# Blackhawk Restyle



## Sharps40

For starters ita 3 screw (1967). Don't wanna hear it. Fellers hadda chance to get it and didn't roll in. So. Perfect bore. Tight. Converted to Transfer bar but w/o original parts. Poorly refinished and undersized grips. Some cosmetic wear. No box. No papers.

The plan

 1. New front sight. Either Rocky Mtn or Orange Fiber optic bead. 

 2. 5" barrel with Sight relocated. Not sure if we'll use Rugers base. 

 3. Looking at Brass Birds Head or Colt lightning grip. 

 4. Polish and blue. 

 5. Increase ejector stroke to push out 357 mags fully. 

 6. Springs and/or trigger work.


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## Sharps40

Ruger Blackhawk front sights are Butt Ugly.  Momma Ruger spared no expense nor effort to ensure the installation of the most ugly block of steel ever installated on a fine firearm.

Good Golly, what was Ol Bill drinkin?  Built all square and blocky on a gun that has some pleasing curves.....lets fix it.







File away the front sight blade.....make a flat that will be rounded over later.  Find a round file and take off the sharp edges and scallop them ala Muzzleloader lock panels......get out the Muzzleloader dovetailing jig (see Marlin Marauder and other threads of mine for use of the jig) and make a nice 3/8" dovetail 1/10" deep in the remaining bit of the ruger ramp and for now...install a nice Rocky Mountain German Silver blade from a 120 year old rifle.  (Might swap this for an orange glow dot......opinions?) 

Now we got a windage adjustable front sight and I can even change styles of front sight at will.  (Needs some trimming and contouring, but that'll be later......)






And finally, file a groove in both sides of the German Silver blade in order to create a Dot on the top instead of a single thick blade....when ya look down, the dot is visible sorta floating above the ramp and base.






And then?  Well, gotta look at it with an orange dot too before going final......then finalize shape and polish and sweat the base off the barrel, trim things back to an all states legal to hunt with 5" long and sweat the assembly back on just behind the soon to be new muzzle.


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## godogs57

I dunno...I don't think I would have done that...


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## Sharps40

Ain't done yet....reserve judgement untill after the rough in is completed and the entire weapon is finished.  Lots of folks have trouble visualizing and incorrectly assume the initial bulky install is the final product....photos above are 50% for the front sight and only if it remains on the ruger base.  A different base is under consideration and if I'm torn, It'll be posted as well.


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## Sharps40

Grip ordered.  Back down to the shop to work on the front sight shape,,,,,,needs to be more pleasing to the eye!

Stock photo of the 1877 Colt Lightning Grip for the Ruger frame.  Hope it comes fast and looks as good!


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## Sharps40

The sight is much wider than the .375" wide base.  Equal amounts, about .1" are marked off of each wing to bring the dovetail down to just a scooch wider than the base...allows some windage adjustment w/o uncovering the base.  Here cold blued and scribed with the calipers....off to the bench for filing.






Squared off for now....at the finish, edges will be rounded, above and around so there are no sharp edges....right now its all pretty much ground and filed to razor sharp edges.






From the rear, got some more file work to do to skinny down the dovetail base and make it look less squat, more...hmmmm, graceful?


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## Sharps40

Small increments make a big difference in looks....ignoring the tail of the ramp for now and focusing on the right side of the dovetail......a bit more curve inward, 5 minutes work with a round file and a much more pleasing shape to the front sight....looking taller and less squat.






From the back....left is uncut, right is about 80% dished....






From the front, left is 80% dished and right remains uncut....






Quartering shot, the sight dovetail now mimics the shape of the base.....both about 80% shaped...






As you can see on the uncut side, the shape of the sight does not very well mimic the shape of the base.






Looking down barrel, the uncut side looks very heavy compared to the near finished right side of the dovetail.


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## Sharps40

120 year old Rocky Mountain Rifle sight almost 90% coverted to pistol sight.  No more shaping the sight now....no more shaping the base either.  Its time to extend some lines and see if the solder will let go and the sight base can be pulled and relocated somewhat rearward behind the new barrel cut off point.  Once off, and before the base is soldered back on, I can do some final shaping and trimming, specially that duck tail out back.






Get a sight pusher and you'll stop breaking sight blades and bustin the sight base off those marlin lever actions.  Hammers are for bigger parts of the gun.






A little double vision.






Not bad....now time for flame wrenches, sandpaper, acid, solder, drills and pins....all needed to move the base.  Hope it comes off....and hope it goes back on.  Lotta work there.






Oh yeah, the sight is from an 1894 Stevens Favorite, 22 LR.


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## Sharps40

Now the base steps up to the sight and the base appears narrower....and the sight base steps up to the blade.  The sight dovetail does not appear to be so tall and blocky and the sight looks slimmer and not so like it was mushed together outta dough as it was at first....nor does it look like a car part or some other industrial chunk ala Ruger original sight.  I think it'll be fine.


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## Sharps40

Got busy tonight, was gonna finish the rockymountain sight to see how it looked and wound up changing directions completely.  Found a nifty lyman sight in the box that I just loved the old school shape on.  Too short but I decided to try it out since the Rocky Mountain just wasn't doing it for me once I found the Lyman sight in the box..... So.....with the lyman having the traditional shape and available in many sizes including white and gold dots.....

I measured the barrel where I wanted to place the new front sight.  With some shims to cut a slightly shallower dovetail I could leave nearly half the wall thickness in place, over 90 thousands.  Should be plenty strong...the screw hole midway back the barrel is just over .1" deep.   So....I shimmed up the top of the barrel 8 thousands or so and installed the dovetail cutter and proceeded to cut and file a neat dovetail placing the rear sight about 3/8" back from where the new muzzle would be....

Got the jig level and in the same plane as the top strap....






Filed in the dovetail, and used the jig to establish a fairly square cut off point for the stub of the muzzle.  Barrel is about 5 1/10" long now....I may tweak it back to an even five in the future or perhaps 3 3/4" to 4 1/2"...... I havn't decided so moving forward in small steps and thinking about the changes as I go.






An old try sight in the junk box, this one about the right height, .440" but ugly as a post.  Try sights are deliberately ground down so they slip in and out of the dovetail....lets me look over the sights and make sure all is true and the sight really is upright at 12 oclock....it is.....levels don't lie...but it takes a few trys to get the jig referenced to the topstrap.






A piloted cutter to square up the barrel true with the bore.  I'll use this to shorten to closer to 5" if I decide to stay that length.  We'll see when the grip comes, not sure how it will look pared with a 5" barrel.






Smooth and well cut...it does not need polish as it does not snag a q-tip....






The 11 degree cutter makes the temporary crown....till I decide how long to leave the tube......then I'll square it and crown it again one final time.







The recessed crown and the somewhat short lyman sight in place for ta see how it looks.


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## Sharps40

I think I'm going to like this better, just have to get one .440" tall above the barrel.  Good practice sculpting the front sight base and sight.  I'll save em for something else....might look better back on a rifle.  So not wasted effort since it lead me to something I like better...now if I could just decide on bbl length....5" for hunting, shorter might look better.  Will have to wait for the grip to see.











Yeah, a better look.  Oh well, the other sight was fun but kinda busy up front now that I see this one.


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## Sharps40

Woops, Sorry, That there is a Marbles front sight, not a Lyman....Lymans aint grooved inna front.


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## hayseed_theology

Looks much better already!


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## Sharps40

Yep...once I saw the marbles sight I knew it was the right Ol School look.....less busy than the ramp and blade arrangement.


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## Sharps40

Lookie what came in the mail....so sexy, Colt Lightning Double Action Style Grip......Wow I love it....its even startin to scream 3" barrel with no ejector!!!!!!  Pure belly gun and with the transfer bar conversion 6 shots carried safe!!!!






Oh baby baby so excited and this is exactly how far I got.....seems This baby, though it fits the XR3-Red frame guns needs to have the Vaquro or New Model trigger return spring, the one that fits the grip and bends down behind the trigger.....or I gotta drill the new frame for a coil and plunger like the old model has......So....I put it back together, packed up the grip and sent an email to NC Ordinance to see what I need to do!






Man, can't wait for an answer, that grip is hotter than BeerTittyWoman!


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## Sharps40

Yep under the grips is the pin for the dog legs on the Vaquero/New Model return spring,,,,there is also a hole for the trigger return spring retention pin.....oh baby, I think I know what the answer is....I think it'll fit!!!!!


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## Sharps40

Okay....no response from the grip supplier....moving out and drawing fire on my own...as usual.  Ordered two ruger springs from mid-toodayumhighpriced-wayusa.com.    Decided on two as one will likely become a try spring, second is for back up or better design.  Here's the ticket....while the product is sourced for the XR3-RED frames, it appears there is no support to cover differences in trigger/frame/springing between the Old Model and New Model/Vaq (this new grip being set up primarily like a New Model/Vaq as reguards sear spring, trigger return spring.)

So.  With two springs on the way, I have an idea for spring mod to ensure trigger return and if so, it would leave the weapon fully capable of wearing either of the grips, Brass or Factory Plowshare handle.  

If not, I think a slight mod to the factory trigger, a reversible mod, will work fine though likely somewhat less convenient to switch between Brass or Factory Plowshare handles.


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## Sharps40

Shot it today. 4" high wif 130g 38s an 8" high wif 125g 357 mags.  Rear sight fully down. Good news is taller front sight is inbound.  Oh yeah...shoots great. Gonna be wonnerful with either grip or both.


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## Sharps40

I think I have this figured out....just waitin on the NMBH trigger return spring.  If its long enough, I'll reverse its function from pushing down on the the tail of the NM trigger spur to pushing forward on the old model trigger.  If not, I can wind one from straight stock to do that.  

Or, after looking at the New Model and Old Model frame, I can insert a spacer in the new model grip frame, where the NM trigger spring would go.  Center drill this spacer and install the Old Model trigger plunger and spring, effectively converting the New Model Frame to Old Model configuration.  

I'll try the New Model Spring first.  If not happy with that, I'll convert the brass frame, in a reversible manner so its useable on both new and old model blackhawks to use the old model spring and plunger.

Meantime I cleaned up and tweaked the front sight dovetail with the try sight in preparation for arrival of a spanky new and taller front sight.


