gun issue.
I'm very happy with the Baikal MP-310. Only time will tell how durable it is, but for the occasional clays or trap shooter or hunter, it looks to be a good value. The one thing I plan to change now is get a set of extended IC choke tubes for it from Carlson's.
After playing some more today with the Baikal MP310 over/under shotgun that I bought yesterday, I decided to tune the ejectors. Specifically, the ejector springs that are installed by the factory are much stronger than required. Here’s a good video describing how to remove the ejectors and clip the springs to reduce their strength.
Rather than a Dremel with a cutoff wheel, I just used dykes to clip 6 coils off each ejector spring, then deburred the ends with my benchtop belt sander.
Aside from clipping the springs to reduce the effort needed to close the gun, I also polished the bearing points on the ejectors and the slots in which they ride, and deburr all edges. I also polished the part of the barrel monobloc that bears on the pivot pin. Be careful when disassembling and handling the parts. I cut one of my fingers on a really sharp burr.
To smooth things up I used 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper, and gunsmith’s Arkansas stones from a set that I purchased last year from Brownell’s.
With these bearing surfaces polished up and the springs reduced, the action opens and closes much more easily.
I’m hoping to try a round of sporting clays next weekend with the Baikal.
I took today off and went up to Cabela’s to do some gun trading. I got decent prices on a couple guns, but their offer of $200 for a 1944 Underwood M-1 Carbine was ridiculously low. I therefore traded in my Stoeger Uplander 20 gauge SxS shotgun and Springfield M1911 that I haven’t shot much in years, and came home with a Baikal MP310 over/under 12 gauge shotgun.
I’ve been looking at the Baikals for awhile, since unlike most of the sub-$1000 over/unders, the Baikal has a reputation for being reliable. My guess is that they are the most common sporting guns in Russia. For example, I watched Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (which I highly recommend, BTW) yesterday, and in one scene there is a group of Russians and most if not all have some kind of Baikal over/under.
Since my expected use is a few rounds of sporting clays each year, along with some bird and small game hunting, it should serve me well. If I was going to be running thousands of rounds through the gun like serious clays or trap shooters, I’d drop the coin on a Berretta or Browning.
The Baikal is imported by European American Armory/US Sporting Guns and is made by Izhmash in Russia. They were also imported for a few years by Remington in their Spartan lineup.
The right side of the butt on this specimen has some nice looking grain.
As you can see, it’s also fitted with sling swivels unlike most Western guns. They are for a 3/4” wide carry strap.
The MP310 has a single-selective, mechanically resetting trigger, selectable ejectors/extractors, automatic safety, and comes with three choke tubes for improved cylinder, modified, and full. Compared with most other modern made shotguns that I’ve handled the length of pull is a bit short, which for me is good. At 5’6”, most modern sporting guns have stocks that are a bit too long for me. The Russian guns with shorter stocks fit me better.
As with a lot of other Russian made firearms that I’ve seen, fit and finish is a bit crude. This shotgun is sold as a hunting gun at a moderate price, so it’ll be no big deal if it gets scratched.
The one thing that may need some work is loosening up the action. It’s very tight to open or close. I did remove the butt stock and hose out the action with PB Blaster, then relube with some FP-10, which helped a bit. I’m hoping that a round or two of sporting clays will loosen it up. If not, I found some info on tuning the action.
I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to shoot the Baikal, but I’ll post a report afterwards.
The smart guys at Solid Concepts have created the first 3D printed metal gun, a 1911 in fact. Here’s a video of it being test fired.
Yes, it had a few functioning issues. However, as a proof of concept they’ve done a fantastic job. Now it just needs a bit of debugging.
The technology enabling this is not yet affordable for the masses. Remember when personal computers first came out? Your smartphone has vastly more power at a faction of the cost. Or remember when the first Apple LaserWriter came out and cost around $4,000? You can now get a better laser printer delivered to your door from Amazon for around a hundred bucks. Even if 3D printers capable of doing laser sintering for additive manufacturing don’t drop to similar levels, they’ll come down in price to the point where you can go in together on one with a few buddies without breaking your bank accounts.
Combine affordable 3D metal printers with easily downloadable CNC drawings or even the G-code needed to run the printers, and the statist dream of unilateral civilian disarmament fails utterly.
Hey Feinstein, Schumer, Obama, Bloomberg, Cuomo? You can’t stop the signal!
I’ve been doing some preliminary research into silencer designs prior to filing my first Form 1, and ran across this article about a small lathe made by a British POW being held in a WW2 Japanese prison camp. Link to ~1.1 meg PDF.
This lathe was quite a bit smaller than the modern Chinese lathes made by Sieg and Real Bull, and which are commonly derided as toys. Yet, the author of the article made good use of it, fabricating parts for artificial limbs, among other things.
There’s something to be said for picking up and learning how to use a lathe as part of your preps. It could come in useful in the event of an economic depression when manufactured items become hard to get and it’s a tool with which to earn some extra cash.
Sources for the modern mini lathes include Harbor Freight, Grizzly, Little Machine Shop, and Big Dog Metal Works. Also check out mini-lathe.com for more info.
Both the metal and wood of the H&R Model 1900 that I bought last weekend were pretty grungy. The metal had a mix of grease, dirt, patina, and rust. The forearm wood had been cleaned but the buttstock was nasty, with a couple splits in the wrist.
I started cleaning up the metal first. I used Kroil, steel wool, and paper towels to clean off the active rust while leaving most of the patina. Here’s the action, showing the patent date stamps above the pivot pin, which had been completely obscured.
(If you right-click on the photos you can then view them full size in another tab.)
The top of the barrel at the breech:
The choke is probably a full choke.
The wood was filthy. I took this pic to show the contrast between uncleaned wood (the wrist) and cleaned wood (the butt).
To clean the wood I used steel wool wet with lacquer thinner, and periodically wiped off the resulting slurry with paper towels. Except for the cracked wrist it’s perfectly sound. I flushed the cracks out with lacquer thinner then let the stock dry in the sun. I then flooded the cracks with superglue.
The only way to know if the glue is enough to prevent further cracking is to shoot it. If not, I’ll wrap it with wire like you see on a lot of old guns.
After the superglue dried I gave the stock three coats of dark walnut tint Watco Danish Oil. It came out pretty nice, IMO.
After cleaning up the barrel I hit it with some Birchwood Casey cold blueing solution. I applied several coats and let it sit for a couple hours. The white scratches that were on the barrel are now gone, and it has an overall brownish patina.
The cleaned and refinished gun looks good now. It doesn’t look new. It looks like a well used, old gun, rather than a neglected, filthy old gun. It should have some life it in yet.
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