Ever since I saw Iggy's snub nose N frame project gun, I've had an itch to build something similar. I have one 3 1/2" N frame, a 27-2, which I've posted before, and I like the size, but I have had a hankering to put together a big bore pre war gun. On the other hand, I don't want to ruin some priceless, rare, collectable heirloom..... What I want to build is something that I won't be worried about shooting and packing around the woods, that is practical, and preferably chambered in a big bore caliber that I already handload for, with a barrel no shorter than 3 1/2", and no longer than 4". Since then I've seen some other big frame snubs that have added to the mental picture I've been building up of where I'd like this project to go...Wyatt Burp and Lee's Landing Billy's recent posts come to mind, being, as it were, at opposite ends of the exterior finish spectrum....
Here's Iggy's gun, which was my initial inspiration (with permission):
Well, another thought that occurred to me was that if I could find a suitable gun in fair outside condition, and find an extra barrel, I could modify the extra barrel, and keep the original to put back on the gun if I ever wanted to revert to its original configuration...
So, that's where I was a few weeks ago, when I saw a 1937 Brazilian.45 on GB for a pretty reasonable figure. Description said that the bore was in pretty good condition, and the photos looked to be just about what I was hoping to find, so I bid on it and it arrived a little over a week ago.
Here's what it looked like when I took it out of the box, (by the way, Roy says that this one shipped in July of 1938), before I did anything with it... Notice that the sideplate screws are boogered up, so I suppose that someone has been inside of it...
Not wanting to work the action to much in case it was crudded up with old, dried out lubricant inside, I opened it up, and here's what I found:
As an old police Armorer, and a guy who has several dozen hand ejectors presently, and have had many others in the past... This is the most hardest, solidified, dried out lubricant that I've ever seen....but in a way, I saw that as a plus: no one had been inside of this gun for a long time, maybe decades... So I saw my first job as gently getting this stuff out. So I disassembled the revolver and put the individual parts and the frame to soak, and ever day or so I would brush out the frame, and each of the parts with a toothbrush with the bristles cut back (Thanks, Hondo44!).
Well, it took a good week to soak and brush all of the really hard crud out of all of the nooks and crannies, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the parts looked like brand new...all of the springs seem to be just as strong as they were when the gun was made almost 80 years ago. No rust on the inside of the gun at all, but a couple of pits on the outside, strictly cosmetic in nature...noticed that the recoil shield has no wear indicative of being carried and shot...no cartridge head "ghost" wear... Although the gun seems to have been beat around some,and has some handling nicks, it seems really nice inside. Including the chambers and bore!!
Over the course of that week, I tried different solvents: kerosine, acetone, Kroill, and elbow grease, and finally got all of that crud scrubbed out. In the meantime, a couple of items that I had purchased came in. First, from eBay, an extra barrel, unnumbered, for a 1917, that someone had ground off the "United States Property" stamp from underneath, and has a couple of dings on the outside, but the bore is mint!! It's shown at the top of the photo...I won't feel to bad modifying this one. Also from eBay, a Tylers T Grip....And then, like it was meant to be, one of the forum members, "bigmtnman" had a nice set of elk antler stocks for sale. I've put them in the picture at the lower right (by the way, he does good work and he is a good guy to deal with). After I cleaned everything up, I covered everything with oil (the specks you see are just lint from a Q Tip), and let it sit overnight. That's when I took this photo:
One more picture for tonight, just to show the bore on the original barrel. This is the one that I want to keep intact...numbers to the gun, and although the importer has very discreetly stamped their mark over the serial number, the serial number is still legible. Really nice rifling, and the little speck you see is just lint:
Well, that's all for right now, but I just wanted to share the beginnings of one of my "gun projects". I'll be back with additional posts to keep you up to date with how things are going.
Thanks to all who were inspirations for this project!! And thanks to everyone for letting me share!!
Best Regards, Les
Here's Iggy's gun, which was my initial inspiration (with permission):
Well, another thought that occurred to me was that if I could find a suitable gun in fair outside condition, and find an extra barrel, I could modify the extra barrel, and keep the original to put back on the gun if I ever wanted to revert to its original configuration...
So, that's where I was a few weeks ago, when I saw a 1937 Brazilian.45 on GB for a pretty reasonable figure. Description said that the bore was in pretty good condition, and the photos looked to be just about what I was hoping to find, so I bid on it and it arrived a little over a week ago.
Here's what it looked like when I took it out of the box, (by the way, Roy says that this one shipped in July of 1938), before I did anything with it... Notice that the sideplate screws are boogered up, so I suppose that someone has been inside of it...
Not wanting to work the action to much in case it was crudded up with old, dried out lubricant inside, I opened it up, and here's what I found:
As an old police Armorer, and a guy who has several dozen hand ejectors presently, and have had many others in the past... This is the most hardest, solidified, dried out lubricant that I've ever seen....but in a way, I saw that as a plus: no one had been inside of this gun for a long time, maybe decades... So I saw my first job as gently getting this stuff out. So I disassembled the revolver and put the individual parts and the frame to soak, and ever day or so I would brush out the frame, and each of the parts with a toothbrush with the bristles cut back (Thanks, Hondo44!).
Well, it took a good week to soak and brush all of the really hard crud out of all of the nooks and crannies, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the parts looked like brand new...all of the springs seem to be just as strong as they were when the gun was made almost 80 years ago. No rust on the inside of the gun at all, but a couple of pits on the outside, strictly cosmetic in nature...noticed that the recoil shield has no wear indicative of being carried and shot...no cartridge head "ghost" wear... Although the gun seems to have been beat around some,and has some handling nicks, it seems really nice inside. Including the chambers and bore!!
Over the course of that week, I tried different solvents: kerosine, acetone, Kroill, and elbow grease, and finally got all of that crud scrubbed out. In the meantime, a couple of items that I had purchased came in. First, from eBay, an extra barrel, unnumbered, for a 1917, that someone had ground off the "United States Property" stamp from underneath, and has a couple of dings on the outside, but the bore is mint!! It's shown at the top of the photo...I won't feel to bad modifying this one. Also from eBay, a Tylers T Grip....And then, like it was meant to be, one of the forum members, "bigmtnman" had a nice set of elk antler stocks for sale. I've put them in the picture at the lower right (by the way, he does good work and he is a good guy to deal with). After I cleaned everything up, I covered everything with oil (the specks you see are just lint from a Q Tip), and let it sit overnight. That's when I took this photo:
One more picture for tonight, just to show the bore on the original barrel. This is the one that I want to keep intact...numbers to the gun, and although the importer has very discreetly stamped their mark over the serial number, the serial number is still legible. Really nice rifling, and the little speck you see is just lint:
Well, that's all for right now, but I just wanted to share the beginnings of one of my "gun projects". I'll be back with additional posts to keep you up to date with how things are going.
Thanks to all who were inspirations for this project!! And thanks to everyone for letting me share!!
Best Regards, Les
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Good luck! 