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## Sharps40

Lifted from another site, here is what the filler block for conversion of a NM Single Six Frame to Old Model looks like.....NMBH to OMBH could be quite the same.


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## cmshoot

Looks like you're on the right track!  Interesting progression. 

Have you ever seen, or made, one of the Mercury dime front sights like Hamilton Bowen does?


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## Sharps40

Thanks.  I am hoping for the spring mod....if the spring is long enough to recurve it gives me NM set up on the NM frame and OM set up for the OM frame all using the OM trigger.  Its the most home gunsmith approach that dosn't hack.  Besides, I hate filing by hand, though I do a lot of it and hand filing the insert is more of that fileing I like to avoid!  But it would also be a very approachable home gunsmith without hacking solution, if a bit more tedious.


Have not done a blade style front.  Prolly easiest to do with a blade dovetail base mount and trim/solder the dime in place...still have windage.

Colt style would be a slot in the barrel and the dime soldered directly in.  No windage and a bit harder to control centering, angle and depth.  I wouldn't want to try slitting a barrel w/o a mill or lathe and crossmill slide type set up for control.  I think doing it by hand would be impending disaster....most likely crooked and canted and worst case, too little roof over the bore or a punch thru.


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## cmshoot

The ones I've seen HB do look like the setup that you did on this BH. A windage adjustable base dovetailed into the barrel, the base itself clamps the dime.


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## Sharps40

While I wait for the springs...some final fitting of the tang on the front of the grip frame that fits into the recess in the action.  Just clearance the sides and lowering the height with a bit of hand filing.







And a tour around.  The fit in my medium size hands if great....I can wrap the ring and little fingers around the base of the grip, unlike the plowshare grip.  I'm liking it.






A little gap up front, will investigate that later.  Screws may need to be shortened a whisker, feels like they bottom out just before grabbing with the brass grip.....






Vertical tangs of the brass grip are just a bit taller than the back of the frame....room for fitting.






The grips are a checkered cast composite.....simulating hard rubber and checkered.






Not bad with a 5" barrel.






Just need that spring and the taller front sight to see how its really going to look.


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## Shug

looks good


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## Sharps40

The new model trigger return springs are in.  So far I'm not happy with them, Rugers replacement springs are poorly wound and bendable.  Shoulda bought wolf.  

At this point I'm out tomorrow for some fuel line for the truck so I'll stop and see if I can get a chunk of 5/16" key stock for making a plunger well, old model style and mull over whether I want to add a bowen style mod to the old model trigger to use the new model trigger return spring.  

But at least I have two trigger return options, both good.   I'm kinda leanin toward makin up the old model spring and plunger set up since its much more tuneable and I have excellent quality spring stock I can put in to adjust the pull.

Boy, big difference between 1967 good springs and what I got from the ruger parts house today.  Ouch....no wonder folks swap out springs on new rugers....


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## PopPop

I ain't digging it. Sorry Bro. Mama said don't tote no ugly gun.


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## Sharps40

Ignore the thread then .....  Ain't about what ya like/don't care whatcha think..... 

Is about solid workmanship and customization within the reach of the amateur.


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## Sharps40

Got some work to do this weekend.  

Shorten grip to frame screws slightly.....brass frame has more deeply recessed screw head counter bores and the screws bottom in the receiver.

Finalize the trigger return spring mechanism.  I will very likely install the filler block and set up a spring and plunger ala OMBH....this seems the best and most tunable trigger assembly.

Finalize fit of the brass grip frame to the receiver, at the rear tangs.

Check the ejector and decide if I want to shorten it and the barrel or roll with 5" of barrel as is.  I thinking the gun might look a bet better balanced at 3.5 to 4" of barrel.

Probably reaching the point its time to sell the grip frame anyways....once the trigger is vetted I can decide on Curly Maple grips or not and move out with postin the old frame up for someone that restores or just needs one.


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## SASS249

Love your projects and appreciate the time you spend posting them. You take a good approach at explaining that with a little thought an amateur can do an awful lot. A lot of shooters never really spend the time understanding their guns and how they work. 

After muzzleloaders my next love is single action revolvers. I tend more toward Colts and colt clones than Rugers, but I do like Blackhawks. I do not like the birds head grips however, just not my cup of tea, but I have really enjoyed following this and your other builds.


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## Sharps40

The birds head is much smaller.  Lots harder on the hand too. The lightning may not be manies cup o tea but its more grippable.  I think the concerns bout the looks stem from the rarety of the grip...not enough survivors for it to register as "traditional looking".  We will see.  Its far from done.  Needs another range session on the new grip before polish an blue.


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## Sharps40

Well, there's no brass key stock within a million miles of North Carolina......guess I'll haveta mail order.  But I had some left over aluminum callin out like a helper lookin for a project so, sawed off a chunk a bit over 5/16" square and about 1 1/4" long.  Center drilled it......cross drilled it....thinned and tapered it and ......  it fits in as the filler blank to house a spring and plunger to keep the trigger under control.











The center hole I drilled is .190" diameter and the spring I chose is somewhat smaller than that in diameter.  Still too long but I'll trim it later after makin up a plunger for the end of it.






For now, the cross pin is undersized.  I'll pin it with a fitting piece of drill rod later.  






Looking down from above, I tapered the rear down and short.  There has to be clearance for the hammer spring and strut and no need to have this hunk of metal in the way.  Might be some light fitting later....for now, just the basic install.






Once a plunger is made up, the new trigger filler block will hold it all in place providing the same type of trigger return capability as you can see on the 3 Screw.






And just in case I get real energetic....this here maple is supereyebunger curly.


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## Sharps40

At this time we have a fully functional grip installation.  No interference in the fire position, all components lay where they should be in battery.






Half notch for loading/unloading, no interference, all components locked in the proper position.






Full notch for firing...no interference, all components locked in the proper position.






Ruger OMBH trigger return spring and plunger installed in the filler block.  Perfect function and tucked in tighter/less visible on this grip than it was in the original OMBH.  So, time to loose the XR3-Red frame all together and finalize the Ligntning Style grip.


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## Sharps40

Spent a lot of time today tweaking.  Finally settled on what I want.....readin over my thread I'd mentioned a single action carry, specially in the woods.  Played with 4.5" barrel and 4" too.  Even spent time moding the ejector housing and rod for 4" of barrel.  






Ultimately I settled on sheriff style....3.5" of barrel (to stay out of the roll mark) and when I put it back together and looked it over....its right, specially with the new grip.  Just gotta put a sight on it and I can go shootin again to make sure everything it right before moving on.


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## hayseed_theology

I think you are absolutely right!  That grip needed the short barrel.  To me, it just looks more proportional now.


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## cmshoot

Yep, the new grip frame and the short barrel is the combo!  Ya gonna shorten and reinstall the ejector rod housing?


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## Sharps40

At 3.5" long the ejector rod stroke would just barely start a case out of the cylinder.  In addition, you would have to completely remove the ejector rod and housing in order to pull out the cylinder axle.  I am toying with using the housing hole as a place to screw in a poker pin for poking or pryin cases outta the cylinders....but that's a grosser job needin more time sittin on the milk crate starein at the project. 

I am focusing on some of the fines of the work for now....last grosser job is to put a front sight on the 3.5" barrel and the fines include bits like tweaking two screw holes in the grip cause they bind a bit, filing out rust pits where I can, etc.

Well, I forgot, the other grosser job might be to whip up some curly maple grips.  The checkered composite is nice but a smooth handle in fancy maple might really be the look.


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## Sharps40

Finished sittin on the milk crate....I think the ejector boss is gonna take a hike!


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## Seminole Wind

A bisley hammer would look good on that gun.


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## Sharps40

Yeah, but thats a high dollar custom piece when working with a 3 screw action.  Only one or two shops make em and only on a piece work basis.  

The new model hammers can be extensively modified by cutting out the notches and soldering or welding in steel to mill in notches correct for the 3 screw but thats not a good/practical amateur project either.


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## Sharps40

If I can finger out howta make this....I can put an ejector system on that short barrel.  Gonna be a long sit on the milk crate!


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## Sharps40

Spent the evening final fitting the grip screw holes to frame screw holes....done.  Lined up and cut a new front sight dovetail...straight up and down and perfect.  Taller try sight installed for now.  Love it....have a fine brass bead sight to go on there after bluing the gun, but this is good for now.  Looks like I can't dally too much longer.  Gotta cut curly maple or walnut for grips this weekend and see if I still got the grip makin touch.

Here it is with the taller try sight.  I think it looks good.  I'll get better pics at the end, after its all together.  Gonna make a nice gun for someone I think.


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## Sharps40

With some stiff paperboard, tablet backing, I start on the new grips by making a pattern of the Frame.   Not the grip, since I don't like the shape or fit of the cast/checkered grips that come with the brass frame.






I cut it out and check the fit, retrace a new and tighter line so I can cut it out again, much smaller.  I use small barbers scissors for the cutting, sharp and precise and easy to carve away 1/2 of the width of the lines I have traced.






Much better, now the cardboard template is only a whisker larger than the frame I'll mount the new wood to.  I labeled the template, R is Right panel outside, L is Left panel outside....comes in handy when tracin on the wood since I might want to keep a particular spot of figure up or a flaw down.






These two spots on the maple blank appear to be flaw free.....I'll lay out the two grip panels here and we'll see what happens as the wood chips begin to fly.  After trimming to thickness and cutting the blanks out, I'm thinkin much of the roughin in work will be done on the drill press with drums and the bench sander.  I'll have to keep the blanks cool and I'm going to make them thicker for a bit fuller grip in the hand.






Hope the wood don't break!


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## Sharps40

I didn't take photos as I went along cause its been a long time since I worked on grips and a long time since I used spalted curly maple....weren't sure if it wassa gonna work.  So far so good.

Started out with a 7/8" thick blank and planed both sides, trimmed the ends and chopped out what I needed.  Selected top and bottom sides and traced the pattern and rough cut it out.   Sanded to the lines with the drum and belt sanders.  Left the wood a bit thicker than the original grips so I could get a bit better hold....the checkered grips would be good for a small man or a gal, they are very slim.

Then I had to hand cut the reliefs for the fingers in the grip frame that engage the action at the back....






Test fitting to the frame showed me where to drill the holes for the alignment pins and the grip screw and eustuchens.






