GUNS YOU HAVE BUBBA'd

not exclusively for S&W's but let's hear about some of the diy projects that didn't come out as well as you would have liked. I've certainly had my share, but let's here a few of yours first so I don't feel like such an azz.

I personally do not let anyone but the factory work on S&Ws. I do not wish to destroy a perfectly good revolver by thinking I can do it myself versus a trained craftsman who has been on the job for decades.

Each time I have sent in a revolver for service, it always comes back with some fix for a problem that I was not experienced enough to notice and which was not even on my radar.

I am always amused by someone who thinks that can look at some internet pictures or read a few lines of instruction and do it as well as the factory. I have seen too many revolvers destroyed by amateurs.

The other thing that always makes me laugh out loud is when someone wants to know how to do a certain job. "If you have to ask, you are not qualified."

Don't get me wrong, if anyone wants to destroy his own revolver that is his choice, but we have next day shipping, and most jobs are done quickly at the factory. It is not like the old days when you sent them back by railway express.

A younger and more foolish imashooter2 soaked a nickel Bayard .380 in Hoppes #9 for 3 days.

Didn't help the finish much.

In the early 1980s I refinished the stock of my Springfield M2. I ended up selling that rifle for $135. The condition was excellent other than my refinish job

DIY'S GONE BAD

I wouldn't think of a real mechanical type of tinkering, others can. for me it's usually some type of woodwork, or sight work. stock refinishing/cut down, recoil pad,re-shaping a grip, along those lines. sometimes it's just to learn about a type of gun I've never owned, or job I never attempted. usually I try it out on a cheapo specimen first. the older I get the more expensive the learning and mistakes become. I've never been able to leave "real good enough" alone. the last real dum/dum was using my homemade electrolysis cleaner on a vintage 1952 Marlin waffle top lever I just had blued, and lost an inch of bluing off the muzzle, cuz I just couldn't wait to find an old junker to try it out on.

Once upon a time I bought a nice Remington 700 ADL at K-Mart for the princely sum of $217 plus tax. I took it to the range a number of time. I liked it. Then I read about the Remington Classic. And... I got to thinking. One day I took the stock off and went out under the car port where I proceeded to saw most of the cheek piece away. Using a Stanley shurform tool, I cleaned everything up and finished with scrapers and a straight edge. The RKW finish was of course removed. The impressed checkering was greatly improved with a demi-bart tool. Then the stock was finished using Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. The stock was actually a nice hard piece of Walnut. The finish was applied and then cut down and another very thin layer appied, etc. I took my first deer with that rifle. Then... because I was wanting a more upscale rifle, I let that little 700 ADL go. At the gunshop where I sold it, the owner gave me a very good price, more than what I'd paid. He thought it was a very nice job. Since then I've redone a few military surplus rifles. I go easy on such things as especially with collectable rifles, original finish, etc. is something you don't want to foolishly sand away.

Strangely enough, most of the bubba-jobs I've dealt with were done by local "professional" gunsmiths. I've sent a total of three guns back to the factory for repairs in the last thirty years. The rest of the repairs I did myself, taking care to use the correct tools for the job. At $60.00 to $80.00 each way for shipping, plus the cost of the repairs or updates, there's real motivation to do the simple things myself.

No, I did NOT do this

Bought this last week from a guy on Texas Gun Trader. Met him in a parking lot and noticed the gun was painted silver to approximate the aluminum color.
Got a heck of a deal after he dropped the price to reflect the paint job.
Stripped it the next day and about freaked when I first saw the true surface show under the paint. Thought I had left the stripper on too long and it ate the metal until I realized he got stupid w/a wire wheel on a grinder.
I was going to replace my nice 442 w/this, but decided I didn't want to look at this kind of ugly for very long, no matter how cheap ($200).
There's a guy coming to pick it up in a couple of hours.

I've unbubba'd S&W factory new guns as I'm pretty sure S&W doesn't know what finish reaming is.

I had my 29-2 Mag na Ported.Now I have major lead gubbers at the ports that always need to be removed and the finish suffers.The front sight is ALWAYS dirty.It might be ok for jacketed bullets but lead is a no no. Never again.

I did not do it, but bought a 1905 Marine Corps Model Colt 38 DA revolver that had been ruined. Bubba removed the bbl and installed a chopped Colt Commando tube, then "Fitz'd" it but grinding off the front of the trigger guard! The homemade grips were yet another nice touch. There went one of only about 800.

I gave a super blackhawk a really nice trigger job about 40 years agf course, I had no clue how thin the hardening was on those parts.
Ruger was very quick sending out new pieces

None of these.....

turned out as nice as I wanted
17-2, 22LR, 2-1/2"



17-8 10 shot 3"

2" 44 mag fixed sight snubby



3" 44 mag fixed sight snubby




just cause this thread needed some pics

Ned

WECSOG :
Wile E. Coyote School of gunsmithing

Most projects start out with positive intentions but quickly go south. Its a learning process and hopefully not an expensive one. Its similar to taking a 30 minute class at Lowe's then attempting to install a sliding glass door. The odds are stacked against you and you should REALLY start small. I often wonder how many doors have the lock assy on the outside.....

