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As a bullseye shooter, it’s rough to try and ‘really’ improve on the short-line without practicing on an actual turning target. There’s a few out there a person can purchase, but the ones I usually see run about $1300 – and that’s just not cash I’ve got lying around. After some searching on the net, quite some time ago, I found some instructions on a DIY target; Ed’s Turner. It turned out it was a guy I actually know…it’s a small net, ha! Unfortunately for me, I don’t speak ‘electronics’–well not to that degree–so the undertaking was a little rough. No knock on him, that’s his thing–but I needed ‘Electronics for Dummies; Volume 2 – Dumber’n'a bag of hair’…but the store was out. That and his design called for a specific motor – which I had a heckuva time trying to find. Eventually I found one that he helped me work with and I got all of his guts working–all clamped on my desk, ha! Finally – his design called for the electronics and motor to be mounted beneath the target holder…that gave me the willies. Now, I won’t go so far as to say I ‘suck’ at bullseye, but Lord knows I still have a jerk or a flier now and again. The thought of possibly shooting my own motor didn’t sit well with me. I was looking to have the motor and guts near the ground – like the ones you can buy. The up side to all of that was that I learned A LOT about the inner workings, courtesy of Google and my ability to use a search engine, hehe. But I’ve since scrapped trying to build his design and have gone a route that I think is a lot easier.

So far, I’m into the electronics stuff for only about $40 and the wiper motor for $16…roughly. So, $56 and some stuff I had lying around has gotten me to this point. I’m planning on doing a full list and guide when I’m done so y’all can just copy what I’ve got goin’ on – if you want. I decided I was going to build it in an M249 ammo can – I’m seeing that there might be some structural issues with the side flexing when the thing is turning – but as of now, the motor torques like a champ! For the record – the can will be on it’s side when operating, despite the fact that I have it upright in the pictures.

The wiring design is actually pretty simple if you take the time to understand what everything does – the up side, you can use any motor. You’ll just have to determine the low-speed and high-speed connections, since that’s all you need to hook up (on my diagram, the ‘+’ is high and the ‘-’ is low, but that doesn’t even matter). The stopping at face/edge is controlled by a roller switch – so it doesn’t matter what contacts are being made within the guts of the motor itself. However, since I had the one I started with – I used that, and it works just fine. Nonetheless, I’m not a ‘wiring’ guy – so my diagram is very low-brow…which is why most will probably understand it, ha!

All I’ve got left for the electronics is mounting the roller switch, but to do that I’ve got to get the linkage to see how the target will turn and where it needs to stop. So that’s just dangling right now – just like the kill/speed-toggle. I’ve wired in a toggle to give me the option of a faster turn – but once I decide which turn speed is best, I’ll remove the option from the toggle and made it a simple “off” switch so you’re not using power when you’re not using the target. The linkage will consist of some pillow blocks and a shaft (google ‘pillow blocks’ – my buddy had to tell me the right term) connected through rod-end-bearing-thingy’s to the motor…still workin on the right names for that stuff, ha! All that aside, I’ll probably be done soon – well; soon relative to the project. We’ve got Interservice in a couple weeks, so I dunno if I’ll be laying down the $$ until I get back. It looks like the stuff I need to finish up is gonna run about $200 (high estimate). Suffice it to say – $256 is better than $1300.

More to come…

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Among other things, I’d undertaken a ‘carry’ project which FINALLY got done a few days ago. Normally a gun build isn’t post-worthy anymore, since I’m doing so many of them these days…but this one was kind of special. First, it’s built around the Springfield slide – which the guy had already; along with its original barrel and relatively of age night sights. He picked up a Foster 2nd ‘race ready’ frame from Camp Perry for $70 – so, at the start, that’s all he was into it for…70 bucks. Being a second, the frame needed some TLC – but lucky for me, one of the best machinists in the known universe offered to help me out. The customer didn’t like the the Caspian factory checkering, a) because it’s centered in one small area due to the mag-well and 2) he wanted the ‘bite’ of our 20 LPI. To make matters a little more difficult – the frame had already been worked at some point (hence the 2nd), which had the frame tangs cut to an odd radius…meaning: no grip safety on the market would fit without an ugly gap…I can’t roll like that, ha! Finally, the accessory rail, rather – the meat of it – was machined in such a way that a standard slide stop wouldn’t work without modification – but like I mentioned, one of the best machinists EVER offered to take the brunt of the frustration.