Then started the shaping....the drum on the drill press let me start the angles around the curves and to releave some wood for the trigger finger and thumb.  I left the wood wider at the top than the frame on purpose, such a mushroom on top positions the gun in the hand the same each time and makes for a more repeatable grip and a bit larger around for a stronger hold.






Right grip is about 70% shaped.  Done with the power tools on this one....cept for putting in the grip bushing.  From here, this one gets hand sanded on the frame (yep, frame'll need repolished!)






Grip in the foreground is the right side panel, still rough.  It needs its grip bushing installed and power sanded.  Then I'll finish sand it on the frame too.  Its shape will be a tweek different from the right as I'm checking the feel as I go and kinda adjusting for the curve of my hand, fingers, etc.  Might even put a ring finger groove in the left side grip tomorrow.....The figure and grain don't show now but a bit of work with torch or Heat activated acid stain will make it pop right out.....


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## cmshoot

Looking great!  I really like the look of a shorty barrel with an ejector rod. As long as it will pop the brass free of the cylinder you can hook it out with your finger.


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## Sharps40

Me too, but I also like the bare bones look enough that I'm still back and forth.  Plenty of time.  I don't have to order the part right away, there is enough work to do in the interim that I can go slow and shoot it and make a decision later.


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## Sharps40

First panel, LS is shaped and fitted....final step was to break the sharp edge of the grip all around so it blends better with the curves of the grip frame and won't chip/snag later.

So, I made traditional repairs to the main potential future flaw in this piece.  It has a spalting line up from the bottom that while tight and not a crack, could become one later.  It didn't open with all the abuse and heat in shaping but I figured I'd stabilize it in a traditional manner (mostly I don't wanna sacrifice my bicycle pump to make a vacuum chamber for one set of grips.)

So, for now, after all the preemptive work to keep a spalt line a simple line, a 30 minute soak in urethane to drink up as much as it'll take.  The wood is light and open and this thin mix will soak in deep giving a much more durable and moisture resistant grip.






Mean while, the right side grip gets a touch of bedding at the locator pin and we have a touch of a gap at the upper part of the frame.....not sure how I'll deal with it or if I will at all.  This gap was also there with the original grips....its a touch smaller on the opposite side and I may just ignore it as its not noticeable for the most part.






After the soak and the wipe down the curl is very evident.  The amber tone of the urethane is enough to bring it out and give the wood a lovely honey tone over all.






The grip screw bushing is plugged with clay to keep it clean until I'm done.  Meantime you can see under the flash that I drilled the grip front to back down near the tail.  Filled it with glue and then tapped in a maple pin (toothpick)....that will strengthin that spalt line down low at the bottom of the grip.






From the backside, I stop drilled the spalt line at its terminus and a touch before the end and packed the holes full with glass bedding epoxy.  This should prevent the spalt line from opening at the top.






Nice color and shape and pattern.  I'm thinkin the brass should have a bit of a light brown tarnish when finished.  I will further seal and buff the grips but I be leavin em satiny not gloss.


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## blackbear

NICE!!! Thanks for shareing,thats a PPP..."perfect packing pistol "...if I ever saw one!
Can a Ruger Bisley grip be installed on the old model 3 screw blackhawks?


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## Sharps40

Folks keep suggestin fileing off the Ruger roll mark on the left side of the barrel.

Short response is NO.

Longer response is thats more properly a disassembly job with lathe work in order to prevent having a sloppy job, one thin side egg shaped barrel. Sloppy work and lathe work are beyond scope for this thread (good hand work being the theme) and so, NO, the roll mark stays.


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## Sharps40

blackbear said:


> NICE!!! Thanks for shareing,thats a PPP..."perfect packing pistol "...if I ever saw one!
> Can a Ruger Bisley grip be installed on the old model 3 screw blackhawks?



Probably.  Not too much ain't dooable, but I havn't investigated it cause I think its a dayumned wierd looking set up, appearing as if the gun with original grip was dropped from height and got bent forward.  But I spose, thats in the eye of the beholder.  Maybe if I held one it would "look" purtier.


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## blackbear

Yes ,you need to hold one.


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## Sharps40

While the second panel gets its soaking of urethane, here are both panels done, short of a bit of finish and rubbing out.


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## Sharps40

Color on the left panel is a bit different now because the urethane has not kicked over.  It needs a touch more sanding around the grip screw hole and since the screw end is blind I may fill it with a black or brown plug.

In any event, I'll be installing both when dry and accomplishing the final coats of finish and rub outs with them in place on the now thoroughly scuffed up grip frame....polish that later.


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## Sharps40

I put both grips on this morning for a look....Wow!


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## Sharps40

First panel is done, buffed and waxed and set aside.

For now, I am final finishing the other grip, final finishing the frame for its final buff and then its back to the action and barrel.  I ordered a 3.5" long ejector housing.  If I like it and it fits good/works right, I'll install it and make up a nifty ejector button.  From there I gotta decide whether or not to slim the top strap and whether or not to chamfer the cylinder.  Then polish and blue and done!  Only Fourty11 hours more work to do then I can swap it for a truck or something!


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## Sharps40

Grips are done.  Not bad for my first set in about 20 years.  I'm happy with the look and I think they fit pretty well and specially fit the hand better.  So, off to the table for pizza and then to the shop to buff the brass frame back to its shiny glory....then I'll place the bottom end in its protective box until such time as final reassembly occurs.


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## Sharps40

Bottom end is now complete.  Functional, polished, not too slim and kinda purty.  Time to box it up and move back up to the barreled action.

Verdict on the brass frame.  Good quality soft brass, polishes well and no air pockets or inclusions.  Fit to Ruger frame is better than expected requiring very little and quite simple work.  It fits the frame nearly as well as the hand fitted original XR3-RED.  Both grip frames exhibit a slight gap at the junction of the trigger guard to action.  Neither is noticeable.  I would buy this frame again.  However, given the lesser quality and fit of the grips that come with it, I would not purchase the chrome plated version....too hard to fit new wood grips with out scratching and scuffing the frame.

Finally, the verdict on making wood grips.....I remember now why I quit makin em 20 or so years back.  Its more and harder work than inletting a rifle action.  Small, hard to hold, compound angles and tough to sand and finish and polish, specially with some arthuritus in the fingers and poor ol eyes getting a bit myopic.  Lemmie tell ya,,,,,bifocals ain't what they're cracked up to be.....close work is darn difficult when yer eyes get too stiff to focus up close on the small stuff.


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## ncrobb

Nice work all the way around.


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## Sharps40

Still waitin for parts but movin forward.

Cylinder.  It needed chamfered up front.  The ruger square cut looks a bit ....  ugly.

1/4 twenty thread all....wrapped in a single layer of duct tape to make it snug and protect the inside of the cylinder shaft bore.  Rubber gaskets to protect the ratchets and cylinder surfaces and nuts to secure the cylinder on the shaft and chucked in the drill press.  Run it slow....100 to 200 rpm is fine and won't see your part sailing across the shop or kicking the hand held file out of hand and gouging up yer face or some other part of the cylinder.   This set up will do double duty for polishing the cylinder later so it can be blued.    Much easier than eyeballing everything crooked.

A light kiss to start makes sure everything is running smooth and when its as wide as I want it, without cutting into the cylinders themselves, I back the file with 220g for a polish...here it is about half way done.






And here completed with a touch of cold blue to protect against rust for the time being.






And then, installed in the frame for the first look....


----------



## Sharps40

The cut off barrel...already crowned but square, sharp and ready to cut yer fingers out front.  So, I could bevel it back by hand and eye wif a file and get it wrong or use a barrel end chamferererer-er.   (Technincal name is barrel beveler offer)

Very sharp and ugly end.






Barrel end and the beveleroffer chucked in a variable speed drill.






Bring em together, slow rpm, rock the barrel beveleroffer around the cut off end of the barrel....stop when yer happy wif the bevel.






I'm happy wif that.  Subtle, less sharp, easy on the eye.











The outside bevel before some cold blue to protect it from rust till bluing time....sorta like a three angle valve job on a hot rod.  Details.  Forget em and its ugly and potentially less functional.


----------



## Sharps40

Before and after for comparison of the cylinder chamfer....












And, the clean up of pitting at the top rear sight ears slightly lowered the level.....angled forward toward the nose a bit and it slims up the looks nicely.


----------



## Sharps40

Rear sight ears before the clean up and after....

Before...











After...


----------



## ncrobb

That chamfered cylinder is a nice touch.  I can see my stainless Bisley Vaquero getting one.


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## Sharps40

Bring mosta the chamfer out.  I.e. not deeper than the bottom of the flutes.


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## Boar Hunter

Wow!  You are a master!


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## Sharps40

None of this work, including the eventual reblue, is beyond the ability of a determined and careful person.


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## Shug

Great looking work


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## Sharps40

Cam cut all steel Cimarron 3.5" ejector housing arrived today.  Got some careful planning to do and see if this will fit and work.  For sure, I gotta get a couple new plug taps before making any threaded holes.

But, the new ejector housing laid out with the Ruger ejector parts.






Temp install to check the look and initial function.....not bad, a snug fit in the frame hole and it lines up/looks pretty good on there.  Wonder if it'll work as nice as it looks.






From the opposite side....a bit of work on the ejector rod to establish the right length, some thinning for a deeper push back and natch...shorten the spring a bit.  And a new button will be required, for looks and to get the final bit of clearance needed to override the base pin for cylinder removal.  It may be doable in a workman like manner.


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## tree cutter 08

Looking good!


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## death-from-above

I don't post on here very much anymore , just kinda hang around.  I could not help but comment on this project though.  As I am somewhat of a single action fan , I suppose.  
You , sir are building a work of art.  The Colt style grip is awesome.  Then you went with the sheriff length barrel...very tasteful !  I only wish I had the time to " dress up " one of mine.  Oh well , at least I can enjoy looking at this one until...
Thank you for a very cool and informative post , sir.


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## Sharps40

This ones takin a bit o work but its coming along nice and I'm excited about how it looks.  The cylinder chamfer adds a lot and I'm thinkin now the front sight needs rounded over a touch.

I think only way it could be prettier would be on a thin topstrap Vaquero, maybe color cased.  But I'm real happy wif this one as is.

  Seems like it'll need me to belly carry it open, at least once to a good steakhouse, in my cowboy boots and wearin a decent cowboy hat!