One example I witnessed was a local guy that is a WESCOG member that purchased a MINT Colt gold cup commemorative .45 pistol. He wanted to make a "combat automatic" out of it. He systematically destroyed every part on the gun and he was proud of his creation.

I have also been one that was motivated to learn and take the time to do things right or I won't do it. But the true craftsmen at S&W have been long gone in the last 10-20 years, they only have resources that we don't have handy as quickly. I wouldn't hesitate to send something to smith and would hold until they fixed it right, but I would be hoping they get it right the first time. I haven't sent them anything yet and would only do it as a LAST resort, likely because the cost of equipment or tools.

Not interested in local smiths as most of them seem to be winging it as well and charge a small fortune for usually a simple fix, no thanks. I also don't like feeling like I'm providing a sacrificial lamb for someone else's benefit to learn on my piece, no thanks, ill do it myself and get the satisfaction of fixing it and doing it right!

Yeah... Here's my perspective Gents,

I personally don't let anyone work on any of my guns ever. I'll not have any of my personal weapons defaced, buggered up, mangled or destroyed by a "highly trained craftsman". If I only had a dime for every highly trained craftsman I've seen over the years who should not be permitted within a mile of a wooden mallet or to work on a loaf of bread much less a firearm, I'd have a lot more toys to play with

Never have sent a gun anywhere for service, but I did send some fully finished & prepped parts to a highly respected operation for a special finish and guess what... they lost a piece.
I sent a very rare unissued aussie lower to another highly respect craftsman for custom engraving. Never saw it again.

I'm often amused by folks who seem to think the factory can do no wrong or that noone is capable of improving on the factory's work. I dispute that premise with; overtimed & undertimed barrels, forceing cones cut beyond gage, barrel/cylinder gaps you could drive a truck through, swarf driven into sight dovetails, crowns not cut perpendicular to bore axis, uneven cratering of rollmarks/stampings. Oh and lest we forget, the latest crop of plastic wonderguns that seem to shed parts and break things when the trigger is pulled.

If someone want's to know how to do a certain job... that doesn't necessarily mean they're not qualified, it means they're seeking knowledge and need our help. I'll do what I can to teach that person what they need to perform the task correctly & safely and to not damage their weapon. I personally believe it is incumbent upon anyone who takes on the responsibility of firearm ownership to know their weapon inside & out. You should be able to completely disassemble & re-assemble your weapons, evaluate components/parts for damage or wear determine causes of problems and effect repairs.

Look... Long ago when I was a lowly E-2 a rather briny Master Chief taught me to "never task a subordinate with something you don't know how to do yourself". That concept served me very well over 3 decades as I became the briny Master Chief. I am adding new things to my skill set all the time and will happily share my knowledge & skills with anyone who asks.
The first time I rebuilt a Harley motor, noone taught me how. I just studied the tech pubs got the proper tools and did it anyway. The bike is out in the shed now, 40k on that motor and it dynos 109/106. Noone taught me how to checker metal by hand either or chamber a Garand barrel or lap a bolt or install sights or crown a barrel or throat a cylinder or...whatever. If there is some thing that needs doing and I don't know how...I will learn how, get the right tools and do it anyway and I encourage others to adopt that philosophy. I'll share with you a quote from one of my favorite authors that's often in my thoughts and kind of illustrates my point.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

-Robert A. Heinlein

And I'll close my commentary with checkering of 410 alloy stainless steel in the grenade pattern at 17 lines per inch by "Bubba"

I now surrender the soapbox

Cheers
Bill

I agree with Bill. Yeah, I have screwed a few things up. But that is life. They were mine. The second time I did a better job.

Ok, I'm most ashamed o f this one. I have a Hunter Arms "Hunter Special" side by side shotgun. It's a neat old piece but one day when I had it apart to clean it, I couldn't get the barrel to lock back into the action. Sooo, (here's the stupid me part), I forced it. It didn't go, but it bent the floor plate about 1/8'. I knew if I took it back the gunsmith who had cleaned it up for me that I was in for some serious abuse. I thought for a minute about what to do, I found a furniture pad, the kind you use on hardwood floors, put the felt against the floor plate and smacked it with a hammer until it was back in place. If you don't know what to look for you might not see it. I doubt I could have ever found a replacement part that looked like it belonged, and I learned a valuable lesson about using unnecessary force....It almost hurts to tell this story....

BUBBA JOB

I'm currently waiting on the tung oil to dry on a rescue I picked up for 74$ last week. A 19?? (before serial #'s were mandatory) Winchester mdl 131 (22 BOLT ACTION)that the trigger guard was dangling by 1 screw, both sling studs were missing but the holes not stripped, & the kicker was that Bubba took a sharpie marker pen to the fore end to blacken the end & make it look like a Remington. A couple hours cleaning, elbow grease, hardware I had on hand, a little stain, 3 coats of tung oil & I can't tell whether it shoots or looks better. I don't really consider refinishing them to original as a BUBBA job. My biggest true BUBBA job was on a Yugo SKS.

I hate to admit this but around 25 years ago I worked for an aerosol company. They used a chemical called Methylene Chloride. It was a great cleaner/degreaser. I took some home and used it to clean an old handgun that I don't remember the name of. I know it had a lot of aluminum in it. I left the parts all night in the stuff. Can you imagine my horror when I looked in the bucket in the morning and found a molten mess of aluminum. Never again!