# The Undecided Project



## Sharps40 (Aug 27, 2014)

In so far as it'll either be brought up to running condition or taken further.  But for now that's undecided.

Waiting on a hammer and a new Ruger Stainless cylinder pin.  It looks rougher in the photos than it really is.  Bore is perfect and like all 1974 manufacture Ruger 45 Colts, it has cylinder bores suited for .454" bullets with a smaller diameter bore.

Here is what I am working with.  Finish on steel is 80+% with light freckling on the frame and cylinder.  Barrel is better and the finish on the aluminum N series grip frame is well over 90%.


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## Sharps40 (Aug 27, 2014)

So, I have 6 45 Colt cases.  They are about as rare as can be right now.  I pulled out the .452" 260g lead round noses and recharged them with a sane amount of Bullseye and a sized LEE REAL muzzleloading bullet.  A 256g lead wadcutter sized to .454" diameter.

Alloy is my any mix (3500 lbs of lead battery terminal clamps I bought from DRMO 20 odd years back for $150....been castin with it ever since and no problems with handgun or rifle.)  Its not a super hard alloy....but not pure lead either.  Softer than wheelweights.  

The lube is my homemade brown goop.  Suitable for rifle and handgun and muzzleloader slugs its Lee Liquid Alox, Beeswax, Olive oil, paraffin wax, RCBS resizing lube and Vasoline....pretty much what I had in the house when I made up a big batch.  Its provided wonderful lead free shooting in handguns and rifles and muzzleloaders with slug up to 1900 fps for many years.  I still have a large, 2qt or more tub left to go thru.  As Linebaugh says, if its hard as a Crayon, use it for coloring.  Sticky is right for bullet lube.  I'm a believer....sticky it is.

Three bullets, L to R, as cast, sized .454" and lubed.






Loaded as full wadcutters should be....near to the mouth and a light crimp into the top driving band.











The cases mike .476" diameter with the bullets seated and crimped.  .480" is the max spec.  Chamber check and they fall in and out. 






Plenty of room in the long New Model cylinder for very long and heavy bullets.  These will have a jump, just like regular wadcutters in a 38 Special.  I am expecting similar results to the 38 Special....good to great accuracy and no leading.  But with 6 rounds it'll take more than a few trips to the range to work out the details.


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## Sharps40 (Aug 28, 2014)

Didn't get all the parts today and no sights to rezero the 1860 Blackhawk but enough to do some assembly on the Undecided Project and see if there is a direction available after getting to the range.

Figured I'd set up the RP SS grip frame.  Driving the trigger return spring out of the NXR3-RED Ruger frame was easy, but it was a very snug drive fit into the steel frame.  We won't need to worry bout it fallin out.






I see why RP replaced the Old Model Colt frame for Ruger with a New Model....worst part of the job is compressin that mean mainspring and getting it captured.  But here, the trigger guard totally assembled.






Right side of the RP frame is a very close fit to the Ruger frame.






Left side of the RP frame is where all the fitting has to be done, some file work would be needed if this gun is a shooter.






The differences between the Colt grip and the Ruger grip are subtle and mostly up at the top.  A forward curve that is smoother and brings the entire grip a bit closer to the trigger.  A smaller neck up top and a back strap that is a touch further forward than the Ruger.  Overall a slightly more tapered grip and closer to the trigger.











Well, the backside looks pretty good.  The barrel is way too long but.....






Fit on the ears is pretty darn good too.  Very close around the hammer without dragging.






If this winds up being the set up (i.e. is shoots well enough) then the only decision left is barrel length....4 5/8 or 5+ inches.


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## Sharps40 (Aug 30, 2014)

Kind folks have sent a few cases here and there and additional offers for Buffler Nickles for a front sight and even loaded ammo offers is waiting in the wings.  Just gotta get this dude running.

But for now, 15 cases on hand and loaded very light, medium and unspecified medium+.  We'll see how it goes from low and moving up as the dial calibers, extraction and primers dictate.  Using Bullseye and taking up the cavernous space with the long shank of these 255g bullets.  First trip to the range will be to put it on paper at 10m while function testing.  15 rounds all on the same bull should tell me a bit about the possibilities.

But at least I got done in the garage a bit early.  An unspecified intermittent start failure (+ dead headlights/gages/radio but on a full charged battery) has had me scratchin my head for the source of the short.  Near as I can tell from 3 hrs dinkin around with the ohmmeter, the 50 year old ignition switch is bad.  Rattled it around and voila, headlights, dash lights, radio and started fine.  But, I ordered the switch at Oreillies and its $15, be here tomorrow so....hopefully no more occasional head scratchin while I try to get the ol boy started.

For now, the range line up....


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## Sharps40 (Sep 1, 2014)

Didn't get to the range with the 1860 Army Blackhawk yet but since the neighbors was all outside this morning plunkin away with their pistols, figgered I'd join em.