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## Sharps40

Decided to wait for sharp drills and taps before trying the install on the ejector housing.  

Jiggin up on some O1 tool steel and drilled a #31 hole 2/10" deep and tried a standard taper tap.  These are the easiest to start a thread in a hole with but no dice....with a lead in of 8 to 10 partial threads it bottoms in the hole and just funnels out the mouth.  So, using the jig I tapped it full depth with a taper tap.  Harder to start but with a jig its not bad at all cause ya come at the hole straight.  

But, the plug tap is old and the threads it makes are a bit rough.  So.  I'll wait.  Sharp bits and plug and bottoming taps on the way.  I'll save the taper taps for action work where the holes go all the way thru.  Blind holes are lots tougher to do and I'll want it right as can be on the first shot.  So, standing by as the bits come by ups in 2 or 3 days to be dropped off at the post office, which is 4 miles from the house and will add another 2 to 4 days to the delivery.  I hate UPS, but they make megabucks with the postal loophole that lets em drop off kabillions of packages with the Post Office and while UPS pockets the full to your door delivery price at fewer miles, fewer hours and ya can't complain cause yer box did in fact get delivered (to the frackin post office) on time or a bit early.  I hate USPS too for bein stupid enough to have a loophole that allows a commercial carrier to dump their contracted workload on a Federal Agency.  Buncha dayum hooie.


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## death-from-above

Sharps40 said:


> This ones takin a bit o work but its coming along nice and I'm excited about how it looks.  The cylinder chamfer adds a lot and I'm thinkin now the front sight needs rounded over a touch.
> 
> I think only way it could be prettier would be on a thin topstrap Vaquero, maybe color cased.  But I'm real happy wif this one as is.
> 
> Seems like it'll need me to belly carry it open, at least once to a good steakhouse, in my cowboy boots and wearin a decent cowboy hat!



No doubt.  I would carry her quite frequently out here.  As for the boots and hat , well , that's almost daily attire here.


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## Sharps40

Round here boots and hat are kinda occasional....like real occasional.  More ball cap and sneaker country.  

 As for carry, I may put it on GB if it doesn't go/trade on the local board.  Tentative feelers indicate high levels of lust but insufficient willpower in the local area.  We'll see.  I get to shoot it first though and will decide from there.


----------



## Sharps40

Its so good to have pals.  Upon reading of my lack of sharp tooling, a buddy stopped by last eve with, Spanky new drills, plug and bottoming taps!  Woo Hoo!  I do love a good buddy, Beer Up my friend!

So, off to the workshop this morning before work and measure 16 times, drill once.

The ejector rod housing flares to the muzzle but we need a straight center line to put it in place....so a flat and some careful measurement off the topstrap and top of the barrel and a light line is scribed on the barrel.






Lined up and gently clamped into place and the center hole is punched for spot drilling and alignment of the drill and tap jig.






Best money I spent in 30 years + of hobby smithing, a scissors jig for drilling and tapping 6x48 and 8x40 holes....self centering and repeatable, holes are dead perpendicular to the barrel or action every time.






The #31 drill was collared to prevent poke thru and then a combination of taper and plug taps were used to put good clean threads in the hole.  6x48.  Plenty strong and if the hole ever buggles out, room to redrill and retap to the factory 8x40.  Lube the tap, break the chips often and go gentle, easy does it, small threads are strong but tender to cut, specially in a blind hole.






Success.  A gun grade (read that strong and properly hardened) 6x48 threaded screw clear to bottom with no bobble or bind.






Still some light fitting of the inside curve of the ejector rod housing to accomplish to fit it more closely to the outer curve of the barrel but very nice for an initial install.






Pretty good look from this side too.  I think this is gonna be just fine.  Nerve wracking but fine.


----------



## death-from-above

Send me a message when you are ready to part with it.  

 As for carry, I may put it on GB if it doesn't go/trade on the local board.  Tentative feelers indicate high levels of lust but insufficient willpower in the local area.  We'll see.  I get to shoot it first though and will decide from there.[/QUOTE]


----------



## Sharps40

Can do.


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## Sharps40

A lazy Sunday at home means....progress on the Lightning!

So, a new ejector rod housing that is a whisker too long and with inexpertly rounded off end.....the end bevel was buffed wiggly wobbly and looks like -poodookiecrap  just like a high end Kimber Melt....Not quite as ugly as home stippled plastic framed handguns but for sure, sloppy.  I'll fix it.

Clamped up, its long enough that using the piloted barrel squaring cutter I can remove all of the ungracefully zig zagged end at the muzzle.  






The initial stopping point is a kiss against the face of the barrel.  Now by hand, housing mounted on the bench, I'll carve it back, perpendicular to the bore of the housing with the barrel squaring tool until the total length is correct and most or all of the Melt job is removed.






Once the length is right.....I use the 11 degree piloted crowning cutter to crown the bore of the ejector rod.  The face of this rod housing is symmetrical with the face of the barrel....both are crowned 11 degrees for a matching look.






And what is the right length for the ejector rod housing?  A whisker shy of the beveled outer circumference of the barrel.  And, only the tinest smidgen of sloppy Melted edge left to clean up.  This will have to be done by hand, a very light breaking of the front edge of the ejector rod housing, by hand with a fine file, to remove the sharpness and match up the bevel on the end of the barrel.






Now to make up a ejector housing nut or stud.  I havn't decided for sure yet but I may potentially increase the life span of the threads in the barrel by installing a stud and nut (stud stays in the barrel, nut comes on and off, this protects those tender barrel threads for many more cycles of assembly/disassembly than the Ruger system of a fat headed screw into the barrel) but we'll see.....time to go work on both and decide which I'll be using for this project.


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## Sharps40

Fitting a 2014 Eyetalian ejector rod housing to a 1967 Merikan Gun barrel.  Work on the cheep part.  No smasherwackers required.  Just need the ejector rod housing to lay on the barrel, closely, just a touch of outward spring at the muzzle so when screwed down, its firmly attached and free of the wiggles without being bound or bent.  A good fit, not a driven in place with hammers or ground with a bench sander fit.  

So, clean up the circumference of the ejector housing lip where it enters the loop in the frame.  The blueing was worn off from multiple fittings so those are the high spots to polish away with a very fine cut safe sided file.

Then using the barrel of the expensive part as the jig to fit the cheep part (always work on the cheep part first, and remember, as a rule of thumb, all parts, even the factory replacements will need some amount of fitting and rarely is a hammer or grinder the right tool)....about 25 strokes on 220 grit sand paper.






Here, see, the cheep part fitted to the expensive part...the ejector rod housing lip is fitted to the receiver loop for a slip fit, the curvature of the buttend of the housing fitted to the barrel for an ever so slight amount of spring out at the muzzle....much less than the nearly 1/8 of outward spring there was before.  






It lays on there nice.  Comes off and back on with out a fight and should clamp down firmly and solidly when the attaching hardware for the front end is completed.


----------



## Sharps40

Otay, less see.....a Ruger ejector rod screw, 8x40.....a barrel tapped 6x48 (plenty strong, more threads inna hole and room to buggle out the hole and replace it wif an 8x40 hole later)....so, how to fit that Eyetalian rod housing to the Merikan barrel.....

A chunk of 5/16" brake tubing from the upgrade of John Lee from single pot master cylinder to dual power master......split down the center so it can be wrapped round that too bigga threaded ruger screw.






Over to the drill press and file to carefully and cleanly remove that shank of 8x40 thread from the screw leavin only a whisker of shoulder to pull down the ejector rod housing to the barrel.






I need the hole in the screw centered in the head of the screw.  So, install the screw head in the sleeve, clamp it in the portable hand vice and select a suitable diameter drill bit to slip into the sleeve and kiss the bottom side of the screw head....makin an indentation close enough to center so I can finish the hole with a proper tap drill.  Heres the jig up.






The drill press belts are moved from 3000 rpm down to 250 rpm for this lil kiss of the bit against the underside of the screw head hidden in the sleeve.  Drill deep enough to just center and align a much smaller tapping bit later.  After which, I switch to a #31 bit that drills the hole to depth for a 6x48 tap and screw.






Starting with the 6x48 taper tap, I start the threads till the tap bottoms.  Gently, member, its a blind hole and the first 8 to 10 threads on a taper tap are barely there....easy to rip out metal instead of cutting grooves.  Quarter turn, back up to break the chip, back in for 1/2 turn, back up to break chip, .... Feel it touch bottom and stop!!!!  Switch to plug tap and finish with bottoming tap.  We have just about 8ish full threads in this dude, maximum strength with a threaded fastener is achieved with 3 or 4.  Given the spacing and need to shorten the stud later, we'll have 3.5ish threads in the barrel and 3 to 5 threads engaged in the modified nut.  Strong, strong.   Remember, as few as 3 of these screws hold on over 1 lb of scope and rings on any magnum rifle forever and without shearing off, this will be just dandy here.  No worries.






The line up....a Merikan Ruger barrel with a snugly installed and as needed, shortened threaded stud (will lok tite it later, after bluing), an Eyetalian ejector rod housing fitted to the Merikan barrel and a suitably modified Ruger ejector rod housing nut.






And it screws in and pulls the housing down against the barrel neat and like it were made fer it.






And from the nose end, ya'd never knew it weren't factory....but its better.  Strong enough and rebuildable later, both the barrel and nut can be reamed for 8x40 thread in the future when some ham handed dude snorkes it down crooked and too durn tight and ruinates fairly good work.  (Future gunsmiths send telekinetic waves of thanks to prior smiths that made provisions against Captain Hamhand an his 5 lb SmasherWacker)


----------



## Sharps40

Getting down to the last of it now.  Not much left to do.  Make up the ejector rod and button.....check the fit of everything, brushed finish I think and then the blue.  Reassemble, shoot.

So, for now, some better looks at the package.  I think the ejector rod housing (gosh I hope it lifts shells up for pluckin out!) and cylinder chamfer were great calls.  

The right side...I was considerin makin up a brass loading gate but I think it would be garish.  Prolly try a brass ejector rod button instead, less of that Bawdy House look.







The view down unda and ya can really get a feel for the cammed ejection and the cylinder chamfer....






From the top......to me the rod housing provides a look of completeness and I still like the cylinder chamfer....I got a Mod 60 that might need that chamfer treatment.....






