I recently bought this Model 67 no dash from vigil617 here in the forum classifieds. As he noted in his ad, he'd bought it a few years ago from The Attic, an importer and Gunbroker seller, but had decided to pass it on.
While the gun came with a nice set of K targets, I slipped on these Don Collins ivories to dress it up:
The ivories look pretty good with the bright stainless, right?
As he noted in his ad, before selling the gun, vigil67 asked forum member BMCM, a talented gunsmith, to look it over and evaluate it. BMCM found significant issues and repaired them, restoring the gun to perfect working order.*
The work required, and cost, were not insignificant. Vigil617 shared the documentation with me. Most of us here, certainly not I, would have been unable to see any problems just by looking at the gun. That he ensured that the gun was in good order before selling it shows that he is a stand up guy and a credit to our forum.
The gun, being an early model — DOB of 1972 per the SCSW — has stainless rear sights, a desirable feature for collectors (if not for shooters):
I was of two minds about this. I want to shoot the gun. As I have gotten older, even with prescription shooting glasses, the sights have become harder for me to see. I discussed this with BMCM, who was very generous with his advice on how to replace the stainless rear sights. But then I got to thinking: I've been painting my front sights yellow. (I'm red-green-brown colorblind, but yellow stands out well for me.) I like the paint approach, because the Teslor model paint I use comes off easily with acetone. Since the stainless sights are desirable, maybe just paint them black? If it worked well, would be a simple, effective, and easily reversible approach.
Last night I painted the front and rear sights:
Looks pretty good to me!
I also don't want to use the ivories at the range — I've been practicing with a speed loader recently — so put on these Pachmayrs I got off eBay.
Ready for the range:
I'm thinking to do some shooting with it at my club later this week. Can't wait!
*Not that I understand this all that well, but for those who do, vigil617 shared the documentation with me, and BMCM kindly volunteered to discuss it with me: He found that it had an excessive barrel to cylinder gap of 0.013", that the ejector rod runout measured at 0.025", that the yoke tube was bent/misaligned by approximately 0.020", that the yoke had been stretched by use of a tubing cutter style tool, and that the cylinder end shake was at 0.001".
He removed the barrel and set back torque shoulder one thread revolution or 0.028", shortened the ejector rod and center pin, corrected ejector run out, installed barrel and faced to set gap at 0.006", cut the forcing cone to 18°, and reamed yoke tube and corrected misalignment.
While the gun came with a nice set of K targets, I slipped on these Don Collins ivories to dress it up:
The ivories look pretty good with the bright stainless, right?
As he noted in his ad, before selling the gun, vigil67 asked forum member BMCM, a talented gunsmith, to look it over and evaluate it. BMCM found significant issues and repaired them, restoring the gun to perfect working order.*
The work required, and cost, were not insignificant. Vigil617 shared the documentation with me. Most of us here, certainly not I, would have been unable to see any problems just by looking at the gun. That he ensured that the gun was in good order before selling it shows that he is a stand up guy and a credit to our forum.
The gun, being an early model — DOB of 1972 per the SCSW — has stainless rear sights, a desirable feature for collectors (if not for shooters):
I was of two minds about this. I want to shoot the gun. As I have gotten older, even with prescription shooting glasses, the sights have become harder for me to see. I discussed this with BMCM, who was very generous with his advice on how to replace the stainless rear sights. But then I got to thinking: I've been painting my front sights yellow. (I'm red-green-brown colorblind, but yellow stands out well for me.) I like the paint approach, because the Teslor model paint I use comes off easily with acetone. Since the stainless sights are desirable, maybe just paint them black? If it worked well, would be a simple, effective, and easily reversible approach.
Last night I painted the front and rear sights:
Looks pretty good to me!
I also don't want to use the ivories at the range — I've been practicing with a speed loader recently — so put on these Pachmayrs I got off eBay.
Ready for the range:
I'm thinking to do some shooting with it at my club later this week. Can't wait!
*Not that I understand this all that well, but for those who do, vigil617 shared the documentation with me, and BMCM kindly volunteered to discuss it with me: He found that it had an excessive barrel to cylinder gap of 0.013", that the ejector rod runout measured at 0.025", that the yoke tube was bent/misaligned by approximately 0.020", that the yoke had been stretched by use of a tubing cutter style tool, and that the cylinder end shake was at 0.001".
He removed the barrel and set back torque shoulder one thread revolution or 0.028", shortened the ejector rod and center pin, corrected ejector run out, installed barrel and faced to set gap at 0.006", cut the forcing cone to 18°, and reamed yoke tube and corrected misalignment.
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