Thought I'd start a perpetual gun thread.
My last one is years old...

Anyway, here's a project I finished.
The gun is a Rock Island Armory 1911 Tactical in 45ACP.
The original grips were plain and made of some sort of southeast asian hardwood.
Never being one to leave anything unaltered (and too poor to afford new grips), I decided to try my hand at checkering the factory grips.
This is the result:

It's 18 lines per inch. The cost of checkering files was about $20. That's half the price of shitty checkered grips.
I've got a block of cocobolo and will make more later.
I was very surprised at how easy it is to checker wood. It just takes a little time, patience, and a decently steady hand.

Feel free to use this thread to show off guns, ask gun questions, ask for advice, or whatever.

[Edited on November 20, 2007 at 9:00 PM. Reason : ]

11/20/2007 8:56:54 PM

The checkering looks nice, what did you use to refinish the wood? Have you seen those stag horn grips? They look like they'd look good on a stainless model, except they are a bit spendy.

11/20/2007 9:43:08 PM

I soaked the wood in boiled linseed oil for a few minutes, wiped off the excess, then put on two coats of Helmsman's spar urethane.
Kinda wished I got some flat instead of semigloss, but I had the semigloss on hand from refinishing tool handles.

I'm not a big fan of stag...but on a high polished blued or hand rubbed satin stainless gun they look verry nice.

11/20/2007 9:46:21 PM

Beautiful result, where did you get the checkering file?

11/20/2007 9:56:46 PM

ok, if i were to buy one handgun for practice and concealed carry, would a p229 sas be a good candidate?

the reviews aren't bad at all. the melt job is something i was def. interested in from the beginning.

the tritium sight is something i would have done anyway.

and the light DAO trigger is at 6.5 lbs, from what i've been reading, a good thing.

overpriced or just right?

[Edited on November 20, 2007 at 10:28 PM. Reason : f]

11/20/2007 10:25:13 PM

^ Sounds fine. If you can conceal it and shoot it well, there's no problem with whatever you get. Overpriced? Probably not, especially if you go used.

11/20/2007 11:15:13 PM

I used tung oil to finish my SKS out of the cosmoline. I think I need a few more applications before it gets a nice sheen.

Sig arms makes nice firearms, I know a few people that swear by their reliability and function.

11/20/2007 11:21:41 PM

Quote :

"ok, if i were to buy one handgun for practice and concealed carry, would a p229 sas be a good candidate? "

Wouldnt be my first choice, Its kinda big and heavy

This is my carry gun
Sig p239/.357 Sig Small enough to carry anywhere and a blast to shoot.

Quote :

"Sig arms makes nice firearms, I know a few people that swear by their reliability and function. "

I have put 7500 rounds through my P220 .45 and never once had a failure to feed or eject, 4000 rounds through the 239 with the same results. My Sig Mosquito .22lr on the other hand is on it way back to Sig for numerious problems. I am in the market for a 226 next. Does anyone know the story on the Sig Pre-owned guns?

11/21/2007 12:41:13 AM

Quote :

"Beautiful result, where did you get the checkering file?"

Thanks. There are a few minor imperfections that you can't really see unless you were holding the gun and I told you where to look.
The experience has showed me exactly how crappy factory checkering is, regardless of the brand. My girlfriend's brother just got an A-Bolt Grade III with checkered english walnut stock. Even on this $1000 rifle I noticed a few uncut lines along the edges...I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't have done some myself first.

I got my checkering files at http://www.midwayusa.com
The handle was $6-7 and each cutter is about $4. You can buy a set that has handles for each cutter but I'm cheap, so I just got the handle and the essential heads and swapped them out as needed.

Quote :

"ok, if i were to buy one handgun for practice and concealed carry, would a p229 sas be a good candidate? overpriced or just right?"

Sigs are among the best handguns, you can't really go wrong with one.
I shoot one in IDPA style shooting and love carrying them as a hunting sidearm.

Sigs are expensive. I love them but probably wouldn't buy one new. But a carry gun is something you have to reallly like to shoot and can shoot well. If you like a Sig then buy it. They aren't overpriced, enw ones are just out of my price range.

However, I personally have a Sig 228 (same dimensions as a 229) and if I was starting fresh I wouldn't pick it for my own concealed carry gun. (but would pick it as a range/open carry gun)
I'm 5'-8" and 170 lbs and it's difficult for me to hide one.
The biggest problem is the decocker. It causes the butt of the grip stick out.
It may be as simple as finding the right holster and I haven't tried a lot of holsters.

Before you buy, ask if you can try on different holsters with the 229.

^A 239 would be my first pick out of Sig's lineup for concealed carry. Second choices would be a P225 or P245, they're single stacked.