We benched the Pimp Cannon (official name for this gun till the barrel shortens up) at 10 meters and starting with the 255g full wadcutter loaded with 5.6g Bullseye, let fly with 5 touching.  Its a very light load, cases are sooted for half their length but drop out fine.  No indications of high pressure on the primer but light hits.

From there I went to the 4 rounds loaded with same bullet and 6.1g Bullseye......misfire.  Light strike as the nose of the incompletely fitted Bisley hammer is a bit too long.  A quick application of two layers of electrical tape in the secondary step on the hammer restored full function and all 4 went off without further hitches and all dropped free.  Better indentation on the primers but still less than it should be for total reliability.  Fitting the hammer nose will cure this light strike problem.

Finally I moved up the the top load.  Again the 255g WadCutter (A Lee 45 caliber REAL sized .454" and lubed sticky with a light roll crimp on the top band) and all six rounds were sent down range without a hitch.  Even as the top load, these six cases simply fall out of the cylinders, the case exteriors are clean, indicating they seal well and the recoil is mild, just barely enough to roll the muzzle up.  Looks like there is room for more load development and velocity testing.  Should make a fine deer load at this level or above.  Given the old lyman data for the 237g LWC and comparing top loads for the 260g LSWC, this top load should be approaching 900 to 1000 fps.  I'll get the gun done and then perhaps work up loads in 1/10g increments and see how it vets out.  

Here is the composite 10 meter target, 15 rounds, 3 different charges from the bench.  I believe the Pimp Cannon is going to make a worthy project.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 1, 2014)

Clearance between cylinder and firing pin bushing is a very tight 65 thousands.  Polishing the nose of the hammer back (the factory replacement bisley hammers are a bit long in the nose for the Older New Model Blackhawks/need fitting) makes for a fuller squeeze of the transfer bar between the second hammer step and the firing pin.  I shaved the nose of the hammer back until I have about 28 thousands of firing pin protrusion.  This is enough for now.  I'll square up the nose and probably finish out around 30 thousands protrusion.  It should give me plenty reliable ignition without pierced primers and without transfer bar pinch.

The smoothed up and somewhat shortened Bisley Hammer nose.  (Guess I gotta make grips for the RP grip frame next.)  Them old ugly ruger rubber grips can go away far away with the factory NXR3-RED frame.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 2, 2014)

4 5/8" barrel is selected and I'm gonna experiment with a Barrel Band and Nickle (coin) front sight.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 3, 2014)

Coin front sight.  A neat idea if I can make it work.  But, what I'm seeing around the web, and that ain't much....well, its ugly.  Half a coin stuck on the end of the barrel and no thought of style, no real character.....barely utility.  

Indian Head/Buffalo Nickles.  So old the dates are worn off of them so no real collector value.  Donated against a hope that one could be made to work as a front sight.  I'll give it a good try starting here.






Initial trimming on a fiberglass wheel, slowed down about half.






Feathers, hair and back of the neck roughed in.






Forhead, face, lips, chin and neck.  Harder to do.  Lots of contours for the brow, curve of the nose/lips and chin.






After final filing and a bit of polish on the cloth wheel and a good medium cutting polish.











Be a bit of a trick to get this one down to .550" height.  But might be doable and with Chief facing forward toward the target, notch in the headdress is like a tiny Patridge blade and the details of the Chiefs face are on the show (right) side of the gun.

Time to go cut a Buffalo.  You fellas with better eyes and no arthritis in the hands could help out.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 4, 2014)

First Buffler is ready.  To keep the Buffler side to the right (show side of the gun) he'll have to face the shooter.  I suppose if that's the one chosen, it'd only be appropriate to load heavy with a high flash powder.  This one will be much easier to get into the range of .5" (factory front sight height) up to about .6".  Would have to run the calculations from the bore to see but I'm thinkin .53 to .57 inches high is about right for the adjustable rear sight and expected bullet weights/speeds.






I think I need to shave just a bit more of the rim off the head of the buff to have it just right.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 4, 2014)

Next trip out I'm gonna try some 185 Berries plated roundnose hollow base. At 1200 fps they aughta slug up from .451 to .454 right good.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 9, 2014)

Back home from KY and in the shop.  Finally found some v belts to get the drill press up and running again and with the extra Blood Wood in the shop from the last set of grips, started in on roughin out a pair of grip panels for the Pimp Cannon.

A bit different this time.  Rather than taper from the inside, I tapered the outside.  Lets me look at the wood under the surface and no suprizes like cracks or knots or flaws that get uncovered after the fit up to the frame is completed.  If there was a flaw, I could cut another blank from the remaining board.  Looks like there is enough Blood Wood left to do one more set of grips for a Colt or Blackhawk or if resawn, two sets for a 1911.

Rough positioned.  Oversize and I have yet to fully fit the RP Grip frame to the Blackhawk.  So, it'll move around later an I should be able to mate the wood to the frame gap free.