Even from this side, I can see the housing is a tweek shorter than the barrel, as it should be.  And, I can see that the ejector rod button, though it will cam up and out from the barrel in use, will still need a releaf cut to over ride the cylinder pin so said pin can be easily removed w/o tools for disassembly/cleaning, etc.


----------



## Sharps40

The new ejector rod housing is on. ... It should be fine as frog hairs so time for getting to the ejector rod.  Simple job woulda been ta install a ruger rod, shortened to fit....but like many parts installed on much of the ruger product line, its got fugly features......just a small button on a green steel shaft.  It works but...Ick.  So, brass I think....tie the front to the back and some other shape.  

This was a very hard part to make....not complex....but I studies bowen, Cimarron, ruger, colt, Bullseye buttons, Freedom Arms super ugly wraparoundundercutgianttail buttons....nothing struck my fancy.  

So, I grabbed a nice chunk of half hard brass rod I been carvin parts out of fer years and started grindin some shapes in the end of the shaft.....ya can see a rough S shape traced on the end where I'm sawin off a slab to work with.






Not a bad start....kinda follows the barrel and a bit bigger than factory but not a giant button with a hole in it.






Lookin at the junk on my bench, I saw a pleasing shape....so a bit more refining of the ejector button....course I don't know that ta call it now, it ain't no button.....pusher thingie?






Now....the shape on the right is getting my positive attention.  The shape on the left is destined for the garbage.






Yep, I think so.  When its to install the brass pusher thingie on the rod (don't know yet if it'll be the ruger rod or a section of suitable drill rod) I will have to see if I can cam it just a bit more clockwise so the nose of the brass pusher thingie is centered up over the centerline of the shaft.....I'll play with it...nice part about solder is ya can heat, twist and in a moment, check the look.


----------



## death-from-above

Lookin good !


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## Sharps40

Time to get busy with the flame wrench.  

Heat till the seal is broken.  For such a small part, a propane torch provides all the heat needed.






Occasionally a twist with the plyers until scroink, off comes the very ugly ruger ejector rod button.  Hmmmmmm.....musta been a hot press fit or something cause I see no silver braze or even solder....ah well....at least it mikes .138ish inches and that's about perfect to drill a #29 hole in the new brass button for soldering it on....oh yeah, orientation.....the button centerline faces up, same direction as the flat milled on the ejector rod.  So, for putting on the new button, flat facing up......button facing up and the inside curve of the button oriented so the pointy part is to the left, like the last picture in the post right above.






Time for pepperoni pizza then off to the shop to drill a hole and solder the new button in place on the original ejector rod.


----------



## JWarren

Only one problem with the redo...needs to be a 44 special conversion.


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## Sharps40

357 is better.  $$ $pecial is $pensive, if ya can find it!


----------



## Sharps40

Got the pusher button drilled out....#29 drill and the fit was a tap on with a light hammer.  So, lined it up with the flat as discussed before and checked it on the gun, rotated it a bit more clockwise to line up the flat of the rod with the cylinder wall and then soldered it with flux.






Next step was to do some shaping of the button around the rod to fit the old ruger rod housing....(its bigger inside than the one made in Eyetally for Cimarron, so it was a good starting place for fitting.)






After the rod fit the ruger housing, I tried it in the Cimarron housing.....smaller bore, tighter fit....some bind on the spring too...so....extending the flat so that the rod will extend further back/not stop against the face of the cylinder.  Also, I had to do some tapering and thinning of the rod overall, to allow the spring to slide more freely back and forth without bind.  (as of this evening, I think I have it about 90%, so just some tweaking and polishing and it should be good to hook.)






The ejector rod installed in the Eyetalian ejector rod housing.....looks pretty cool.  The button needs the sharp edges knocked off and smoothed up and polished.






And the ejector rod button camming up and out of the way for easy removal of the cylinder base pin....this is what I was lookin for.....tear down with out havin to yank the ejector rod housing off every time.   This is good, no tools needed to get the cylinder and base pin out for cleaning and maintenance.


----------



## Sharps40

A little better view of where its at right now....











And a slight back and outward cam on the ejector rod, cylinder base pin slides out and between and off the gun, release the ejector rod and drop out the cylinder!











And finally, the first test.....it lifts the cases just enough to get to em and pluck em out.  We'll see how it does with fired cases, these are resized but coming out of a filthy dirty cylinder with no troubles.  The function of the rod is pretty good, could be smoothed up a bit.  Sharp edges in the ejector rod slot need rounded and smoothed and I gotta dig into the spring pack to see if I have a stiffer spring with less coils.....if so, I might be able to get 1/8 to 3/16" more ejection with out spring stack.  Like I said, some smoothing and tweakin to do....but, bluin this dude sooooooonnnnn.   Slow rust blue I think....ol time finish for an old timey gun.


----------



## death-from-above

That lil' Darlin will look mighty fine ride'n in my Doc Holiday rig...jus sayin.


----------



## Sharps40

Its getting harder to consider tradin or sellin it!  Might have to be a running and drivin truck wit good paint on it!


----------



## Sharps40

95%.  Time to find the time, place and humidity for final polish and blue.

Tonight I tweaked the ejector system.  I don't have suitable spring stock on hand but I'm comfortable with the ruger spring now that its shortened and the cut end is slightly crimped and placed at the head of the ejector rod....this keeps the cut tail from slightly binding in the hole in the back of the ejector rod frame loop when the spring is fully compressed.  Full compression gives me plenty of case to pluck out and I am anxious to try it on test fire.  Short of finding a spring with fewer coils per inch and not too much spring rate, I think this will be as good as it gets.  Its all I can do not to press the new front sight in and head to the range....but all in good time I think.

For now, tryin to get most of the occasional stickeyness out of the assembly.  For starters, a final shaping of the once half round rod to a bit smaller in diameter, more triangularish and a 120g polish.  And some rounding of the edges of the brass button with a nice polish on the buffing wheel with red rouge for a smooth shine, no more sanding marks.  (Note the razor sharp milled slot in the ejector rod housing....I'll be tackelin that next, its also part of the roughness in the system.)






With the thin safe sided file and some 220g paper I worked on the inner and outer cut edges of that slot....beveling off the saw tooth edge.  Its about 90% now and the rod and button slides back and forth pretty nicely.  Once I break it down for bluing, I'll finish polishing that slot smooth, get the final milling marks off the edges for some better function all around.  

And the final increase in smoothness, specially at the bottom of the stroke, was flippin the spring around so the factory flat end (uncut end) was bottomed in the loop of the frame.  I slightly crimped the cut end so it would grab onto the ejector rod, up at the full diameter portion just behind the brass button.  Its workin pretty slick front to back and then returning front all by itself when it should.  I'm pretty happy at this point.  

Note the brass button.....the beveled edges are all in.  The initial bevels were sanded in with a small drum on the drill press, a kiss and a steady hand to make a slight bevel, sorta like the bevel we put on the outer circumference of the cut off barrel, but by hand and eye, no fancy tools.  After that, a cotton wheel at 3000 rpm, some red rouge and a gentle hand to polish out all the tool marks and blend those cut bevels into soft and smooth flowing bends and curves.

Oh yeah, that stud in the barrel with the threaded nut to hold on the ejector rod housing?  Just the berries!  I like it lots better than a screw that goes in and outta the barrel every time ya take off the rod housing.  I recon that stud'll get a droppa loktite to secure it in place for the long haul....even red loktite is fine cause when ya want it out, just heat it to ouch temperature with a soldering iron and it'll unscrew jes dandy but it won't come out till then with either red or blue sauce in the threads.






That's it, Ol Porkums is lookin pretty trim these days.  Guess I'll haveta see, if the humidities good, maybe strike and start rust bluing the cylinder and small parts this weekend.

Woo Hoo!  Ruger soup comin up!


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## leoparddog

I stayed up past my bedtime reading this thread last night.  Guess I'll have to wait a few more days for more of the "story"


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## Sharps40

Glad ya liked nuff to keep readin.  Its been an innerestin journey.  Prolly be morin a few days till its done though.


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## cmshoot

Can't wait to see her blued.


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## JWarren

Sharps40 said:


> 357 is better.  $$ $pecial is $pensive, if ya can find it!



Reload...reload...reload....


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## Sharps40

I had a nifty snub dao tarus 44 Special and a Charter Bulldog.  Lovely.  But we consolidated the working battery to walmart calibers.  Reloading was the main means of feeding the 44s and it was fine.  In any event, the ol three screws medium frame is quite popular for 44 Special conversion.....but kinda for an advanced hobbiest with access to some additional tooling...just a bit beyond scope.  I suspect such conversion could be done only in part by hand though, if a new and properly timed barrel could be acquired.  Chambering the cylinder by hand is likely to result in chatter marks so lathe and perhaps mill work are indicated.  But, such conversion still leaves ya in the expensive zone with limited usability.  A new Vaq in 44 special would be the ticket.  For me, the  357 provides multi case capability, more bullet selection, greater range of velocities, plenty of power and ultimately, greater capability.....plus its less expensive, factory or reload.   That means more shooting!


----------



## Sharps40

Experimenting with the try sight....just in case the final brass beaded sight needs to be reshaped before installation.

Factory square shape.






Rounded front for a more traditional sail shape.






S shape to mimic the shape of the left and right sides of the sight.


----------



## JWarren

That is shaping-up nicely.

You have actually got me to thinking about getting another 3-screw beater for a try at a face-lift on one.

I have a very nice 3-screw that I bought with the intention of sending to Clements for the 44 conversion...but it is too nice to convert and Ruger now has the flattop 44 special readily available.


----------



## Sharps40

Would be neat to have one in 45 auto with the old style lift out thru the slotted frame and replace to reload cylinders....no ejector rod at all.  Course a spare cylinder or three on the belt along with the handgun would do a good job pullin yer pants down.


----------



## Sharps40

Before heading off to bluing, and while waiting for temps and humidity for rust bluing to level off a bit, I am toying with the idea of modding up the rounded gate to Flat Loading Gate, ala the early Single Six Revolvers.

Net photo lifted and posted below....and rounded/delux gate for comparison....


----------



## HandgunHTR

I like the rounded gate myself.

Nice looking project gun though!


----------



## cmshoot

I never liked the look of the flat loading gate.

Have you seen the scalloped loading gate mod that Hamilton Bowen does on some of his single actions, especially the lightweights?  I think that's sharp looking.