I've looked at Sig's CPO guns and the ones I've seen look only lightly used.
However, there are a couple of threads on some gun boards where the finish has flaked off of a few of them.
If that happens Sig will make it right for you.
The prices seem to be a good deal, but I imagine it'd be hard to swallow for some people when a brand new Glock, XD, or M&P is sitting next to it for the same price.

Quote :

"I used tung oil to finish my SKS out of the cosmoline. I think I need a few more applications before it gets a nice sheen."

Just my humble opinion after working in a woodshop for 4 years...
Tung oil can make a really nice finish...but it's old school.
It takes you days, sometimes weeks, and shitloads of washing your hands to get a finish that is inferior to newer stuff.

If you soak the wood in boiled linseed oil, let cure, and put a topcoat of spray on polyurethane (spar urethane, waterlox, etc) then you can get it all done in a couple of days and the messiest part i putting on the linseed oil. It won't be nearly as finicky with drips, you don't have to steel wool between coats, it's faster, it's more durable, etc...
If you want to fill the grain then just apply another coat of boiled linseed oil, apply a few coats of poly, then sand it and apply one last coat. Very easy and you can pick flat through gloss.

[Edited on November 21, 2007 at 1:07 AM. Reason : ]

11/21/2007 1:01:30 AM

Quote :

"ok, if i were to buy one handgun for practice and concealed carry, would a p229 sas be a good candidate?"

that class of SIG pistols might be the BEST choice, IF it isn't too big for you to conceal it (they aren't full-size, but they aren't that small). They're a good "compromise" carry gun.

SIGS rock, though.

although I'd never get one in DAO. I hate DA.

[Edited on November 21, 2007 at 3:09 AM. Reason : and those grips look good, dude.]

11/21/2007 3:08:51 AM

Chris... will you give me something that's a little more sand resistant and just as accurate as the M4 or M16A2 rifle?

What do you suggest?

11/21/2007 3:35:22 AM

FAL

11/21/2007 9:43:55 AM

You could take a look at an AR-180B.
It's a gas piston system like on an AK, but they're just as accurate as AR-15/M-16.
One of my friends has one and said he's never had a problem. I've seen a few torture tests in gun mags where they let it sit in a frozen river, threw it in mud, etc and it kept on going.

You can get one slightly cheaper than an AR-15.

^FAL would also be a good choice, or a PTR-91/G3. But you'll be spending $3-400 more than an AR-180B. FALs and G3 type guns are heavy though...but you do get to shoot 308

I don't know why the US is giving Iraqis M-16s.
They're gonna have tons of maintenance issues. Shoulda stuck with the AKs in that sand.

[Edited on November 21, 2007 at 9:50 AM. Reason : ]

11/21/2007 9:47:30 AM

This is an old project, but I finally got around to taking better pics.

It started life as a camo (old army style camo) Mossberg 500 with 24" vent rib barrel with bead sight.
I cut the barrel to 18.5" and squared it on a lathe, cut off the rib, soldered on the front sight from a Mossberg Ghost Ring set, and refinished in digital camo using Krylon.


A few months ago I had it reamed and threaded for Tru-chokes

11/21/2007 2:58:33 PM

tetris camo nice.

11/21/2007 3:37:13 PM

I'm little nervous about someone who goes by the name Fumbler owning a gun

11/21/2007 3:41:37 PM

fumbler = fan of sarah mclachlan (album=fumbling towards ecstasy)

11/21/2007 3:56:13 PM

whats up Fumbler?

11/21/2007 4:16:44 PM

Not much, just drawing maps at work.

You been hunting?

11/21/2007 4:20:45 PM

Quote :

"ok, if i were to buy one handgun for practice and concealed carry, would a p229 sas be a good candidate?"

I had a P229 in .40 S&W. I loved it for what it was, but it wasn't a good carry gun.

I'd recommend looking at the S&W M&P. While they don't have the stunning reviews that Sig has, I've liked the ones I've shot.

Tritium is a personal choice, I like it but only on my front sight.

11/21/2007 9:04:04 PM

The M&P gets great reviews compared to other striker fired guns.
I've never shot onebu t I've fondled them and they ergos seem close to perfect.

I think tritium is a good choice if you can afford it.
I have Trijicon green 3 dot sights that have passed their halflife.
Three dots of the same color isn't really a good idea. When you bring the gun up in dark conditions it's possible to put your front sight outside of your rear sight and have 3 dots that line up perfectly wrong.
Some manufacturers have different colored sights for the front sight. A popular set is two green rear and one red front.
I think that's stupid. If you've ever looked at green and red night sights the green glows brighter and since the front sight is the most important part of the gun then shouldn't it be brightest?
When I replace my sights I'll probably find some red rear and green front. The Tru-glo tritium/fiber optic combos are supposed to be the brightest, maybe I'll check them out.

