A Rant, A Project and a Return

I see the White Horse is leading the Dark horse for now. I don't know that it makes a difference which one gets in the Oval Office. I know one will restore dignity to the office, might not piss off our allies, and might actually act like a president but will he be able to fix the economy and job issues? The only way to get real meaningful changes accomplished died with the assassination of the Paul campaign. Thank you very much you lying pieces of shit, MSNBC, FOX News, Bill O'Reilly, CBS, CNN, NBC, Rachel Maddow and all the other media morons that cheated Dr. Paul out of debates, equal airtime and/or accused him of all kinds of ass hattery.

We are still kowtowing to a bunch of rag heads because of a stupid fucking film on YouTube. They are trashing our sovereign territories aka, Embassies, and killing our personnel and we are doing squat about it.We need a financial wizard that knows how to use a big stick in the office of President. Not some milquetoast, moron that has been foisted upon us.

Oh, the Project 94...Here are a few pics of some of the small parts and the magazine tube and barreled action I finally got finished. It's been a long time coming but with 2 part time jobs, lethargy, the short term break up, and a host of other things I have had a hard time getting this done. The receiver is a horror story. It will not take the bluing. It darkened on the first coat and will not get any darker and is streaked and swirled. I have contacted Brownells about the problem and they told me that the post '64 Winchesters used a crappy alloy for the receivers and no, it will not take a blue. When I filed the receiver it seem more like an anodized coating instead of hot blue. So I will have to use Dura Coat in the Glossy Black color. After a couple of hours comparing colors to the parts, the glossy black seemed to give the best match. Here are the results...

The magazine tube

 

 

 

 

 The barreled action

 

 

 

 A side of crap

 

 

 

 

 The other side of crap

 

 

 

 

 Small parts

 
The picture of the receiver doesn't really show the  true condition of the finish.  A few more internal parts to blue and a spray of the receiver and then I can start the re-assembly of the gun. I really do like this creme form of Brownells Oxpho Blue. Outstanding results that look like blue/black chrome. Very nice.

Speaking of guns, I just saw on FaceBook that Savage is reviving the model 42 over/under shotgun/rifle. Instead of lustrous walnut wood it has matte injection moulded plastic. I see the price of originals skyrocketing now.

More Parts

I took another handful of small parts to my bench and blued them this afternoon. Using the same exact process I did not get similiar results at first. It took 4 coats to achieve what yesterdays efforts did in 2 coats. I dunno, I can see the bolt being made of sterner stuff but the magazine plug and follower and the rear site, I can't see being made of something that is blue resisitant. I'm not knocking the Oxpho Blue creme, I just had different results today for some reason. It is cooler today and looks like rain so maybe that has something to do with it. I'll see what they look like in a couple of days and make a decision whether to apply more blueing agent. Still, everything is looking good.
I hope the big part, the barreled receiver, comes out as nice as the first batch of small parts.
All internal parts will just get cleaned and oiled unless they are really visible from the top of the open action. Well, I gotta get busy cleaning house as I have an evening interview and have to start my new cleaning gig on my own tonight.

I've Got Wood

I finally got the stock set done for the 94 Project. I lost count of the coats of True Oil I used but I think it's about 15 or more. Each coat got rubbed out before the next one was applied. The final coat got smoothed and polished with some fine stock polishing compound. Then two coats of paste wax finished it off. Now I can start bluing the metal.

The Hell With It

Well, I've been thinkin' and drinkin' on this and have come to this conclusion. She will do what she wants, life goes on. She's livin' it up at her brothers new pool, I'm sittin' here penniless. Either get over it or live with it. She's relaxin' and I'm growing more frustrated.

This is my therapy, Well this and a little tequila. Here's a little bit of the 94 Project. Five coats into the grain filling process. Better looking every time. It has a golden strip cutting diagonally through  the butt stock. I love it! The picture doesn't do it credit.

I'll get this coat rubbed out and then I figure 2-3 more filling coats and then the final coat that I'll cut the shine of with some rubbing compound and then some wax to finish the thing out. After I get the wood done I'll begin the blueing process on the metal.

Model 94 ...Some More

Call me obsessive but I went and finished the barrel and magazine tube to a 600 grit. They look really good too. I also started on the visible small parts. With some of the curves I'll have to get some accessories for the Dremel tool as I'm not getting the same look on the flats as I am the curves doing it be hand. I'll also polish all wear surfaces. That is all for now tired and aching from my stint as a bell ringer today.

A Redo In The Makin's

We went to my Dads house for a dinner to celebrate his 67th bithday. One of my brothers made some tacos with shrimp, chicken and beef. Way good too. We sat around and shot the breeze for a few hours, nothing big. Every body had a good time.
I had mentioned earlier that I was going to something for Dad for his birthday. I can say, or rather, write what it is now. He had acquired a Winchester 30/30 some time ago. It was a nice pre-64 Winchester with the really bright and shiny bluing on the receiver and a real jen- you- wine walnut stock. Some how the gun ended up under a bed, near a window and the window was left open during a rain storm. Uh hu.That's right water and steel don't mix real well. The gun ended up with a rather large patch of rust on the barrel and magazine tube. I checked it out last night when I got home and the rust has already started some pitting. So here's the deal. I'm going to re-blue the barrel, magazine tube and lever. The receiver is still bright and shiny and I don't have the ability to produce that kind of shine or color of blue. I'll also refinish the wood as it is sticky with something or other. Nicotine is most likely the culprit but who knows. I do a really nice job on wood refinishing so I'm gonna do that too.
So after getting it home last night I removed the rust and coated everything in Rem Oil until I can get time to work un-interrupted on it. It'll be lookin' good when I get it done.