I worked the inside and outside surfaces of each grip panel on the belts until they are dead flat in every direction using a straight edge to check.  Thickness are very close to the same with a touch extra wood on the palm side for fitting later.  I'll most likely make these panels dead flat on the bottom rather than beveled up.  The bottom thickness is just at or a bit under 1/2" and will likely finish up between 3/8 and 1/2 thickness at the bottom.  But, wood to grip frame fit is about perfect for this stage of the project.  No gaps and this dense hard wood shouldn't warp as it ages.






Some of the light dark light dark striping that will come out better with polishing and final urethane finish.






Inside the frame is traced onto the panels, just a guideline for now.  A bit extra so I can move it around a bit and come up against the Blackhawk frame later.  Up top a pair of divots drilled in the wood.  Seems the Ruger Trigger Spring pin is a bit longer than the RP backstrap is wide.  Rather than grind off the pin, miss and booger the backstrap, a divot does the job and a bit oversize to allow me to move the wood panels just a hair forward later to touch the frame.






I guess I oughta be lookin around for a stainless steel screw for this set of panels but then, maybe a blued/blackened set of hardware would look nice too.  No brass I think.  Too many colors.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 10, 2014)

Before the grip panels can be more closely fitted and drilled for pins and screws, the trigger guard and back strap has to be better fitted to the frame.

So,  the rear of the strap is filed to meet the rear of the frame and make a straight line for the front edge of the grip panel.  Here the left side lower is done and ready to start on the right side lower.  A safe sided file is used to keep from undercutting the forward loop of the grip.






As indicated earlier, the right side of the grip frame is a pretty good match to the frame so only light filing was needed to bring it very close to the frame in preparation for final polishing to a finer fit.






All the excess metal in the RP grip frame was on the left side.  And you can see the waviness of the bottom edge of the Ruger frame.  Probably this represents cuts in by the buffing wheel all those many years ago when the factory polished it for bluing.  But, 98% fitted and ready for final polish to a fine fit and all the lettering and numbers on both sides both preserved and remaining crisp and clear.  At this time, all the work is done with hand files.  Final work will be sand paper backed by a file and then some buffing with all the parts assembled, if needed.  But that buffin is a ways off yet.






Between mating the lower trigger guard loop to the frame and some spotting in and carefully filing the front of the grip panel to fit, I came up with this initial fit.  Can't get it much better until there are screws and pins installed and we'll see then if I did good.











I retraced the reference lines and you see, a tiny change at the top makes for a big change at the bottom....good I left some extra wood on there for now.  Once its installed, the lines will be almost academic.....the grips will be securely installed and sanded into place.






Don't worry about the pins.  They are way too long and will get shortened and domed and blued before all is said and done.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 11, 2014)

It don't look like much but this here hunk of old rolling block 45-70 chamber has front sight band/mount writtin all over it.  Maybe times two if it works out.  And, its already center drilled almost to size....well, its center drilled!


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## hayseed_theology (Sep 12, 2014)

Sharps40 said:


> It don't look like much but this here hunk of old rolling block 45-70 chamber has front sight band/mount writtin all over it.  Maybe times two if it works out.  And, its already center drilled almost to size....well, its center drilled!



I look forward to seeing this.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 12, 2014)

A final and most generous donation of once fired RP Nickle and Brass WW cases arrived today from the Great Republic of Texas.  Withall we have 43 rounds.  More than sufficient for testing and verifying.  Thanks again to all who have donated and offered donations toward this project.  This poor and tired Pimp of a Cannon seems to draw in lovin where ever its seen.

In addition.  Funds are heading westward to the Official Big Body Deer state, my old stomping grounds near Wright Patterson AFB Ohio with a most generous offer of a Stainless steel Ruger Bisley cylinder for this project.  Newer, likely tighter and Black Powder friendly and versatile for a wider range of bullets available in .451" and .452" (also matching the lands/grooves) this should be, if I recall correctly, both engraved and unfluted.  I believe all the stainless 45 Colt Bisley cylinders were made that way.  But even if not engraved and with flutes, a stainless cylinder of modern dimensions will remain a fine upgrade.

Off to the shop for some more rough fitting of the Blood Wood grip panels.  First up, .160" deep locating pin holes of 1/8" diameter.  Panels are taped tightly in position and drilled thru the pin hole one at a time.






Once the fit of each is double checked, the rearmost travel of the mainspring assembly (Hammer Down is the high point for the spring.  The spring assembly moves forward and down as the hammer is drawn back) is marked on the inside.  This allows positioning the center spot for cross drilling the grip screw and keeps it well clear of the functioning main spring.






The grips are snugly snapped into position over their pins and as needed, the fit is tightened in the old manner of fitting buttplates and grip caps.  Firm taps with a small SmasherWacker along the upper edge of the back strap moves metal gently down and the wood forward.  They should be somewhat difficult to remove and install and yes, the edge grain will get skinned with bedding compound.  Both to seal the grain against oil intrusion and to ensure they remain tight well down the road.  The strap will be draw polished and the smashwack marks removed at final finish and before buffing then dulling the stainless steel.  (Look closely at the brass buttplates of any original muzzleloader, though the hammer marks may be gone from the outside, the ever so slightly wavey edge is apparent on the inside.)  Naturally the wood grips are NOT in place when moving medal downward since a slip of the SmasherWacker can boink a chip out of that tender wooden edge.

