Project 32

[lilmag]

Hi All,

I was at a sale with my friend and checked out this 32 double action 4th model, it was nickle, but had very little left. The barrel was cut, hacked would be more like it. The strain screw looked like a beaver chewed it. The grips are broken in numerous places, basicly junk. My friend said you can't possibly want that thing! I said yea, if the price is right, I need a project, all my guns are too nice to fool with. So after parting with 50 bucks its mine.

This is going to be a low buck project, so I'll be doing as much as I can.
I took the gun apart and sand blasted the parts that will be refinished and I had to drill out and retap the strain screw hole. I'll have most of the parts prepped for finishng in the next couple of weeks. Said friend above works in a gun shop and can blue the parts with other jobs so the blueing will be free.

Now I have a few issues that you all me be able to help me with.
1st - front sight - options so far are:
no sight at all, thats the easiest
gold bead, shotgun style, something I could do
original blade type, most costly, something I can't do.
2nd - where to get a strain screw, or make one
3rd - grips, I'm going to make them, but what wood. I have some walnut. But I'm thinking about doing a laminate type, like a few rifles I have.
4th - Is there and way to tighten up cylinder endshake on these old topbreaks?

Regards

 

[H Richard]

A source for parts is Poppert's Gun Parts Main Menu. He may or may not have all the parts you want, but has a lot of old gun parts. Also, an excuse to go to gun shows to scrounge through parts boxes.

 

[cgt4570]

Hi All,



Now I have a few issues that you all me be able to help me with.
1st - front sight - options so far are:
no sight at all, thats the easiest
gold bead, shotgun style, something I could do
original blade type, most costly, something I can't do.
2nd - where to get a strain screw, or make one
3rd - grips, I'm going to make them, but what wood. I have some walnut. But I'm thinking about doing a laminate type, like a few rifles I have.
4th - Is there and way to tighten up cylinder endshake on these old topbreaks?

Regards

Front sight: I fitted a cut-off barrel to one of mine (it had a bulge, so I got it cheap and lopped it off). I used a dremmel cutoff wheel of the approximate diameter to cut a factory-style slot in the barrel rib, put a correct half-moon front sight blade in the groove, drilled a hole and pinned it. Yes, the sight covers up part of the patent info on the rib, but other than that, it looks correct and was easy.
Strain screw: Post a want to buy ad in the classifieds. I'll look in my stash for one, too.
Grips: Yes, you can make them. Walnut is most correct, but go with whatever you like. Easiest way would be to buy a set of aftermarket grips off ebay or GB. Jay Scott made them in various lamo woods, fake stag, fake pearl and even a few genuine exotic materials. Also, repro hard rubber grips are available. I've even seen round-to-square conversion grips.
Endshake: You can put an endshake bushing on the cylinder quill as long as it isn't bad enough to open up too much barrel-cylinder gap. Other options include various 'peening' operations to the ratchet teeth or to the locking latch ears on the frame. Since this is going to be a project shooter, you don't have much risk of hurting value. More expensive fixes are possible and include putting a bushing in the barrel hinge hole to shift the barrel rearward.
Hope this gets you headed in the right direction.

 

[TACC1]

If you go ahead with the project, it'd sure be sweet to see pics
at the various stages. Getting ready for a project gun myself, and
any problems you have will probably crop up for me, too.
Good luck with that, it'll be fine when it's done. TACC1

 

[lilmag]

Front sight: I fitted a cut-off barrel to one of mine (it had a bulge, so I got it cheap and lopped it off). I used a dremmel cutoff wheel of the approximate diameter to cut a factory-style slot in the barrel rib, put a correct half-moon front sight blade in the groove, drilled a hole and pinned it. Yes, the sight covers up part of the patent info on the rib, but other than that, it looks correct and was easy.
Strain screw: Post a want to buy ad in the classifieds. I'll look in my stash for one, too.

Chris,

I didn't consider a dremmel wheel, I have one, but thought the barrel rib to be too narrow to use a hand tool, theres very little room for error. Now you have me wanting to copy the bicycle gun sight. I thought about the patent info on the rib and decided to remove what was left.
Could you or another forum member take some measurements of the front sight so I can fab one up? If I do this I would like to copy the original as close as possible. Measurements I would need are:
thickness of sight
radius of sight
distance from end of barrel to beginning of sight
distance from end of barrel to center of pin
Also what would be the maximum gap between the cylinder and barrel.
After I have the parts prepped for finishing I'm going to put it together to check the gap and would like to fix it if I need to before having it blued.

H. Richard,
Thanks for the link, I have it saved.

Tacc1,
Will do, this is a leasure project so it will take some time.

Thanks for the help all.
Regards

 

[H Richard]

Keep us posted with the progress, pictures if possible. It is something I have been thinking about, but don't have a suitable piece at the present. I'll be looking for one over the next gun shows.

 

[lilmag]

Update:

Barrel and frame in final polishing phase, cylinder is in beginning phase.
I decided to go with no front sight, it will make a better pocket pistol and I like the look. I've also removed the address stamping on top of the barrel.

 

[H Richard]

That satin sandblast finish isn't too bad by itself. I have seen a Mod 36 sandblasted then blued, and it looked similar to some of the new hi dollar wonder finish's. Keep us posted.

 

[twaits]

Looking good! That's going to be a great little gun.

 

[first-model]

Hey Scott, what finishing did you do after the sandblasting? It looks a bit like some sort of wire wheel finish.

Any idea on what you'll do for the final finish?

Cheers,
-- Mike

 

[lilmag]

The gun was sandblasted with aluminum oxide, then sanded with 180, 320, then 1000 grit sandpaper, barrel and frame have been polished with #7 polishing compound. The wire wheel finish is in fact the remaining 1000 grit and #7 scratches that need to be polished out yet. Cylinder is in the 320 grit stage. All work done by hand other than the sandblasting of course. All materials used are what I have on hand for refinishing cars.

Final finish will be blued, a friend works in a gun shop and can blue it for free. This is a low buck project, I'm trying to keep total investment under 100 dollars. I used to paint and restore cars and wanted to try my hand at refinishing a gun.

I'm going to make grips too, I'm trying to find a piece of walnut with white streaks in it. A friend who does woodwork calls it sap wood and is looking for a piece. I also thought about laminating some walnut with some kind of light colored wood.