I’ve had a couple of people ask me for an index of the HomeSmith projects with links to all the threads. I don’t think I’ll have any new ones to add this month because my time is pretty much booked up for the rest of the year. I really need to do an inventory of available parts for future projects so that’s where my attention will be focused in any spare time I find. There is already a pile of projects ready for next year, ranging from more TrainWrecks to what I hope will turn out to be some nice semi-custom work.
This adventure began as a simple desire to gain the skills needed to do my own work because my friend Nelson Ford wants to retire. It quickly turned into a passion/obsession as I came to realize how much I truly enjoy it. My day job involves saving the world one hour at a time as I flip from meeting to meeting with brief interludes of HR issues as the only real variety. Being able to focus on something tangible and real is quite relaxing and satisfying…..even more so because testing and evaluation involves trips to the range!
I also want to take the opportunity to say Thank You! to all the members here that have taken the time to share their hard earned knowledge with someone who is just a name on an internet forum. I appreciate all the help and advice I’ve received over the last year from Protocall Design, Steelslaver, Muley Gil, StrawHat, TruckMan, standds, 2152hq, handejector, Doc44, armorer951 and all the others who have encouraged me along the way. There also needs to be a special shout-out to Orlon The Brave for starting his own adventure into Smith smithing this year!
Without further ado, here is the 2024 HomeSmith Project List:
SHORT & SWEET is the one that really started it all. Short & Sweet is a 3” heavy barrel round butt model 10-8 that looked absolutely horrible. This has been my primary learning gun for most of the year. It’s been reblued twice (a third time is coming up), I’ve worked over the action three times (including a DAO conversion) as I learned new things, bought new tools, and improved my skills, and recently had a stainless Model 64 cylinder fitted. I’ve spent more time inside of this one than any other and it is certainly the favorite of my collection. I have guns that are prettier, more valuable, and more powerful but this is the one that I pull out first to show people. I’ve learned quite a bit about metal finishing over the year so expect Short & Sweet to float to the top again for another finish makeover.
BULLSHOOTER was not a very complicated build (just fitting the internal parts in a bare frame) but at the time it was quite daunting. Bullshooter is a 14-2 from around 1965 with an unknown bull barrel, a BoMar rib, and Davis stocks, put together by an unknown maker at an unknown time…..all I did was to bring it back to life with used parts from a kit I purchased online. It turned out to be a fantastic shooter and is easily the most accurate handgun I own.
SHORT & STOUT is a 13-8 with a 3” barrel that was attacked with a pair of channel locks. This was my first real adventure in draw filing and it turned out OK but could be better. I’ll be revisiting Short & Stout next year also for more metal finishing practice before I start on the stack that has accumulated in the future work pile.
THE GEEZER is a .38 Military & Police Model of 1902, 1st Change, that needed a lot of love and an unobtainable spring. In a surprise turn of events, a parts kit turned up that contained an intact trigger return leaf spring and the Geezer was brought back to life.
A LITTLE HARRY is a .22 magnum 48-2 that had a truly horrible trigger pull. Now I would consider this project to be just another action job…..at the time it was a significant learning experience. Lot’s of good advice from other members here.
MINI-ME was a problem solving adventure on a 10-6 with a light primer strike issue and taught me the importance of fixing endshake first before trying anything else.
LONG TOM was my first adventure into converting a standard Model 14 to SAO. This is when I learned that all those single action hammers on flea-bay are useless without the corresponding single action trigger.
PUSHOVER was my introduction to correcting push-off and also contains good advice from other members.
TRIPLE CROWN is a deep dive into the internals of my one and only Triple Lock.
WHACK JOB is a 2nd Model .44 Special with a shortened barrel. Here I learned about fitting modern production hammer springs into pre-war N frames and put a band-aid on a front sight height issue. The Wonder Sight works well for the time being but Whack Job may come back for some front sight reshaping if the spirit moves me.
ADVENTURES IN RIMFIRE REAMING is exactly what it sounds like: I bought a reamer and cleaned up all of my .22 LR chambers. A follow-up is scheduled in the next few months to test a theory about temperature and rimfire ammo.