For now, 1/8" pilot holes are drilled thru the grip panels and the available brass screw is temporarily threaded into the dense wood to hold them in place.  Blood Wood is dense and hard enough I think I could tap it 8x32 and get a good bite.






I did not run the screw all the way thru since I don't want any tear out.  Later, after some paying jobs, I'll stop in and see what the local screw bin has in the way of stainless steel screws and nuts to make up the washer and grip nut.  With luck they'll have stainless to carry on the rust resisting theme of the Pimp Cannon.  






Without metal threads, just wood to bite the screw, the panels pull in tight to the trigger loop and back strap.  I think it'll be a very secure set up once completed.  I'll get the cross screw assembly done first then the final smashwacking and edge skinning and lastly, shaping and sealing in that order.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 12, 2014)

Gotta love Amazon.com.  $6.50 and free 2 day delivery for a Victor 1/2" shank drill bit in 23/32" which will serve to open the barrel band/site ramp to just about 16 thou smaller than the barrel OD.  Should be able to polish in the final fit.  Close measurements of the 7.5" long Ruger barrel indicates they are in fact tapered.  Just a bit over .8" at the face of the frame all the way down to .690 way way way the heck out at the end of that Johnnie Dangerously barrel.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 13, 2014)

Got 100 more of the 255g WC cast up.  Ready to go when the new cylinder arrives and after checking the fit and timing.  I did not size them yet.  If the cylinder is a GO, then I'll knock em down to .452" with good sticky home brew lube.  Might load some a bit long like a regular bullet and try the full house data for 260g projectiles too.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 13, 2014)

Still plenty of faith tween gunowners.  Just got an email.  Bisley cylinder shipped from Ohio today.  Well prior to the arrival of payment.  Funds only hit the mailmans hand this morning.  Thank you, Sir!


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## clown714 (Sep 13, 2014)

thanks for sharing.

keep us updated.



clown


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## Sharps40 (Sep 17, 2014)

Just back in from Germany and waiting on the desk was a rather large drill bit for making front sight bases and a lovely stainless unfluted 45 colt cylinder with Bisley roll markings.  Initial fit check indicates the forward bearing pad is twice as long as needed and it won't drop in with out some trimming but before that....I'll get some sleep (over and back in 3 days so the time changes are pretty much wringing me out) and go over it with the micrometer tomorrow.  If it looks like a good fit potential, I'll face the forward pad till it drops in and check lockup and alignment.  But for now, its a lovely piece and I'm looking forward to giving the installation a go.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 18, 2014)

The only part of the new cylinder that needed some attention to bring it to a good fit in the old gun was the front bearing surface.  The new one is about 1.5 times as tall as the original cylinder race.







A turn or two with a piloted facing cutter and check the fit.  These cutters will not chatter if you have the pilot fitted properly.  If the pilot wigglewobbles, it chatters.  If not, its a smooth baby's behind cut.






When the cylinder could be installed but bound when turning, I made a whisker more, whisker more cut and checked each time.  Once it was free all the way around the clock, I stopped trimming the front race.  Cylinder gap measures the same about 10 thou inches as the old cylinder.  Some will say that's too wide.  Its spec for these guns.  Fine for smokeless and great for blackpowder (longer runs without binding!)  To make it tighter, refit the barrel to the frame.  Lets leave it to someone else cause this fit will be fine.  Cylinder rotates and locks on que.  I'll make up a range rod and check the cylinder to barrel indexing but have no real fear that it'll be other than fine.






Old 45-70 barrel stub drilled out once and now being drilled out again with that new and very large drill bit.  Slowest speed is 250 on my press and so, lots of oil and real light on the feed handle.






Success.  Its all the way thru and I have a thick side that will be top (leaving a bit more for the tang of the blade to fit into.)






Tapped for a set screw the barrel band (get it, barrel band?) is installed on the super large drill bit and spun at 650 for filing sanding the outside smooth.  I'll probably thin it later but for now, to make it kinda pretty.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 18, 2014)

A quick chop to 5.25".  






A broad side after cleaning up the muzzle a bit.











At this point the drilled 45-70 barrel band is a snug drive on fit cold.  Should fit up just fine later.  I think I'll use about 1/2" of the band with a ring maybe 1/8 to 1/4 wide.  That'll let me play with a barrel right about 5" long for a hunter.






I spose I could glue it on for now since it has a built in try sight.  But run that screw down too far and it'll be a bullet splitter.  Looks a bit goofy right now.  Sorta like a leveraction with a pikaninny rail or a silencer or both.  But, it'll clean up....I hope.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 18, 2014)

Oh yeah. New cylinder. New endshake. Down to about 1 thou endshake as near as I can measure. New Cyl is bunches better fit than the old and the throats are about .452" with a jacketed berries being a snug fit. That same bullet engraves in the rifling before reaching full diameter portion of the bullet so....overall combo should be nice for a shooter.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 19, 2014)

A bit of hunting this morning.  Saw a squirrile....no deer.