----------



## Sharps40

Yep, toyin with that too....it'd be simple enough to do by hand on on the gate and the lower portion of the right side of the frame....

But then I'm gonna be sorely tempete to get jiggy with a matching scallop of the left side recoil shield and I am totally positive without a mill or at least a lathe and cross slide table I will have two scallops of differing depths, widths and all crookedified. 

So, I'm thinkin gate mods that can be done at home w/o a mill and flat lends itself.  I could also do a backwards P gate or perhaps shape the gate itself so it mimics the shape of the grip.  

Trust me....goin trout fishin and turkey huntin first....then on the stool, stare it cold and get jiggy with the files and stuff.  I'm thinkin its gonna be a two beer job.


----------



## Sharps40

I like the flatgate look of the single six.  I spent a lot of time carving up masking tape shapes on the gate looking for something I liked better than flat.....it wasn't happenin for me.  But I hear ya and after some research, seems the primary complaint is not enough thumb grab to open it easy and quickly.  So.......I still want a flat gate, but it needs a thumb groove behind it.  I decided on a semi flat gate....a bit thicker than ruger used to put in and add in a good thumb groove to flick it right and down.  Combined with the groove in the frame it feels pretty good....guides the thumb into place and clicksnap its open.  

First, a rough sail shape for the final sight that will go on the front of the barrel.  A brass bead for durability.  And, some scribe lines on the face of the loading gate to ensure even file work at the end.







I filed first down to the outer line only....I need to visualize the thinner and flatter gate but leave enough meat to center and file in the thumb groove out back.  The extra lines on front help me sight in the start point for the thumb groove and keep it running evenly left, right and up, down.






Once the initial thumb groove is filed in, I filed down to line number two and off to the drill press with the small 80 and 120g sanding drums....and some water to dip the part...and my fingers in!  Don't worry, ya can't hold it long enough to get it hot enough to draw the temper.  But, its not hard metal afterall but its good metal and takes a lovely even finish at 120g.






At this point, I've deepend the thumb groove quite a bit and gone back to the flat face to file down to line number 3.   In addition, I've hand filed a slight chamfer between lines three and four.  Not much, I don't want to have the gate edges too far under the mating edges of the frame but I do want a chamfered edge.  It'll make the crescent moon shape on the flat face smaller and better looking.....we'll see that in another photo.  But for now, the rough in chamfer followed by a kiss on a loose 220g belt to smooth it up and blend the chamfer out just past line number four.






The chamfer, blended, after a kiss on that well worn and durn near worn out 220 belt.






And here, the new undercut for the tip of the thumb and the smaller sized crescent flat facing the shooter.


----------



## Sharps40

A few pics in place....after I stopped playin with it....open, close, open, close, open, close....






The shooters eye view....






Thumbed open....






The unloading view....Now that the big blob of metal behind the loading gate is pared inward or off, I think it'll give some more knuckle room to grab onto them cases that just start out of the chamber and get em pulled out and ready for fresh loads....






I didn't press the final shaped front sight home....still gotta blue it and the slot but from a few feet back the photo starts to give an idea of the look.....gotta use yer imagination and see the rear sight wings out back for balance......






Getting close now....almost time to blue!


----------



## Sharps40

Loading gate, before and after.


----------



## biggdogg

Man! I'm getting antsy waiting on some more updates. This is turning out to be one fine piece!


----------



## Sharps40

I'm getting antsy too.  Currently engaged with field training exercises and the schedule is absolutely nutso.  I'm pretty sure I'll be jumpin back in to it mid month.  Goal is to try to get it blued and done in May.


----------



## Sharps40

Time to see if Ruger steel is easy to rust....blue that is....rust blue.  Folks say its hard to get it other than purple....I say that's cause they hot tank blue it too hot!

With luck, its less hard to rust blue than a 94 Winchester receiver, which I must say, takes a bit of work but in the end, rusts/blues pretty quickly using this old school method.

First step, clean up all the small parts and the cylinder.  Get the old blue off with a simple wire brush in a drill press at 3000 rpm....a nice matted finish and I find a few small pits in the cylinder.....no worries, they weren't really visible before and they should hide just as well when I'm done.  In the end, they are deeper than I want to polish out....leaving either divots or making the cylinder a bit smaller.  The matt wire brush finish and kissing the cylinder with 120 and 220 (since large surfaces are difficult to wire brush finish evenly, but the 120/220 kiss will matt it nicely and have all the lines going round and round the cylinder....I finished the lines in the flutes front to back).

For this batch, only the cylinder is final finished with sandpaper, all the rest of the small parts are kissed matt with the wire brush.  Here they are, degreased and awaiting the first very wet coat of Pilkingtons and the first 1 hour sit (second coat is nearly dry and a 3 hour sit, then the first boil tonight!)






10 minutes into the first wet coat, the steel is already beginning to color and develop a light bloom of rust.  This bodes good tidings for the job.  Lots of contours to deal with and depending on how these parts color up over the next days will dictate whether I rust blue the entire gun or try out a home hot tank blue instead.  I am not looking forward to carding and dealing with all those curves, nooks and crannies....revolvers are hard to rust blue!






The flat gate is a bit different alloy, not hard but seems to puddle the solution.  It may need a more matted finish than wire brush, it may just need The Special-High-Intensity-Treatment to get it to start a nice bloom of rust for blackening....much like Win 94 receivers and Marlin Magazine Tubes.  






That'll be neat looking, a greyblack dot were the steel of the ejector rod comes thru the brass ejector button....






One hour from now, the second coat and then three hours later, first boil.  Should be able to boil again twice tomorrow before I go visit a buddy and maybe up to 2 or three more times Sunday.  With luck and good Southern Humidity, my Garage-Come-DampBox will do its usual good job and I'll know by Sun/Mon whether to continue the frame and barrel for rust bluing or start some experimentation on scraps of gun steel via drain cleaner caustic/hot blue....(yep, drain cleaner, that's what yer factory gun and custom gunsmith hot blue gun is blued with....really expensive batches of what is pretty much strong household drain cleaner)


----------



## Sharps40

Ya can infer a lot about steel from rust bluing.  For instance, here in the first two photos, about one hour into the first coat/first rusting......the cylinder is coming along nicely....while the formerly Green ejector rod is not rusted or colored a bit.  Also, the Front Sight blade, also resisting rusting.  The steel with the least rust resisting alloy appears to be the Cimarron cammed ejector rod housing.  Its rusting quite nicely and faster than the rest.






Though puddled at first, the flat gate seems to bloom more quickly than the cylinder pin......I spose the no load bearing gate is a less expensive/less hard alloy than the pin.






And here, seconds after applying a second coating of Pilkingtons......more and almost instant rusting of all but the ejector rod.....that ol rod is prolly gonna have to get The Special-High-Intensity-Treatment....I don't wanna have to cold blue it if I can avoid it.  Time will tell.
















And the Special-High-Intensity-Treatment?  I keep wetting the resistant parts down every 30 minutes or so for the next three hours to encourage the beginnings of rust,,,,from there, these resistant parts will typically keep up with the rest and color out quite the same.  Fingers crossed.


----------



## Sharps40

Woo hoo, ejector rod is starting to rust.

Oh No, front sight is not....


----------



## Sharps40

4 hours of rusting....a light coat on all the bare metal.  






15 minutes boiling in water will convert red ferric oxide to black ferro ferric oxide....then card with 0000 steel wool, sauce, rust, boil and repeat up to 10 more times till its right.

Nope....this does not hurt the chambers, bores, nooks, crannies or anything else.  Its rust bluing.....same finish as factory hot bluing, just a different path to target.


----------



## Sharps40

15 minutes at a rolling boil and I can see the parts have blackened.  There will be lots of fluff on the metal, I'll card it off with 0000 steel wool.  Under it all will be the first translucent black grey coloring of the steel. 






A better first bloom than I thought I'd have given the humidity and temps are just high enough.  All that black fluff has to come off, its not color, just residue.






After carding with steel wool.  Translucent black grey, we'll continue the process for several days in 3 to 12 hour increments building the color and depth with each succeeding cycle of rust, boil, card, repeat.






The cylinder faces are fine, the circumference a touch splotchy but it should even up fine.  As for these parts, mucho bettero than I'da thoughto....(we had Mexican for dinner).


----------



## Sharps40

Humidity is down to 42% in the garage.  Tonight will be a true slow rust blue.  If its not back above 50% tomorrow evening I'll move the parts to my trusty damp box.  A cardboard box with a wet paper towel in the bottom, a mug of hot water and a towel over top.  60F and up is fine, just need a scooch more humidity to speed up the process, of course, slow rust blueing, so speed up is a relative phrase.


----------



## Sharps40

Lets see...."They" say Blackhawks are hard to blue.  In so far as these parts are concerned and using traditional rust bluing methods....Not!  Though I've yet to hot tank blue one I'd likely indicate the steels are very blueable and if it turns purple or red....check your technique and heat, one or both is wrong.  Last evenings overnight rust  cycle produced very fine grained and even rust on all the parts.
















After a morning boil, note the black coloration, even thru the fluff appears more even and the coloration will be much darker grey black after carding off the residue.  (Closing the garage door last evening kept the temperature near 70F and the humidity climbed to a 3 am high of 60%+.....near perfect for slow, Slow Rust Bluing.  For now, I have plenty of other things to do so will continue with Garage as Damp Box....no need for steam or artificially created humidity.






The carding process, on the left, residue on the gate, on the right, the beautiful deep grey black satin bluing that will show on the entire piece when completed.






And here, the cylinder carded.  Dotted with flecks of steel wool but blacker than grey very early in the process and the finish is very well evened out.  From here, 3 to 5 more cycles of sauce, rust, boil and card to achieve a good finish.  Really, doesn't take any longer than the 5 to 6 hours needed for hot tank blue, work is distributed in increments over several days....and no caustic burns and no risk to your vision should you be unwise enough to attempt hot tank caustic bluing with out proper personal protective equipment.


----------



## Sharps40

Three almost dry coats of sauce and a 24 hour sit at an average 65F and 50% humidity.  Rust.  Lovely!  Whatever anyone else may think of a Ruger Lightning conversion, no one can say I have not well and thoroughly rusted these particular action parts.  Half way.  Several 3 hour rust/boil cycles and tonight, these will either be done or I will place them in the ready for 1 to 2 more 12 to 24 hour rust cycles.