SPIRITS OF '76 documents a brief dalliance with a set of Ruger Security Six bicentennial models and includes a step by step guide into dismantling and remantling a Ruger double action trigger group.
THE HIGHWAYMAN is the story of resurrecting a Model 28-2 and correcting someone else’s trainwreck. This was my first adventure into removal and installation of a barrel.
THE WONDER TWINS are a pair of 10-8’s that were customized as a Christmas present for my children. Both started out as round butt Model 10-8’s with 4” heavy barrels and ended up as two-tone 3” heavy barrel guns. Cylinder swaps, barrel swaps, action jobs, and one reblue were involved.
MUFFIN TOP was a complete makeover of a Model 14 with a bulged barrel. It needed a barrel swap, a refinish, a bit of action work.
SQUIBLY is a .32-20 from the early 1900’s that answered the question of “How many bullets does it take to fill a barrel?” Squibly transitioned from a bare frame with a barrel full of bullets to a nice little 4” .38 Special.
ELEANOR is a lettered 4” 1950 Target .44 Special that had a bulged cylinder. This is a two part saga with an intermission so that I could learn how to do stuff before tackling a problem that I started working on before I was ready. This is also the introduction to ORGAN DONOR, another 1950 Target that was going to be a parts gun but is now a future restoration project.
MR. FITZ is a very hacked up 1902 .38 Special that turned out to be a good shooter with a just a bit of love and attention.
DOOR STOP was my first foray into refinishing wood stocks and opened the door to a brand new way to spend money on tools. There will be more of these in the coming year also…
THE PIT OF DESPAIR was a spur of the moment project creating a reverse pinto by swapping a blued barrel and cylinder onto a nickeled Model 10-6 frame.
Two that are still on the pending list are Mud Hen and War Horse. They are both discussed HERE. Mud Hen is a 6” K-frame .38 Special with what used to be a nickel finish and was the first TrainWreck that I purchased. It’s still waiting because of a stuck sideplate screw. Mud Hen has been soaking in Ed’s Red since July. We’ll take another look at that screw around the first of the year. If it still doesn’t want to come out Mud Hen will go back into the bath for another 6 months. War Horse is still waiting simply because I haven’t been inspired to work on it…no other reason.
Thank you to everyone who has put up with my ramblings this year and thank you to our hosts, the friendliest firearm forum on the internet!
This adventure began as a simple desire to gain the skills needed to do my own work because my friend Nelson Ford wants to retire. It quickly turned into a passion/obsession as I came to realize how much I truly enjoy it. My day job involves saving the world one hour at a time as I flip from meeting to meeting with brief interludes of HR issues as the only real variety. Being able to focus on something tangible and real is quite relaxing and satisfying…..even more so because testing and evaluation involves trips to the range!
I also want to take the opportunity to say Thank You! to all the members here that have taken the time to share their hard earned knowledge with someone who is just a name on an internet forum. I appreciate all the help and advice I’ve received over the last year from Protocall Design, Steelslaver, Muley Gil, StrawHat, TruckMan, standds, 2152hq, handejector, Doc44, armorer951 and all the others who have encouraged me along the way. There also needs to be a special shout-out to Orlon The Brave for starting his own adventure into Smith smithing this year!
Without further ado, here is the 2024 HomeSmith Project List:
SHORT & SWEET is the one that really started it all. Short & Sweet is a 3” heavy barrel round butt model 10-8 that looked absolutely horrible. This has been my primary learning gun for most of the year. It’s been reblued twice (a third time is coming up), I’ve worked over the action three times (including a DAO conversion) as I learned new things, bought new tools, and improved my skills, and recently had a stainless Model 64 cylinder fitted. I’ve spent more time inside of this one than any other and it is certainly the favorite of my collection. I have guns that are prettier, more valuable, and more powerful but this is the one that I pull out first to show people. I’ve learned quite a bit about metal finishing over the year so expect Short & Sweet to float to the top again for another finish makeover.
BULLSHOOTER was not a very complicated build (just fitting the internal parts in a bare frame) but at the time it was quite daunting. Bullshooter is a 14-2 from around 1965 with an unknown bull barrel, a BoMar rib, and Davis stocks, put together by an unknown maker at an unknown time…..all I did was to bring it back to life with used parts from a kit I purchased online. It turned out to be a fantastic shooter and is easily the most accurate handgun I own.