So, a checkered insert was made, the frame was completely cut away in the front strap area and the insert was welded into place…NOT a ‘pocket’ like EGW does. The entire front strap was milled out, the insert cut to size, welded and blended back in. The frame tangs were welded up and re-cut; allowing the grip safety to fit without a gap. The accessory rail’s meat was also backed up to allow a standard, unmodified slide stop, in case the customer ever wanted to change it out. The factory barrel still looked okay, so the hood and lugs were welded up and re-cut for a tight fit. The customer supplied some new fire control guts, recoil stuff and that kinda thing. In the end, the ‘Frankenstein’ held a 1.5″ group with Federal Gold medal (185gr SWC)…and looks pretty damn sexy

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So sad…

The destruction of one of the last vestiges of the USAF Shooting Program at Lackland, its ability to support shooters and the history that goes with it all. The photo is of Range “D-1” at the Lackland Training Annex in San Antonio, TX. It was constructed in the early ‘90’s for an Olympic Festival which hosted events like International Rapid Fire, Sport Pistol etc. In recent years, under the noses of the leadership, the range (and the latter mentioned AP Range) was being used to train the TX Junior pistol team as well as providing a suitable location for AF Shooting Team members (assigned in the area) to practice. That, of course, died as soon as the echelon finally caught wind of it — heaven forbid the USAF actually catered to shooters; people would think we’re in the Armed Services or something, ha! The USAF, at Lackland AFB -at any rate, ceased supporting competitive marksmanship ages ago – but some of us had hope that it might get re-kindled…maybe I should call the photo “nail in the coffin”. What you can’t see, behind the angle of the photo, is a building which was constructed at the same time. It housed a world-class Air Pistol range…which I had the displeasure of gutting a few years ago…all by myself …so it could be turned into a classroom. Too bad they’re not teaching marksmanship.

Air Power! Indeed.

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I had to post this…it’s just too cool! Courtesy of Girls and Guns

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Another Interservice and Perry are done and gone – the end of my bullseye ‘season’. It was bitter-sweet, to say the least. Last year I was present at both, but couldn’t shoot for medical reasons; I was determined at the end of last year to get back on the line. However, it only worked out half as good as I had hoped. I didn’t get the trigger time in that I should have; various commitments preventing 100% dedication to it. Nonetheless, I went to both this year – guns, ammo and a machinist from the shop in tow.

Interservice was more nerve-racking than I thought it would be…as a shooter. Last year I was consumed with training, bugging the Army and the Marines incessantly (to wit, they gracefully endured my presence, LOL), so I didn’t have to deal with going to the line at all. Let me tell you this: no matter how steady you think your nerves are – they’re not. I didn’t ‘feel’ nervous or jittery – but my shots broke like those of a regular CATM guy, LOL (yea, that’s a poke at the AF’s focus on marksmanship…or lack of it ). I couldn’t pull it together, and I had no idea why. Now I’m not a 2600 shooter by any means – but I’ve definitely done better at practice than I did at Interservice. So the only stray from the norm would be the environment. I guess standing next to some 20 something Marine who can knot-hole a .45 at 50 yards plays havoc with your mind, no matter how you think you ‘feel’, LOL. A hearty salute to PFC Lamb though – this fine Marine helped me pull some of it back together with some quick guidance on the line. I feel a bit of a kindred spirit with this guy because (without getting too much into it) we’ve both gotten a bit of the shaft from our respective services — that and he’s from Jersey; he can’t be all bad.

Then there’s Perry…

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So I got a call, last minute, before leaving for the Nationals at Camp Perry from Airman magazine. Long story short…Guy #1 at a gas station meets another guy (#2) and gets to shootin’ the breeze. The subject of the USAF pistol team comes up, as well as the impending National Matches at Camp Perry Ohio. Guy #2 turns out to be some big-wig at Airman magazine, returns to his office and tells his editor to do something with the info. Guy #1 goes back to work, finds me, hands me the card of Guy #2 and tells me the quick little story of the conversation. We both say “that would be cool” and go back to work. It turns out, the editor just happens to know of a person who works where Guy #1 works…the person the editor knows is me; she just happens to be my brother’s supervisor in the AF Reserves, LOL. I couldn’t have planned a better instance of random chance, ha!

Check out the article:

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123214087

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Got an old AR lyin’ around? Well, I’ve got a great use for it – ha! My super-cool candle holder thingy! It’s just a hacked off M16A2 barrel tapped with 1/4-20 and screwed to a piece of steel. I originally had a nice chunk of walnut, but didn’t feel like refinishing it. I kept the gas tube beneath the hand-guards just to locate them better and spot welded the candle thingy to the compensator. I suspect epoxy would have worked just fine…but I have been known for overkill…hehe.

