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Post by squawberryman on May 7, 2015 18:45:08 GMT -5
That top strap looks as sexy as a Commodore Vanderbuilt train
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Fowler
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,670
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Post by Fowler on May 14, 2015 23:15:37 GMT -5
Oh never mind
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Post by 2 Dogs on May 15, 2015 8:11:12 GMT -5
Thanks Bill, much appreciated.
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Post by 2 Dogs on May 21, 2015 9:15:05 GMT -5
The words, "Best Quality" sing in my heart. My Harton #5 is an fine example of Gunmakers art. Can we build a sixgun that will be at least as beautiful on every surface and yet yield very fine accuracy? One that will carry the spirits of the Crofts and Sedgely sixguns? We can certainly take a serious run at it. While it would be pretty hard to build a sixgun that has no peer, perhaps we can at least achieve that which will stand with those that are among the very best. Here then are some updated pics of the Ruger OM 357 that is to become a Old Model Lightweight Bisley 327/32-20. Some points to bear in mind as you look at these. First, remember, at this point all we are looking to accomplish is to recover the very heart of the frame itself. Flat flats and round curves. There is still a bit of remedial welding to be done, as well as machine work on the receiver itself. Thus, there is no sense in finishing the surfaces of the frame rails or recoil shield to any significant degree as they are going to be cut away. That level of detail work will come later. And as the numbness in my index finger indicates, probably with some degree of pain... So lets look at the inside of the frame window. If you are keeping up with this, then you remember the inside of the frame on the left side has some pretty good dings, dents, and war scars. I was thinking that it would need some weld, but after discussing it with Harton, he indicated there was enough material to clean up the damage without the application of heat. With heat we need to remember comes warping and shrinkage, so we intend to avoid it where we can. My next thought was to clamp the frame into the mill and thereby achieve a straight line on the top of the inside of the frame window. This presented 2 new problems. First, how to hold it dead still in the mill. I was not looking forward to making another jig not only because this eats up significant time but we already had to make one to hold the Bisley grip frame still and square. Second, this cut would require a tool that was of the length that threaten to induce some degree of wobble in the cut. So, with a deep breath I clamped the mainframe UPSIDE down in my vise and took after it will a flat mill file. Care MUST be taken that the mill file does not at any point come out of the builders control. Even getting the file in and out of the frame window has to be done so as to avoid damage. Naturally, the inside of the frame window was not flat so we spent some time detailing the inside of the frame window not only to recover the top strap but to remove the machine marks that would take away from the quality of the piece itself. Then came the dings on the recoil shield. Again, carefully cut with the mill file to maintain the flats on the inside and radius on the outside. All in all, with some time and care, you can see it cleaned up nicely and shows this little sixgun still has the grace we are looking to refine. Picture #2 shows the receiver face with the machine marks removed and stoned. The loading gate is included here. Does this alter headspace? Absolutely. BUT, in this case, since this sixgun will have its own fabricated cylinders it will have the headspace set to those custom cylinders. A couple of additional points here. The firing pin bushing itself is perfectly flush with the receiver face and the cartridge case head will have a flat square surface to set back on while firing. No place for the primer to flow with performance loads. Will this help accuracy? It certainly could not hurt. Go look inside of one of your sixguns and you will see where the case heads do indeed sit back on the receiver face. In fact, they leave imprints. I also want to draw your attention to the cylinder abutment itself. Again, this will be cut (naturally, its gonna take another special tool) so that when the cylinder will set back without any undue stress or torque. At the same time, the cylinder pin hole will be addressed to be in perfect alignment and true. Picture 3 then shows the loading gate after being detail filed in to match the receiver and rough polished. The loading gate trough has been addressed as well as upon cleaning it up it was found to have some casting flaws and such. Look too where the flat polished sides of the frame turn to the frame rails. You can see the remaining bluing on the edges. This shows how far out of flat the frame rails are. When we lighten the frame rails, this too will be square. No point in polishing them at this point just to mill them back off. You can also see the inside front of the receiver has been cleaned up as well. Not only do we wish to leave no stone unturned, remember the front of the cylinder boss bears on this surface as well. The last picture shows the completion of the lightening of the grip frame. Could more material be taken out? I would say so, but I will also say that this was a tough job. Very difficult to lay out. That frame is thick and threatens to snap the smaller drill bits. Lots of time and cutting oil here boys. I will also address the weight reduction aspect. I don't know exactly how much weight was taken off. I am really not very concerned by it. IF I get a chance, I will weight this grip frame against a unaltered frame. What I do know is that Harold Croft would be proud we remembered him here. We march on.... 1296 |
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Post by cherokeetracker on May 21, 2015 22:02:20 GMT -5
Fermin that grip frame should be lighter for sure. Thanks for including us with this build. Looks so different than page 2 ,,, Frame cleaned up real nice.
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Post by dougader on May 22, 2015 14:49:11 GMT -5
Color me impressed. My efforts at such would have already resulted in a quick trip to the recycle bin.
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Post by Markbo on May 24, 2015 17:23:25 GMT -5
Very, very nice! As I have no mill or lathe (and have never used them) this work is way beyond my meager abilities. Kudos for taking on such a project with such high aspirations.
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Post by tincanbandit on Jun 11, 2015 10:59:59 GMT -5
cool project, I'll be following your progress
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Post by singleaction on Jun 12, 2015 10:56:16 GMT -5
Sir, those machine marks shown could be removed without great difficulty by any good metal finish man. Your backstrap could also be recontoured and refinished and again look quite nice. I forgot to say, "Thanks for the advice!". So, thanks for the advice! That 32 cal Bisley of yours is going to be sweet! Thanks again! |
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Post by lscg on Jun 12, 2015 12:15:07 GMT -5
I really like how you took some weight off of the grip frame Fermin, i'm going to have to remember that for future projects.
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Post by 2 Dogs on Jun 19, 2015 7:13:55 GMT -5
Here are the regulated screws. This is the last pic as this little sixgun is back in Harton's shop for some of his magic. 1945 |
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Post by bushog on Jun 21, 2015 15:34:07 GMT -5
I wanted you to weigh that grip frame for us!
Looking really good!
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Post by jayhawker on Jun 22, 2015 17:42:02 GMT -5
The regulated screws are a truly nice touch.
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Post by magnumwheelman on Jun 23, 2015 7:54:26 GMT -5
the whole process is quite impressive... little touches like hot rod drilling the grip frame & indexing the screws are going to push this over the top as far as customs goes... thanks for bringing us along...  |
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Post by 2 Dogs on Jun 23, 2015 7:55:44 GMT -5
It is in the masterful hands of Alan Harton now....
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