11/21/2007 9:58:47 PM

If you get a chance to break down an M&P you'll see why it's a flawed design. The yellow lever. Break that mafacka off and you're sucking.

11/22/2007 1:11:02 PM

Quote :

"Tritium is a personal choice, I like it but only on my front sight."

that's what the 229 sas has, only a tritium front sight. that's why i like the gun.

11/22/2007 2:07:09 PM

That's a great looking grip.

11/22/2007 2:33:54 PM

Quote :

"The yellow lever. Break that mafacka off and you're sucking."

Yeah, but how? I mean seriously, if you leave it down when you re-assemble it then it'll pop back into place as soon as you insert a magazine. It doesn't move during the cycling of the gun, and casings never come into contact with it. Whatever event caused that lever to break would have to be catastrophic to the extent that other parts of the gun wouldn't work either.

My hesitation to write a glowing review stems more from the fact that it is a fairly new design, the early 9mms had a bad habit of ejecting rounds into the user's face (S&W corrected all of these for free, you do get excellent customer service with S&W) and they simply haven't been on the market long enough for real-world reliability / longevity tests.

I have a bigger issue with the polymer trigger than I do with the sear disconnect lever.

[Edited on November 22, 2007 at 4:19 PM. Reason : ^^ my 229 had front and rear, but I've since moved to front only]

11/22/2007 4:19:01 PM

Archery in city limits?
any laws against target shooting my bow in my back yard if i'm just a couple blocks from the middle of the city?

11/22/2007 9:53:52 PM

I don't necessarily agree on the 3 dot grn/grn/grn being a bad thing, with a caveat... I have grn/grn/grn nights on all of my pistols, save one, the CZ 52. Green is the brightest of the tritiums, and thus easier to pick up. Lining up the front sight outside of the rear feels absolutely wrong if you've trained your hand to index the weapon properly with each draw. I have three completely different weapon systems with nights, and the only difference between them is vertical alignment of the POA, never the horizontal alignment.

It is, however, a personal choice. I just have a feeling that you're not going to like the other tritium colors.

11/23/2007 10:57:41 PM

I'm pretty confident that I can line up 3 green night sights in the dark.

Being curious, I decided to see how hard it would be to "accidentally" line up the front side outside of the rears.
It feels wrong to me, but I shoot IDPA with my house gun. I turned the gun left and right just to see how the sight picture compared. It could be difficult to tell if the front sight was out.
Turning it far enough to put the front sight out isn't really all that far and if you don't have the muscle memory then your mind may tell you that the sights are good.

I think the average gun owner that doesn't shoot a lot could easily mess up.
Truthfully though, I think the average gun owner who doesn't shoot a lot would forget to look at the front sight to start with in a high stress situation, so it's really a moot point.

[Edited on November 23, 2007 at 11:35 PM. Reason : ^^AFAIK recreational archery is fine in the city]

11/23/2007 11:34:13 PM

For me its an issue of simplicity. Sure, I'm not likely to accidentally line up my three sights completely askew, but the rear sights still distract me from my primary focus . . . the front sight. I like having a front sight only tritium and a plain black rear sight because my eye goes there and nowhere else. Is it as accurate as three dot? No, probably not, but with enough muscle memory practice its plenty good for <21'.

Personally, I like Novak sights even though I had the absolute worst customer service experience of my life with some gunsmithing I asked them to do. So far, I just haven't found a rear sight I like better.

11/24/2007 1:50:20 PM

Do tritium sights have a life expectancy?

11/24/2007 3:19:53 PM

11/24/2007 3:28:04 PM

The half life of tritium is about 12 years. At 12 years old they will be around half as bright as they were originally.
The loss of light output decreases as they age, so at say 18 years they will be brighter than 1/4 the original brightness and at 24 years they will still glow.

11/24/2007 5:12:25 PM

Oh wow. I thought that it was less than that. Looks like I've got plenty of time left on the Beretta sights.

11/24/2007 8:09:52 PM

Found these sites tonight, since practice > gadgets I figured I'd pass them along:

http://pistol-training.com/

http://www.downrange.tv

11/24/2007 8:12:55 PM

that is a great job on the checkering. I have some kick ass walnut that has been drying since '58 if you start making grips. Scott Sensing and Hakan Pek are both off the radar, there is a market for custom grips, look what Esmerelda charges for hers. I want some walnut square bottom pin covered with ambi cut for a full size if you have some free time.

11/25/2007 6:07:12 PM

I was debating trying to find some buffalo bone grips or something else cool to go on my Uberti peacemaker.

(/message_topic.aspx?topic=495211)

11/25/2007 6:38:34 PM

Quote :

"This is my carry gun Sig p239/.357 Sig Small enough to carry anywhere and a blast to shoot."

i like that. single stacked is excellent. might have to buy 2 guns.

so a 229 AND a 239 SAS. both chambered in .40. sweeeet.