Even, fine grained and a beauteous bloom of oxide.






The coating is so fine and upon carding I find the color of the cylinder pin, sight and ejector rod nut to be complete.....I card and set them aside.  They will rest a day in the final treatment....a wipe down of 50/50 Rig grease and Hoppes 9 gun oil.






And here, the smutted parts directly from Boil #3, toweled off and blown dry and allowed to cool before carding and subsequent application of Pilkingtons which will continue to build color and depth as needed on the large parts like the gate, cylinder and ejector rod housing.






The cylinder, half way thru the carding process.  Smut carded off the faces and top half of the cylinder......the bottom half remaining to be carded.  The color is even and spot free.  Everything is carefully handled with clean paper towels to prevent fingerprinting that at this stage will be retained in the finish (necessitating full strip and reblue!).  Careful and clean is the watch phrase.


----------



## Sharps40

Parts are in for the fourth boil.  Should be able to cycle at least twice more and a 24 hour sit for final carding and oiling on Monday evening.  Its hard at this point not to run down to the shop and buff out the frame.  But patience prevails, its size and many contours merit taking it slow and doing it well......fingers tapping anxiously on the table top.


----------



## Sharps40

Humidity stayed just over 50% today but the temps dropped into the low 60s and rusting just wasn't happenin at a pace that I was happy with.  So after the fifth boil and carding I broke out the ever cheep (repurposed cardboard box and coffee mug and cheep red towel) ever effective damp box for the final cycle or two of rusting.  In with the carded and sauced parts.  Wet paper towel on the bottom, a spacer to keep the parts out of the wet.  A hot, durn hot, boilin furiously mug o water for humandidity and warmnessification and drop on the red towel to keep it in.

I located one lil dark spot on the cylinder, next to some pitting.  Mighta been a touch of oil contamination but I doubt it cause its darker.  It should blend well but either way, its small enough I ain't strippin the cylinder back to bare.

So, a shot of the high tech and totally Green/Recycled/Repurposed damp box assembly......3 hour wait then a boil and another overnighter to keep the process goin.


----------



## ncrobb

This may be the best thread on the internet.  Nice work.


----------



## Sharps40

Not quite the best.  I'd have to rank Mall Ninja in the top five, specially the part where he wears double sapi plates on the back so he can dive on shoppers absorbing 308 AP hits to protect them.


----------



## Sharps40

These parts are as black as they're gonna get.  A very nice color with a grey tone typical of slow rust bluing.  Blackens up nicely when oiled and the overnight treatment is a good wipe down, in and out with 50/50 Rig grease and Hoppes 9 oil.  (before oiling, the cylinder bores and the pin bore are cleaned out with dry fitting bronze bore brushes....the bores are shiny bright like new).  There is a bit of smut left down in the cylinder stop notches.  I'll have to dig in there with pipe cleaners or something, its hard to get them lil nooks carded out....I did some brush work but for now, an oil soak and more of the smut should float out of them low square crannies later.  







The darker dot on the cylinder as discussed above.  Its near a spot of pitting on the cylinder circumference so, maybe they are related.  Don't know but its a small dot and as such, I am NOT strippin back to bare steel to start the bluing over.   If I had polka dots all over, I would cry, then strip it bare and reblue.  In the photo you can just see the dot at 12 oclock on the line between light and shadow.  






Another look at the parts, different angle, different light on them....black dot on the end of the brass ejector button looks neat.






Last one...guess its time to start bluing the frame....might get some help by the weekend as Thursday should see local temps back up to 90+F and the humidity should climb a bit too....good tidings if yer in the business of rusting gun steel.


----------



## cmshoot

Excellent read!


----------



## Sharps40

First.  Hard to hold, keep finger prints off, so a jig to hold this for sauce applications and rusting.






Coarse brush, 3000 rpm, light touch, quick work, satin finish.






3 times around the wheel for an even finish.






A few more of those hidden pits and age marks, dents, scuffs.  No need to polish em out and change the shapes so close to the edges.....they won't be obvious or a bother.  Besides, its honest age.






First boil is clean water to try to get all the gunk out of the tight spots.


----------



## Sharps40

15 minutes ago the freshly stripped steel was dropped into boiling water to clean it in preparation for first rusting.  As ya can see....rust forms instantaneously.  Invisible when it came off the wire brush, it was turned to ferroferric oxide in the boiling water....black spots.  This is why any gunsmith worth his salt will demand to polish your gun.  It must go to bluing as fast as possible after removing the original black rust.  Otherwise, the job won't be as good as could be.  Ya ain't savin much by polishing it youownself and then cartin it in for bluing....just let the smith do it all.

Spotty, it can't be blued but it is clean.






Hot steel, clean wire brush, 3000 rpm, light touch, quick removal and immediately move to the bluing operation....don't touch the steel, wear gloves or handle with paper towels or both.






Warm clean steel, a bit of sauce and instant color, rust.  Garage temps are in the mid 80s and the humidity hovering at a healthy 57%...should be a perfect first bloom in double quick time.











I actually have to work till Thursday afternoon....sucks.  So, Tue to Thur will be 24 hour rust cycles with boiling each evening.  Sauce will be applied after each boil, then 9 PM, then 5 AM and boiled again in the evenings.  Friday and sat should see 3 to 12 hour rust and boil cycles as I'll be on holiday!  Maybe, just maybe, done on Saturday!


----------



## Sharps40

45 minutes in and I went out to check and get on with the second very dry coat of sauce (first coat is always a bit wet) per the pilkingtons destructions and low and behold a beautiful and very fine grained bloom of red rust has already formed on about 50% of the steel.  Me so happy.  If it goes well, I will O-Fish-Ally pernounce Ruger Blackhawk Steel easy peasy super dooper in no way difficult to blue....regardless of what Innerweb Arm Chair Cheeto Eatin Coke Swillin WannaBeOtherThan a HackerSmith's have to say bout it!  We'll see....we shall see.....


----------



## Sharps40

I'da never figgered in the last half of my life I'd be makin guns rust on a regular basis stead of rubbin em down with oil and cussin at the red mess....


----------



## Sharps40

As concerns ease of application of the rusting agent, nooks and crannies are best left to English Muffins.

But, 12 hours into the process and this is a glorious first bloom of lovely, amazing red rust...!











Another 5 AM dollop of acidic sauce (the fourth in a 12 hour period) and let the process work for another 12 and I'll boil this Ol Gal about 5 PM tonight for the first of several times.


----------



## Sharps40

I O-Fish-Alley Poununcikate Three Skrew BlackHawks easy to rust ... rust blue that is.  Purple be dayumed, yer hot tankin it wrong if ya can't get it to rust into black I'll bet!
First boil...durn rusty!






For whats touted as a super strong gun, sure is a lotta holes in the frame.  Like swiss cheese wif all them pins and screws and such....I do another its goin flat top and vaquero taper on the top strap....heck, even the top strap has three holes in it out back just for the rear sight.  Get out the hot air gun and dry it good so's it don't spot and ya won't have to strip it and start over.






This is where ya get that sinkin "Tis Ruinated" feeling....sure is ugly....but it won't be by the weekend...!






That there ugly bloom of oxides is a promise of Glory unnerneath.  On the paper and handled finger print free.






First swipes with 0000 steel wool....much deeper black than expected and deeper black than the camera shows.  Dayum nice first bloom.  I predict this here Ruger is gonna rust to beauty quicker than I thought.  But I can already see, hard to card, lots of corners and the holes eat the steel wool.  This one's gonna take a few extra pads of wool and lotsa paper towels ta handle it wif.






All carded and awaitin the second pass with rustin sauce.  Real purty, I like it.  Gonna be a nice satiny deep grey black when all done.  Got tomorrow off so, acceleratin the finish time cause I'm sure I can rust and blue up to 2 or 3 times per day in this heat and humidity.


----------



## Sharps40

Hit it with the sauce for the third time tonight.....not feelin up to another boil an carding so,.....let er rust....we'll catch er in the AM.


----------



## Sharps40

Very nice results this morning.   The steel is well blackened, the look is velvety deep grey black and I am more than pleased with the results so far.  Much less smut on the steel after boiling this morning and in carding I note the finish is clear and unspotted.  The barreled action is up on the stand and coated with a nearly dry application of Pikingtons at 65F and 60% humidity.  I will be applying 1 or 2 additional wipes of sauce over the next 6 hours or so.  Lunch or shortly after should see an opportunity to again boil the action further building the finish.  At this rate, I need to get busy cleaning the guts in preparation for final assembly.  The project appears to be tracking somewhat ahead of schedule.


----------



## Sharps40

I think its almost done.  Smut was much less and the color still very even and the grain even finer.  Once more and I'll see what it looks like about 5 or 6 PM after another boil and carding.  But, experience tells me this Ol Gal has about as much color as she'll take and further work will likely not result in better color.  That being the case, after dinner tonight may be cleaning and oiling all the parts for morning assembly.

In any event, I couldn't be happier with the look of the finish on the frame and barrel.


----------



## Sharps40

This is the first revolver I've rust blued.  Its a difficult job.  More so than most rifles.  Hard to hold, hard to coat, hard to card and hard to get into every space.  But it turned out pretty good.  This and next post are the pics of all the parts blued.  A few dings and pits in the metal, one light spot I think I can darken but over all, very very nice and I'm quit pleased.  The finish holds up very well on rifles but holsters are hard, durn hard on finish...including stainless.  Time will tell but if this one winds up a safe queen I'll be upset....I think it would make a very fine every day companion breaking brush in the woods or working around the farm.  

But here are the parts....all coated in Rig and Hoppes and resting one final night before assembly.  Tomorrow morning should see it assembled and dry fired....maybe live fired too!!!






Good color match.






Good color match up front too.






From above, a tiny patch of pale finish near the barrel frame junction...perhaps some oils wicked out of the threads.....anyhow, I'll try a touch up in the AM to blend it.  If not...no worries, it'll fit in with some of the pimples and pits acquired since this one came along in the 60s.  Incidently, cleaned the bore, it looks great inside.  Its a very strong bore for its age and pretty darn smooth.  As I saw earlier in the build, it shoots very well.