Finishing the fitting of the grips.

But first.  To fix the Blackhawk main flaw.....can't remove the cylinder pin w/o removing the ERH.  So, shortened the new stainless pin, added a wide groove for better grip and gave it a 220 polish.  All work done on the drill press with saw and files and sandpaper.






On the left grip, drilled and countersunk for the stainless screw....I know.....I ain't located slotted tip panhead 8x32 in SS yet.  But I will.  And, added a skin of glass bedding up top at the frame to seal the end grain from oil and take up the last of any gap against future movement.  Well, actually its some kind of midwayusa bedding that I won't use for anything but noncritical jobs.  But it works for them just fine.






An 8x32 SS nut is spun on the drill press to .278" diameter and tapered and driven into the .273" hole I blind drilled in the Right grip.

And the top of the right panel is also skinned into the frame with bedding.






Now, up to the house to wipe off all that excess bedding with a toothpick and let it sit overnight and then get to shaping the grip panels.....finally.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 21, 2014)

Grips are shaped and in the first heavy coat of urethane to freeze the grain.  I'll further sand the grips to take off any whiskers that may pop but these have already been wet sanded and whiskered three times.  











I brought the grips right down to the backstrap for this one.  Slightly broke all the inside edges of the wood panels and left the wood just proud of the front strap and the frame.  There is a bit of a swayback built into the Colt backstrap about midway up from the heel.  I wanted to carry it into the grip panels, so fitted them much closer on the backstrap this time.  Ya can just see it in pics 1 and 2, between the heel and the grip screw.






The front strap is much more rounded/domed than the backstrap so I brought the panels down close to the top of the dome and then broke the inside edges slightly so its not sharp/splintery on the fingers.    Got a bit more fitting to do up front and a touch of bedding ooze out to clean off up at the frame.  Probably wind up sanding these grip panels about once or twice more.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 21, 2014)

This is a hand filling grip.  Almost too big for me.  I am able to pull the bisley hammer down with the shooting hand thumb but barely.  I purposefully didn't make them any smaller or thinner because they seem close to what I recall of Colt grips....hand filling (for me)!


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## Sharps40 (Sep 21, 2014)

Using the drill shank, the outside diameter of the muzzle band was turned down to about .875" for about 2/3 of its length.  Then using the same drill shank and a bit of 240 grinding compound the inside was ground out to a light slip fit over the end of the barrel.  I'll be removing the bulbous end of the muzzle band, for now its something to grab onto while working the part and will allow me to fasten it to the drill shank again for final polishing.

I want the final shape to be somewhat like a band with a tail on top.  The sight blade will fit in a slot in the tail up top.  The band will go around the barrel and almost butt up against the EHR.  After it's epoxied or soldered in place (and with the current fit and taper of the barrel, sliding it back should be somewhat of a drive on fit) I'll trim the barrel and band to the final length.  That's the plan.  The hard part is coming up with the logical sequence of steps for shaping the front sight mount and being able to hang on to it or clamp it down as its being worked into configuration.











So, in the end, the band should be a single diameter.  Shorter.  And positioned further back on the barrel with only a small portion of it ahead of the EHR.











Still a blunderbuss look but coming along.  At this point, the end of the 5.25"ish barrel is right at the transition from large to small diameter.  Not as fancy as Ross Seyfreds 45 Colt with the Ruger Number 1 Barrel Band Front Sight but so far, so good.   Enough for now.  Gotta get cleaned up and take GoodWife out for dinner.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 21, 2014)

Don't have any full diameter rod to make up a tool for alignment checking at this point but a quick check with a small diameter aluminum rod with a very sharp square edge indicates all 6 chambers line up well with the bore of the barrel.  The rod can be slid from barrel to cylinder at any point around the circumference and it slips neatly into each chamber without a hitch.  For now I'm pretty happy.  Will have to get the grips done and a try sight in place and take it out shooting.  Got 24 rounds of 255g full wadcutters loaded and another 19 rounds with berries round nose hollow base 185 loaded close to stiff to give it a work out.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 22, 2014)

Grip panels whiskered with 220g tonight and resting in a second coat of urethane, rubbed in hot and hard till almost dry.  Next sanding will be to bring the top of the grip panels down to about level with the top of the grip frame and rear of the action.  Left grip panel fits the grip and frame very nicely and skinned in very thinly.  Right grip panel had just a tad of a gap at the rear of the frame but it skinned in with the bedding and there is no movement.  Both panels snap into place over the pin and into the frame recess so I'm pleased.   Final result should look great and be very functional.

After the final sanding it'll be 5 or so coats of urethane, a few drops per panel each coat.  Rubbed in hard.  Knocked back with 0000 steel wool between coats and then a final rub out with fff compound and a bit of Johnsons paste wax for the final finish.  Satiny and will let the reds and yellows show nicely.

