Recent content by Shotguncoach

A few more details would help…what frame and what barrel? Smith used quite a few different frame profiles and contours within their standard sizes. The barrel may thread on but not match up well at the top or the area around the ejector rod shroud if it has one.

How many firearms are we talking about? There’s a big difference between 20 and 200….. If you’re going to sleep in the back of the truck that would tell me that the truck won’t be completely full. I beg you to consider getting a motel room instead of sleeping in the truck. That used to be my...

Happy that you’re leaving the left coast and heading to a better area. Without giving details that would make the truck easy to spot or make you a target, please share a bit more about the cab configuration, your overnight plans, and if you’re doing this alone. Don’t talk about your route...

Nicely done! Those add a cool custom touch.

As an interesting part of this little side trip, I have discovered how to artificially age a gun… Another interesting thing (to me) is that it’s quite a bit more difficult to take off my rust blue than it is to take off the original finish. After being scrubbed with 5 different grades of...

I haven’t forgotten about you guys….this project is on temporary hold because another project went south. The other gun I’m working on got through rust cycle #8 beautifully, then rust cycle #9 with a 25% acid solution somehow got contaminated during the boil and produced a haze on the frame and...

We have a member here that is working on producing his own. The prototypes are in beta testing now… @-BTM-

Regulation police hand and sideplate with spring loaded plunger…plunger is pointing down in the pic

Another way to show it…,

Sellers are really proud of donor frames right now….I’ve found it to be better overall to buy complete guns.

After the pin was out, the MGW barrel taker offer was attached and the barrel magically fell off. With the barrel off, the next step was to figure out what stainless barrel should be used. I can (and have) fit barrels to frames but it’s sooooo much easier and faster to just walk over to...

Today I'm rust bluing a 10-8 that is getting converted from a 4" .38 to a 3" .357 and had some time to work on the 19-3. I started by stripping it down and using my new barrel pin punches from @-BTM- Custom Punch Works to remove the barrel pin. The punches worked slicker than snot on a doorknob.

This 19-3 came to the Shotguncoach Home for Wayward Smiths because it had been stored same side down for too many years. One side looked nice, the other side was covered in freckles and scabs. I was messing around with it at the bench trying to figure out what it wanted to be when I found a...

The next faux pinto project has started…feeling a little snubby this time…

I'm finding that it's much easier to be a Grandpa than it was to be Dad. Here’s my 16 year old grandson with a model 15…