The other side....the small pits on the recoil shield are not too noticeable, no more so than they were originally.  There are a couple more on the cylinder, front of the frame and a slight mark on the barrel.  All acquired fairly over the years and not out of place or unexpected on a working gun.






A quick look out back.  Still some more tooth brush work to do inside to get the recesses a bit cleaner and I need to work on the screw and pin holes with q tips in the morning to clean em out.






Remember this part?  It was a while back....


----------



## Sharps40

Just nudging some of the major parts closer together for a look it over kinda shot.....not bad.  Black and brass and a semi flat gate and pretty nice grip that came out of that rick of maple fire wood...it even fits okay.






And over to the other side.....






Last ones...some of the frame and barrel with less glare.....






From above....






Left side....






Quartering away, best take yer shot now!


----------



## Sharps40

Lets go over pimples and dimples first.  I've never accomplished perfection on my own even with a perfect starting platform.  This one came to me with a great condition bore and reasonably tight cylinder fit and it already had the Ruger transfer bar conversion.  So the game was on.  The gun had a few marks and I've included a cosmetic flaw or two of my own.....seems I always do.  But the overall package is more than decent and I like it a lot.  I'm not a fan of safe queening any gun and so, a few minor imperfections are like the first scratch in the bed of a new truck....glad to have it, now I can stop worrying and get busy and use it! 

A spot or two of light pitting of the cylinder came with the gun, more than I'd prefer to polish out and I seem to have added a spot or two to the rust blue in close proximity to the pitting.  Don't know what happened....the process was clean, clean and the spots are darker....typically a spot is a bit lighter.  I dunno, but I'll go with it.






At the top of the frame, I don't think these are pits....given a mark on the barrel top I suspect these are boink marks from rough handling or perhaps a drop onto a rough surface....maybe someone was twirlin it rather inexpertly!






Back here on the recoil shield, some light pitting, close to the edge and hard to buff out without changing the shape of the edge, I left it go.  Maybe long time in a holster or maybe just a long time layin on foam on this side.  (A bead blast finish would have hidden all of the marks but it'd sure be a flat finish and a bit greyer than black due to being a bit rougher finish.)  Also, here not that I missed a spot on the grip frame polish, where the vertical section of the frame and grip frame meet....after the test fire, I think I'll dismount the grip and buff that last lil file mark outta there.






Unfortunately, I didn't catch this when I purchased the grip frame.  It comes fitted and polished.....on this side, the polishing slightly undercut the vertical tab and there is a slight gap between wood and brass.  Had I caught this up front, I'd have returned the grip frame for an exchange.  I'll have to check more carefully should I ever to another like this.






Here's what appears to be the other boink mark on the top of the barrel.


----------



## Sharps40

Couple of posts here with the final photo tour.  Off to the range this afternoon!  I'll report back on the results with a varity of 38 Special and 357 Magnum.


----------



## Sharps40

6 more pics.


----------



## Sharps40

This morning the Ruger Lightning was a Pretty Gal.....two hours and about 200 rounds at the range and I can say she's now a Dirty Gal, in all the right ways.

The Lightning grip is comfortable, recoil is more straight back but no sting at all.  For a hard grip, its very comfortable.  It was a good choice....odd look, nice performance.

This is more than I typically shoot in a session but this one is a ball.  Points great.....here's what a real Dirty Gal looks like....











I decided to sight in about 7 meters since its a short barreled gun and that's a good aim for squirrel, rabbit, varmints any day.  From there and after the 158g MagTec JHP deer loads were nicely zeroed I proceeded to work on the steels from 3 to 30 yards.  Cleaned 25 about three times.  It points very well, I think there were under 6 or 7 misses.  Very nice....mimics performance from my 1911 and easier to manage than with my other 357 3 screw and its plow share grip.

Starting out, see the lower right....the first shots were 38 Specials with 148g LSWC....moved the sights a bit to shift impact a bit left and check fire more of the 148s and some 125g JHP handloads. 

After that, I loaded up some of the good old 357 mags loaded to upper midrange with 125g JHPs.  They printed pretty much around the bull and are shown in the more closely centered group.






Final zero at 7 meters was established with my factory Magtec 158g JHP ammo.  This is the deer load.  A bit harder push back but still very manageable as can be seen on target.  From there I went to steel randomly mixing mag handloads and factory in the cylinder and worked over the steels all the way back to 30 meters.  Pretty much all were taken down with center hold.  The largest steels being 12" rounds on the stands, 8" rounds on the resetting bars and the smallest being 4" rounds on the dueling post.






From a functional standpoint, much of the brass, including the stiffest load (The Magtec 158s) fall from the cylinder when the muzzle is elevated, gate open.  If not, a light tick of the ejector suffices to bump them out so they will fall or ya can flick em then with a finger nail.  They lift on the ejector about 1/4 to 3/8 inch and then either fall or can be flicked/plucked clean.  Glad I put an ejector assembly on this one....its nice to have.  Not fast, but it wasn't really all that fast before when it had a longer barrel.  

This one is officially done....after I clean it again.....time to move on to another project, whatever that may be.  Look for it here.


----------



## hayseed_theology

Sharps40 said:


> Another 5 AM dollop of acidic sauce (the fourth in a 12 hour period) and let the process work for another 12 and I'll boil this Ol Gal about 5 PM tonight for the first of several times.



How much of a concern is the possibility of pitting it with the sauce?  If I am reading this right, you did 4 coats of sauce and 24 hours before the first boil.  Being a rookie, I am scared of causing more pitting with the rust blue solution.



Sharps40 said:


> Lets go over pimples and dimples first.  I've never accomplished perfection on my own even with a perfect starting platform.  This one came to me with a great condition bore and reasonably tight cylinder fit and it already had the Ruger transfer bar conversion.  So the game was on.  The gun had a few marks and I've included a cosmetic flaw or two of my own.....seems I always do.  But the overall package is more than decent and I like it a lot.  I'm not a fan of safe queening any gun and so, a few minor imperfections are like the first scratch in the bed of a new truck....glad to have it, now I can stop worrying and get busy and use it!
> 
> A spot or two of light pitting of the cylinder came with the gun, more than I'd prefer to polish out and I seem to have added a spot or two to the rust blue in close proximity to the pitting.  Don't know what happened....the process was clean, clean and the spots are darker....typically a spot is a bit lighter.  I dunno, but I'll go with it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At the top of the frame, I don't think these are pits....given a mark on the barrel top I suspect these are boink marks from rough handling or perhaps a drop onto a rough surface....maybe someone was twirlin it rather inexpertly!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Back here on the recoil shield, some light pitting, close to the edge and hard to buff out without changing the shape of the edge, I left it go.  Maybe long time in a holster or maybe just a long time layin on foam on this side.  (A bead blast finish would have hidden all of the marks but it'd sure be a flat finish and a bit greyer than black due to being a bit rougher finish.)  Also, here not that I missed a spot on the grip frame polish, where the vertical section of the frame and grip frame meet....after the test fire, I think I'll dismount the grip and buff that last lil file mark outta there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, I didn't catch this when I purchased the grip frame.  It comes fitted and polished.....on this side, the polishing slightly undercut the vertical tab and there is a slight gap between wood and brass.  Had I caught this up front, I'd have returned the grip frame for an exchange.  I'll have to check more carefully should I ever to another like this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's what appears to be the other boink mark on the top of the barrel.



Thanks for this post.  It gives fella's like me hope.  



Sharps40 said:


> This one is officially done....after I clean it again.....time to move on to another project, whatever that may be.  Look for it here.



I think the gun looks awesome!  I've never been a huge fan of brass or light wood on a gun, but this one changed my mind on that.  It really came together nicely.  

This is the best thread I've read on GON since... your last project.  Can't wait for the next one.


----------



## Sharps40

If ya follow the instructions for rust blueing, you won't damage the steel.  Practice on scrap barrels and tools and small broken gun parts...prove it to yourself.

I tossed it up on GB for sale.  I'm thinkin the next project will be either or both of a Bolt Action 450 BushHamster and an Allen Boxlock 45 caliber muzzleloader wif scope.

Maybe one of them will be a keeper!  (The muzzleloader I think!)


----------



## Sharps40

Screw it....I like this one so ended the GB auction......Ordered the De Santis Doc Holliday Crossdraw holster in tan for the 3.5" barreled single actions. Gun is mine! HA! First project I've kept in a while.


----------



## cmshoot

Had a blast following this one.......great outcome!


----------



## Sharps40

I think so too.  Its really unusual that I keep a project.  I think I'll start rubbin the bluin off now in a good leather holster.  Should make a fine reminder of a decision well made when its riding along with me for deer season in Sept and all the scouting tween now and then!


----------



## Sharps40

I'd like to do another but with a birdshead grip!  Would be real nice to do one on the small frame Vaq.


----------



## Sharps40

Followin up on this thread, open carry starts tonight.  Perfect fit, snug and a nifty thumb loop in the De Santis Cross Draw holster.

Not sure I like the look with a striped shirt and narrow belt but ya get the ider and it will be perfect for stompin in the woods.  Right handed rifles and crossbows will no longer hang up on my carry piece!  I'm happy I decided to keep this un.

I'm off to work in the garage and pack stuff up so we'll see how this un rides on a wider belt and with a lot of movement and bending and jukin round....


----------



## Sharps40

Been wearin it round the house and yard work, etc. Interesting feeling being right handed but wearing it left. It lays pretty close now that I've tightened up the belt loop and its typically not in the way or snagging doors chairs, etc since it sits a bit forward. Weird and needs some getting used to but I think it'll be great come woods time and the rifle is not going clunk, scrape, boink against the handgun all day long!

It CC's decent with a loose shirt. Changes which side of the booth I sit on though!

But, inbound is a new model Blackhawk 357 that could become a true birdshead (blue or stainless or brass) with bloodwood or burl redwood and maybe scalloped recoil shield. As for blue, not sure if it'll get done all black but I was thinkin maybe Black barrel/cylinder/grip and then rubbing the frame back to a worn black finish, sort of a grey black like faded case colored frame...... 

Of course, in typical brainstorming fashion......I have an 1860 BP (Replica) 44 cal parts gun.....lovely Colt style 2 piece brass grip frame and one piece wood stock (no grip screw to mar the lines!).

Might be neat to take some measurements and see if there is meat enough to render another Colt Gripped Blackhawk, but this one in the plowshare style. More to follow in another thread.


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