I'll do natural light pics when the gun is all done.  The interior light shows a bit of brown in the panels that's just not there.











Bloodwood is nice to work with.  You can polish it with sandpaper.  It seems it would almost be something ya could buff bright on a cotton wheel.  I really like this wood.  Has a very nice smell when you sand it....a bit irritating to the eyes when you make a lot of dust.  I spose a dust catcher on my equipment would help that though.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 25, 2014)

No spectacular work to report tonight. Just mundane and detail oriented stuff. Sanded the tops of the grip panels down to just a hair taller than the frame. Pulled both panels and reskined the contact edges with more Midway Pro Bed 200. Just a wiff of a coat to fill in voids from the first bedding and then I'll sand it all one last time tomorrow evening before proceeding with the final finish.

 The stainless steel takes a nice satiny glow with 220 grit paper. Might make that the final finish for the grip frame.

 In any event, the Pro Bed 2000 is okay stuff but stringy and very thick/resistant to flowing into the right spots when applied. Acraglas Gel is several orders of magnitude better. It sticks better, flows better, sets up harder, can be colored about any color and is much less brittle when hardened. But, like I said, the Pro Bed is on hand and good enough for non critical tasks.

 On the good side, I got new hinges installed on the O Fish Al Blue Beer and Fish cooler just in time for starting a busy hunting season in the Low Country. It was a prize given to me at the April Trout Trip and its even the right color, Blue like John Lee! 

 Folks asked about workin up Bullseye loads with those 255g LWC muzzleloading bullets. Lets say I compared data from a variety of sources for 45 Colt bullets (WC, SWC, LRN, Jacketed) from 237g to 260g. Started with the lowest 260g jacketed load and worked my way up. The current load matches the max Bullseye load for a 237g WC from a 1950s edition of Lyman/Ideal (Don't toss out old data books!!) and seems about max. I will test another round of this load and may back down one or two tenths of a grain. (But I might get a wild hair and load 40g Goex fff compressed and try slayin a deer old school style with it too, now that I can wash half the gun in the dishwasher!) It seems, based on old data for that early WC bullet, my 255g LWC muzzleloading bullets are probably in the 900 to 1000 fps zone. Plenty for deer, accurate so far and mild to shoot with no alarming signs of pressure like blown primers, stuck cases, etc. But, got a new and tighter cylinder to break in and so the new loads are sized .452 instead of .454 and we'll see how they do after getting a front sight in place. (Nope, I won't list the current load, except to say that the deep seated 255g LWCs were mild and also very accurate loaded with 6.3 or less grains of bullseye.)


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## Sharps40 (Sep 28, 2014)

Getting to the final coarse fitting of the RP grip to the Ruger frame.  Bloodwood panels have about 5 coats of finish on them so they are resting in their last coating prior to final buff out tomorrow.  I'm happy with the fit.  At least as good as a pair of aftermarket grips.  And nicely, plenty of extra wood to slim them down later and the frame will also accept all Colt Gen 2 and Gen 3 grip panels.  Nice versatility.

The triggerguard is already mated flush to the frame at the vertical section of the grip panels.  Nothing to do there but the tall legs of the backstrap need to be brought down and countoured to match the Ruger frame at either side of the hammer.

From above the course filing with needle files.  Smoothing and countouring follows.






In the next two ya can see the trigger guard mated to the vertical and the backstrap mated to the horizontal.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 28, 2014)

Careful file work means a minimum of finishing.  Here, 5 minutes with 220g backed on a file....ready for final buff up top and then probably, deglossing back to a 220 or 340 finish.


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## Sharps40 (Sep 28, 2014)

After a light sanding with 220g by hand to remove most of the milling marks....off to the buffer and brought it up to mirror bright.  This finds all the nicks and boogers and then another sanding or light filing to pull out the boogers.  Also sanded the sides to final fit with the Ruger Frame.

After that another buffing to mirror bright and then a light touch with a course wire wheel at 2100 rpm for a lightly matted/frosted appearance.  \

Time to finish up the wood grip panels and shim the locking bolt/trigger latch or fit a new latch.


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## Sharps40 (Oct 3, 2014)

I may have discussed earlier about play in the cylinder latch.  Old guns get a bit of wear and the cylinder can be a bit looser than they should....a slight bit more rotation against the latch in the cylinder notch.  Normal. (And single actions need a bit more looseness all over the cylinder than swing out revolvers in order to line up when firing and to insert and remove the cylinder.  A bit more, not a lot.)  Fit a new latch is one answer.  For a Single Action Ruger, shim a good latch is another answer, even for a new revolver.  

So....a stainless steel washer, turned by hand to 5/16" diameter (it comes with the needed 5/32" center hole) and blackmaxed to a steel flat and carefully stoned from .032" thick to .012 thick.  Then polished both sides after removing with a touch of heat to break the blackmax bond.  (Keep blackmax in the fridge after opening it so it doesn't harden up in the tube)






Lots of slop there between the trigger and the latch.  Not a lot of evident wear on the parts, just lots of extra clearance built into the components.