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Last month I finished my latest gun…finally, this one is for me. Been a long time since I did anything for me…felt good, hehe. It is built off of a Caspian ‘factory 2nd’ frame and Caspian slide. The rest of the guts are as follows: KKM Precision Barrel, NM Bushing, Clark full length guide rod, Cylinder & Slide fire-control (re-cut to 3.5 lb “long roll” trigger), Videki-type trigger, STI grip safety (really cool, it’s design allows removal without disengaging the MS housing) and just a mil-spec mainspring housing. Everything was fit, of course, and all the checkering was done by hand in 20 LPI as in the MS housing and the ‘pad’ of the grip safety as well as the front strap. The only glitch I have right now, that I need to tweak, is the spent brass whacking into the optic – nothing a little cut of the ejector won’t fix (yes, the tension on the extractor is perfect ). Unfortunately – it’s been raining cats and dogs here in SATX, so the range has been a bit less than desirable, hehe. Apart from fitting, I used reduced power Wolfe springs throughout – and also snipped an additional 3 coils from the recoil spring as well as the magazines (which are Chip McCormick, by the way). The gun eats 185gr SWC lead (both Zero’s and Minnesota), with 3.7 Vihtavuori and Federal cases and primers. Additionally, I serrated the rear of the slide – a theory says that it cuts down on glare, but I just think it looks cool, ha! I finished it off with a 320 grit polishing of the frame and slide flats and a light blasting of the radius-es for that nice ‘matte-gloss’, old skool national match type finish…with a nice deep blue, of course. Topped it with a Match Dot (30mm) and some standard grips. It shoots like a dream from the line, pulled off a 98-3x (25yd TF) with the first ten shots the thing ever saw…should have time to ransom rest it soon and get the ‘true’ ability of it. Although…if it shoots like a champ right now, you may wonder ‘what’s the point of resting it?’. Well, it’s one thing to tell someone that the gun is accurate, or even for the shooter to ‘believe’ it is…or ‘hope’ it is – but it’s definitely another to prove it with a target from the test-tunnel. The potential of shooters varies, but the ransom rest (with all things considered) doesn’t lie…and positively ‘knowing’ the gun’s capability definitely reduces the mental stress of the shooting game.

Filed under: Home Works, Misc Stuff, National Match 1911 by VGadmin [No Comments »]

So I’m finally getting a chance to get back to Rafe again and the building of his 1911. Let’s all remember that he is in college and also works, so there are a lot of ‘gaps’ in our time together and thus, his progress. Collectively, he’s spent about 9 hours fitting the slide to the frame. He trued the slide on the first day and has been working the frame rails for the past couple of meetings. We’ll call it days 2 – 4.

Days 2-4: The Slide and the Frame; Continued

Rafe did a really good job at truing his slide, so moving on to the frame to see how it would fit would be our next part of the ‘slide and frame’ process. I feel it necessary to mention a thing or two about the mil-spec slides, like the one’s you can get from Sarco. They’re inexpensive and they’ll do the job – HOWEVER, they’re not oversized. That means you WILL have to work the frame rails and swage or peen them – unless you have the wherewithal to weld the bottoms of the slide. Yes, that can be done – but it’s A LOT of work. You’re almost better off spending the few extra bucks on a Caspian slide – but if you’re on an actual $$$ budget; elbow grease is cheaper than parts, I guess.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are numerous ways to fit the frame rails. Some are preferred by some smiths, some are preferred by others – but some are the only ‘smart’ option. In a perfect world, with perfect parts, all you would have to do is stone the frame rails to the proper dimensions. In that world the slide would slip on with no play – done right, I haven’t even needed oil. That kind of fit is so beautiful it makes baby Jesus cry, hehe.

On our world, that’s not the case. Some would say that truing the slide caused our problems with perfect fit and caused the need to swage/peen…to wit, I would ask; would you fit a dimensionally atrocious slide to a true frame? If your answer is ‘yes’…then I don’t want you working on my guns, hehe. Seriously, some mil-specs aren’t bad and aggressive truing isn’t necessary – but as I said, that was not the case here. The biggest part of this whole ordeal is to teach Rafe how to get it done – so having a ‘worst case scenario’ situation is actually good for him.
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