[Edited on November 25, 2007 at 7:11 PM. Reason : where can i find the best deal on handguns? gun show?]

11/25/2007 7:08:06 PM

does anyone use the electronic ear protection? does it work/is it worth it?

11/25/2007 8:16:30 PM

Quote :

"so a 229 AND a 239 SAS. both chambered in .40. sweeeet. "

Mine is not SAS. Go with the .357 Sig round. (just my .02)

Quote :

"does anyone use the electronic ear protection? does it work/is it worth it? "

It seems to work but deff not worth the money.

11/26/2007 12:03:32 AM

Question for you gun people.

I am in the market for a pistol that will only be used while on outdoor/camping/climbing trips. So, I want something small and lightweight but fairly strong. It will never be used to hunt but hopefully it will be able to deter larger predators. Obviously the cheaper the better and I'm not a gun enthusiast so lets try to keep it simple.

So thoughts on the glock 33? I think its supposed to be fairly small but quite a bit of stopping force.

11/26/2007 12:23:19 AM

Sounds to me like you might want to look at .38/.357 revolvers. They are inexpensive and less maintaince than a semi auto. If you are not going to shoot alot a revolver would be the way to go.
If you are going camping with it alot I would go stainless. I really liked the Ruger SP101 I shot a few weeks ago. Look around at the local shops and see what works for you price wise.

[Edited on November 26, 2007 at 2:57 AM. Reason : .]

11/26/2007 2:53:10 AM

^^ What do you mean by "deter" and by "large predators"? If you're just going to shoot it in the air, any cheap revolver with blanks will do. If you plan to shoot it at something, I'd go with a .357 at the minimum, a .44 would probably be a better bet. A .38 just won't cut it against a bear.

Like gk2004 said, a solid stainless revolver would be a good choice. You can get lightweight S&W revolvers, but its not going to be worth the price for you. Whatever you did, you'd at least need to practice with it enough to be confident that you can hit an (insert animal you're shooting) at (insert range you feel comfortable with) yards.

If you're going to shoot at the animal, you owe it to the animal to be able kill it.

Oh and make sure it has double action capability. Most revolvers do, but don't get an old single action only revolver by mistake. A gun shop will be able to show you the difference.

[Edited on November 26, 2007 at 8:39 AM. Reason : DA / SA]

11/26/2007 8:37:39 AM

whats a decent relatively inexpensive shotgun for home defense? like most things, i think i would prefer to buy used if i can save a decent amount of $ doing so. i'm open to any general ideas on what i should be looking for...but if anyone wants to dig up a few Craigslist or whatever links that would be cool too

11/26/2007 8:59:16 AM

I have a Mossberg 500 special. You can get yourself one at Dick's for $200. I use mine for sporting clays. But if you want to use it for home protection Mossberg has a wide selection of aftermarket parts.

Dude, Go to the Pawn Shop called Zodiac in Smithfield/Selma Area

[Edited on November 26, 2007 at 10:40 AM. Reason : I'd call and see what they have before you drive out there. ]

11/26/2007 10:39:13 AM

shit chris i didn't know you were fumbler!

11/26/2007 10:43:55 AM

^^ I've got the Mossberg 500 with the pistol grip and the badass vent piece over the barrel. It's scary looking enough to be a deterrent.

11/26/2007 4:34:43 PM

mossberg 500 or remington 870 are your best cheap options for a HD shotgun

11/26/2007 6:09:27 PM

Quote :

"Mossberg 500 with the pistol grip and the badass vent piece over the barrel. It's scary looking enough to be a deterrent."

you have a picture perhaps?

Quote :

"But if you want to use it for home protection Mossberg has a wide selection of aftermarket parts."

what kind of parts would be good for a home defense shotgun?

11/26/2007 6:27:58 PM

for my .02, here's a pic of my mossberg 500A:

20" barrel, 8-shot capacity (it now has the factory fore-grip back on it, that pistol gril styled one sucked.)

I've since gone to a winchester1200 defender with an 18.5" barrel, it's lighter and shorter (at 5'6" i need a short gun).

a home defense shotgun doesn't necessarily need aftermarket parts... altho they can be functional and add that badass factor.

I'd say a 12ga. with a 18.5"-20" barrel is suitable for the task. needs to be short enough to maneuver easily.

[Edited on November 26, 2007 at 6:46 PM. Reason : -]

11/26/2007 6:44:29 PM

This is what mine looks like, although I think that the pistol grip might be different. I have it stored at my parents house now that I've got a number of pistols and live in a building where the walls are all at least 6" of concrete.

11/26/2007 6:57:11 PM