Oldies but Goodies

Some time a go I returned the Ranger 103-2 that I had refinished for a neighbor. A couple days ago I was visiting with him and he commented that the gun still didn't work. I had originally gotten it because the magazine would not release unless you removed the action from the stock. I had checked the magazine function very well before returning the rifle to him. Now he said it wouldn't work, so I took it home pondered on it over night and the next morning delved in to the guts so this trim little .22. Mag function? OK. Bolt operation? OK. Feeding operation? Not OK. Examination of the bolt showed both extractors missing, one extractor plunger missing and both plunger springs gone. So much for working. I took it back to him and explained the problem and he's not sure if the value of the gun is worth the value of the parts it needs. It sure looks good though. Maybe when things are better I'll get the chance to make this little jewel actually shoot. This episode made me think of the twenty-two's of mine that I have refinished. So, naturally I had to go look at 'em. I took one out of the safe just 'cause it's so nice and does shoot. I have claimed several tree rats with this oldie. It's a Savage 53d single shot bolt action in a large, full size walnut stock. These guns were made from 1937 to 1945. This particular one has a cast aluminium trigger guard so I'm thinking it may be pre-war as aluminum was very scarce during and immediately after WWII. On this one I had re-blued the barrel and action and gave the walnut stock a stain job and multiple coats of linseed oil topped with paste wax. Somebody in the past had installed a plate aluminum butt plate. They did a nice job of it so I saved the 15 bucks and left it on. Eventually I want to remove the trigger and strip the peeling corroded chrome and either blue it or Dura Coat it. The trigger guard will get black Dura Coat to match the original black paint. I'll try to get a picture of it to post later.

COLD!, Chick Flick and Barbeque, Guns

Dayumm, it's cold! When I looked at the thermometer at 8:30 this morning the thing indicated a negative 3 degrees! By 4:30 it had squeaked it's way up to a high of 12. Oh, well. Like I say, this is my kind of weather. When I was commuting via my Harley I would ride everyday as long as the temperature stayed above 10 degrees or so. On the other hand, Cherry Pie likes it oven warm. Unless she's having a hot flash.
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We went to see a movie today that I suspicioned was a chick flick. Boy was I right. So guys, If you want to take your wife to a movie that she'll love try "It's Complicated". After the movie we went to Arthur Bryants Barbecue. Speaking as a man, that was the best part of the movie.
While we were out I picked up an A/B switch for the cable and DVD boxes. This handy device will allow me to switch to the DVD while loading a disc instead of crawling behind the tv to unplug one cable and plug in another.
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I visited the new pawn and gun shop in town on Friday. They had a cool new single barrel shotgun that is chambered for 410 shotshells, has a fairly long barrel, splinter forend and an old style knob pistol grip butt stock. I'll try to get back and lay hands on it and get some more info. It's old school cool.
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With my little 1911 officers model down for refinishing, I've been carrying my XD 45 with a 5 inch barrel. With 13 in the mag and 1 in the pipe it's a heavy load. I really think a better holster will help with this behemoth. All I have for it is the tiny little XD Gear holster that comes with it. I really need a good leather concealment holster for everyday carry. Speaking of the refinish job, I did the slide in Stealth Grey Duracoat and will do the frame in French Army Black(which the brown truck delivered Friday) with a matte or flat finish and a set of micarta grips. I'll finish it off with a stainless grip safety and grip screws to go with the take down lever I already installed. I think it's gonna be way kewwl. The coolest thing will be that I'm doing all the work myself.

Winter's here. On the go. A soupy mix. Gun work.

Winter has well and truly arrived. Yesterday we woke to a coat of frozen slushy snow topped with a layer of crystalline snow with a temperature of about 11 degrees. The temp finally maxed out at 16 or 17. Today we woke to a frigid 3 degrees, looking for a high of 15. Yesterday Cherry Pie, after an extend bout of ice scraping and snow clearing, left for work and returned 20 minutes later. She had called her boss and told her she would most likely be late as the traffic was not moving. Good boss lady that she is, told Cherry to turn around and go home. I've said it before, she's a good person to work for.

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I had comment earlier that Cherry had preparations to allow her to stay overnight comfortably at work. I didn't say anything about her car preparations. In the car car she keeps a pair of tall cold weather boots, a long down coat, a rain coat, gloves, a hat and flashlight and a blanket.

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Last night I made a nice chunky vegetable soup with cubes of.............ribeye steak in it. Potatoes, carrots, green beans, corn and rice made up the body of the soup then I added some water, tomato sauce, Lea and Perrins as well as some Heinz 57 sauce and Kitchen Bouquet. Man was it good. We had left over biscuits with it.

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I got the wood on the FIE I'm working on reshaped, sanded and stained yesterday. I like to apply a reddish walnut stain over walnut wood. Today I will apply a few coats of a satin clear poly. Yes, that's right I'm forgoing a traditional hand rubbed oil finish on this one. I treat the poly the same way I do the oil, rub a coat in, let it dry and steel wool it then add another coat, let it dry and add another coat. Three coats makes a very nice looking, durable finish. There's another guy in town that wants me to reblue his sons Savage rifle. I'll probable use Brownells Oxpho Blue for this one. He also wants me to polish the sides of the slide on his stainless P89 Ruger. For this one I'll start with a fine grade of automotive type black sandpaper and take that all the way up to 1500 grit or so and finish with a sheet of felt impregnated with Flitz. All sheets and felts will be layed on a piece of aluminum plate to keep things nice and flat.

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