The shim installed.  I could even install a thicker shim, say, .015" to .020" but I function tested.....hammer slowly back and the cylinder latch locks/stops cylinder rotation when the sear drops into the fullcock notch.  And, the cylinder has slightly less motion in it than my nearly new 1968 or 69 ish old model and my mothers coming along nicely NM Arthritis Project.

I may try one thicker shim, but this is good for now and once the sight is on the front, it'll go to the range once or thrice for testing before the final decision is made.  So, a fix, specially if ya don't have or can't get or just don't need (this is the case here) a completely new or oversize latch (the window is fine as frog hairs, just needed some slop removed from the mix of components.)


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## Sharps40 (Nov 12, 2014)

After stalling a while....finally some decisions on the direction for this one.  I was searching for a used 357 to convert to 45 ACP while I had a same size frame 45 caliber on hand.  Just needed to ditch the 45 Colt caliber for something more useful, available, cheeper and that I actually loaded and shot regularly.  A logistics decision and it'll serve my needs quite well.

So, a like new in box 45 ACP Cylinder that I acquired, fitted and it was so close a fit that it was a 10 minute job to polish it into a perfect end shake free fit.  Lines up, times up and fired cases drop in and out and work just great.  Even without a sight Its time to give it a test firing.  I see some 260g WC revolver only loads in the future.

And, now that I've done a few, the top strap is 90% nosed in about 15 minutes.  I even have some 50 thousands scribe lines in place should I decide to flat top the top strap and then I can bevel it over a bit on its length to make it look slimmer over all.

Finally, measuring the barrel at the 3.5" mark I have more than enough wall thickness to install an ejector rod stud directly in the barrel and perhaps for a shallow dovetail front sight or definitely enough for a screw on front ramp.  We shall have to mull it over some more....meantime I have some lovely bar stock to make a front ramp from.


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## Sharps40 (Nov 13, 2014)

Flat top 90% completed.  Also started in the parallel edge bevels.  I'll probably soften these bevels up along the top sides with a rounder profile.  The overall look of the gun should be curvaceous not square/straight or sharp edged.

Nothing is ever completely flat from the factory....buffer most likely.  That lil blackened dip will be gone till the draw filing is done.






From the loading side.






Flat top looks real nice with a profiled beak.











From the off side.


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## Sharps40 (Nov 15, 2014)

Started out with Thompson Center muzzleloader under rib....shaped, slotted and center drilled for a 6x48 screw, then finished shaped a buffler from a buffler nickel that was donated to the project.






Now the barrel of this 45 Colt come 45 ACP revolver ain't gonna stay 5+ inches long but for now while I'm experimenting.......I stuck the polished and cleaned up buffler front sight on the barrel with a bit of BlackMax.....






A lil closer....






View from a tree stand.....






The Indian Head side....






Standing back to take it in a bit....






In some better light....


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## Sharps40 (Nov 16, 2014)

After cutting the barrel one last time to achieve a proper length of 3.5"+ enough for cleaning up......jigging the barrel to drill one each 6x48 screw hole for the front sight.

The wall thickness here is sufficient for a .1" deep hole allowing for 4.8 threads and more than .050" in the roof.  I drilled .074 deep allowing for 3ish threads and greater roof over the bore....typically, the recommendation for holes near the muzzle is .050" roof for a #6 screw hole, as I recall its .075 roof for a #8 hole near the muzzle.  I ain't near the muzzle, so, I'm leaving more metal in the bottom of the hole.  As near as I recall, roof over the breech end/chamber is recommended to be at least double that left at the muzzle.  But that's all memory.....though its been my habit for years and has served me well.....I never had a sight screw fly straight up at a shot.






And once drilled, tapped with the jig still in place to guide the tap.






A good clean hole with strong threads right at 12 of the clock.






Once installed with a touch of cold blue to make sure I got all the solder off the sides....






The ruger banner polished off the side of the barrel...






Oh yeah, Plowshare RP Colt grip is now a Birdshead!


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## Sharps40 (Nov 16, 2014)

Needed to reshape the grips.  Plowshare was a bit big even though a colt plowshare and closer to the trigger than the ruger plowshare grip.






About 90% shaped.  Good enough now for a checkout at the range.  If all is well, it'll be time to start finalizing this one and getting it ready for bluing.






A little bit more work along the transition line to soften the grip and get it flowing smoothly top to bottom and front to backstrap.


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## Sharps40 (Nov 29, 2014)

A break between hunting trips and its time to get this Gentleman's Workhorse set up with functional ejection and a way to dismount the cylinder without having to remove the entire ejector rod assembly each time.  Ala the Blackhawk Lightning....a slightly modified Cimmaron Thunderer Cammed Ejector Rod Housing and a bit of fitting and one last hole to drill and tap in the barrel and its on there and functioning properly.

