I do love a challenge...
Jun 9, 2020 21:49:34 GMT -5
Stump Buster, needsmostuff, and 5 more like this
Post by tinkerpearce on Jun 9, 2020 21:49:34 GMT -5
Last week Linda and I were discussing my Birthday presents, both of them 'mouse guns,' and she got this thoughtful look on her face and said, "I want to see you make the smallest pistol you can."
We discussed it and agreed that it must fire a real cartridge, not 2.7mm pinfire or some nonsense like that, and it had to be at least arguably useful.
Challenge accepted. I went into the shop, grabbed some steel and went to work. The barrel is taken from a section of Ruger 10/22 barrel, and is chambered for .22 Short. The frame is a composite of 5160 spring steel and 1020 mild steel. The grips are... I dunno. Some kinda wood that's been sitting around the shop for a couple years. the photo shows the gun with a .45 Colt cartridge for comparison, and the second photo shows it with .22 Short cartridges.
To load or unload you place the gun on half-cock, rotate the lever on the left side up and forward 180 degrees, allowing the barrel to swing out to the left.
Here's the gun in my large, but not huge, hand. It's literally shorter than my index finger.
Despite it's tiny size the gun is not difficult for me to manipulate or fire, and my test shots at five feet went pretty much where I wanted them to.
.22 Short isn't much, and these were CCI CB Short Low Noise. They are not 'low noise' out of this gun's 1-3/8" Barrel! Despite being a low velocity round- roughly equivalent to the original black powder load- at a distance of 5 feet the 28gr. bullet penetrated over 1-1/2" into a pressure-treated pine 4x4! Whit careful shot placement this could indeed be lethal.
Linda agreed that I had met the challenge! She thinks it's adorable. I think it's hilarious.
We discussed it and agreed that it must fire a real cartridge, not 2.7mm pinfire or some nonsense like that, and it had to be at least arguably useful.
Challenge accepted. I went into the shop, grabbed some steel and went to work. The barrel is taken from a section of Ruger 10/22 barrel, and is chambered for .22 Short. The frame is a composite of 5160 spring steel and 1020 mild steel. The grips are... I dunno. Some kinda wood that's been sitting around the shop for a couple years. the photo shows the gun with a .45 Colt cartridge for comparison, and the second photo shows it with .22 Short cartridges.
To load or unload you place the gun on half-cock, rotate the lever on the left side up and forward 180 degrees, allowing the barrel to swing out to the left.
Here's the gun in my large, but not huge, hand. It's literally shorter than my index finger.
Despite it's tiny size the gun is not difficult for me to manipulate or fire, and my test shots at five feet went pretty much where I wanted them to.
.22 Short isn't much, and these were CCI CB Short Low Noise. They are not 'low noise' out of this gun's 1-3/8" Barrel! Despite being a low velocity round- roughly equivalent to the original black powder load- at a distance of 5 feet the 28gr. bullet penetrated over 1-1/2" into a pressure-treated pine 4x4! Whit careful shot placement this could indeed be lethal.
Linda agreed that I had met the challenge! She thinks it's adorable. I think it's hilarious.