SHORT & STOUT is a 13-8 with a 3” barrel that was attacked with a pair of channel locks. This was my first real adventure in draw filing and it turned out OK but could be better. I’ll be revisiting Short & Stout next year also for more metal finishing practice before I start on the stack that has accumulated in the future work pile.
THE GEEZER is a .38 Military & Police Model of 1902, 1st Change, that needed a lot of love and an unobtainable spring. In a surprise turn of events, a parts kit turned up that contained an intact trigger return leaf spring and the Geezer was brought back to life.
A LITTLE HARRY is a .22 magnum 48-2 that had a truly horrible trigger pull. Now I would consider this project to be just another action job…..at the time it was a significant learning experience. Lot’s of good advice from other members here.
MINI-ME was a problem solving adventure on a 10-6 with a light primer strike issue and taught me the importance of fixing endshake first before trying anything else.
LONG TOM was my first adventure into converting a standard Model 14 to SAO. This is when I learned that all those single action hammers on flea-bay are useless without the corresponding single action trigger.
PUSHOVER was my introduction to correcting push-off and also contains good advice from other members.
TRIPLE CROWN is a deep dive into the internals of my one and only Triple Lock.
WHACK JOB is a 2nd Model .44 Special with a shortened barrel. Here I learned about fitting modern production hammer springs into pre-war N frames and put a band-aid on a front sight height issue. The Wonder Sight works well for the time being but Whack Job may come back for some front sight reshaping if the spirit moves me.
ADVENTURES IN RIMFIRE REAMING is exactly what it sounds like: I bought a reamer and cleaned up all of my .22 LR chambers. A follow-up is scheduled in the next few months to test a theory about temperature and rimfire ammo.
SPIRITS OF '76 documents a brief dalliance with a set of Ruger Security Six bicentennial models and includes a step by step guide into dismantling and remantling a Ruger double action trigger group.
THE HIGHWAYMAN is the story of resurrecting a Model 28-2 and correcting someone else’s trainwreck. This was my first adventure into removal and installation of a barrel.
THE WONDER TWINS are a pair of 10-8’s that were customized as a Christmas present for my children. Both started out as round butt Model 10-8’s with 4” heavy barrels and ended up as two-tone 3” heavy barrel guns. Cylinder swaps, barrel swaps, action jobs, and one reblue were involved.
MUFFIN TOP was a complete makeover of a Model 14 with a bulged barrel. It needed a barrel swap, a refinish, a bit of action work.
SQUIBLY is a .32-20 from the early 1900’s that answered the question of “How many bullets does it take to fill a barrel?” Squibly transitioned from a bare frame with a barrel full of bullets to a nice little 4” .38 Special.
ELEANOR is a lettered 4” 1950 Target .44 Special that had a bulged cylinder. This is a two part saga with an intermission so that I could learn how to do stuff before tackling a problem that I started working on before I was ready. This is also the introduction to ORGAN DONOR, another 1950 Target that was going to be a parts gun but is now a future restoration project.
MR. FITZ is a very hacked up 1902 .38 Special that turned out to be a good shooter with a just a bit of love and attention.
DOOR STOP was my first foray into refinishing wood stocks and opened the door to a brand new way to spend money on tools. There will be more of these in the coming year also…
THE PIT OF DESPAIR was a spur of the moment project creating a reverse pinto by swapping a blued barrel and cylinder onto a nickeled Model 10-6 frame.
Two that are still on the pending list are Mud Hen and War Horse. They are both discussed HERE. Mud Hen is a 6” K-frame .38 Special with what used to be a nickel finish and was the first TrainWreck that I purchased. It’s still waiting because of a stuck sideplate screw. Mud Hen has been soaking in Ed’s Red since July. We’ll take another look at that screw around the first of the year. If it still doesn’t want to come out Mud Hen will go back into the bath for another 6 months. War Horse is still waiting simply because I haven’t been inspired to work on it…no other reason.
Thank you to everyone who has put up with my ramblings this year and thank you to our hosts, the friendliest firearm forum on the internet!
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