A quick look at the parts....Cimarron cammed ejector rod housing with the frame end slightly tweaked so the housing lays flat on the slightly tapered Ruger barrel.  Sand it in with the barrel as the jig.  The ejector rod, shortened, spring way extended forward, ruger button head converted with a small under cut to clearance the cylinder pin.  Return spring shortened and lightly crimped on the cut end which goes toward the button head.  Finally, the Ruger screw, its threads removed, drilled and tapped 6x48 to go over the similar sized stud I like to put in the barrel to save wear and tear on the barrel threads over the long haul.






Function check....with some smoothing of the button head where it rides in the ejector rod housing, a bit of shortening and I have just over 2/10" lift.  Enough to eject most cases with the muzzle up and allow plucking out those that don't fall.  I've found muzzle up with smart push on the rod will dump most of them most of the time....no plucking.






Here the cylinder pin still in place but as you can see, with caming the button and an undercut of the factory button, the rod and button clear each other well for disassembly.  The cylinder pin can be fully withdrawn for cleaning with out repeated dismounting of the ejector assemblage.






A view of the assembly head on.  Looking like a good factory job, but I don't think Ruger ever made one with a true 3.5" barrel and fully functional ejection system.






And two views of the nearly completed package.  Final shaping, polish and blue to do!  Prolly oughta shoot it after a good cleaning.  Bisley trigger too, maybe soon.


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## FishinMech (Nov 29, 2014)

Amazing


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## Sharps40 (Dec 3, 2014)

When yer doin all the work yourself, the major cost is mistakes.  The major reward is a job done well on the features ya want but might not afford from one of the big smiths.  Its so important to learn to do good handwork.  Then you don't have to deny yerself many of the neato guido features on the custom safe queens that only get arm chair raced and never shot.

So....scalloped off side recoil shield.  45 minutes start to finish.  Tools: Rat tail file, C-Clamp (to hold the frame down/still), half round file, drill press with a 1" sanding drum loaded with a drum of 80g and a drum of 120g.

I like it.  Nice place to rest the offside thumb....over the shooting thumb and against the scallop for a grip swallowing/well controlling grip.





































Could go deeper and further forward for a bigger scallop like some I've seen but this leaves a nice band of metal on the recoil shield that retains that Ruger beefy strong appearance too.  I've seen some with a knife edge recoil shield and I don't like it.






Get yer files workin!


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## Sharps40 (Dec 15, 2014)

Ever one to do it my way....I wanted the loading gate back cut for finger access to flip it open and a matching scallop on the right side.

Back to the shop and 45 minutes later it was done to my satisfaction.  The scallops ain't as big or deep as those from the spensive houses but I like em and it left me enough metal to make the loading gate function the way I like it to, easy.

So, the loading gate, scalloped front and rear for function and looks.  Just enough scallop on both sides to look and work right and leave the original round tailed shape to the gate.  Both notches were filed in by hand then finished and straightened on the drill press with 80 and 120 drums.






Installed on the loading side....thumb access and a scallop.






Flips open easy and the original contour of the loading gate is retained but without a knife edge.....just a bit of that original flat left.






Closed you can see how much extra finger room there is for positive function when the back of the loading gate is scalloped.






Both scallops are the same height....the top of the concavity is just shy of the top of the loading gate.  Both parallel to the recoil shield and have the same thickness from the face of the recoil shield.  The loading gate side is slightly shallower since there just ain't enough metal in the gate to have a deeper scallop and a back scallop without loosing the rounded shape of the tail of the gate.  But, visually, its fine and I am very happy.











I got the light bad on this photo but the gate scallop does not cut into the frame above the gate.  Just below, mirroring the off side scallop.  I'll shoot a better photo later.  But for now, looks like its range time for this ol man along with the arthritis project.  I think the last major mod for the Gentleman's Workhorse will be a Bisley trigger for less length of pull, a stainless cylinder pin and perhaps a final shaping of the grip panels.


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## Sharps40 (Dec 16, 2014)

The small ruger ejector button does fine work, if a bit slippery.  But a small button does fit a tight holster nicely.  Reshaping the factory small button will allow a better bite on the finger and with the cammed ejector rod housing, the button will cam over the finger making for less slip when working the button fast.

Rough shaped but grabs the finger well.  Final polish will round out and smooth out all the transition lines making it look good and function without being too sharp on the edges and points.  Next job is to smooth out and round over the slot in the Ejector Rod Housing for a smoother ride back and forth.


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## Sharps40 (Dec 16, 2014)

The Cimarron EHR is a steel part and the central bore is drilled.  This one was pretty rough inside.  Fully functional but felt notchy.  Smoothing up the inside of the bore, even a little, materially smooths out the feel on ejection and eliminated that last little bit of bind.  A couple quick photos about half done, I'll finish the bore and remove about 90% of the machine tool marks and then finish smoothing out and rounding over the edges of the slot.


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## Sharps40 (Dec 20, 2014)

Test fired this one today.  Tight fit chamber and headspace.....occasional factory load rubs on the recoil shield.  The shield is rough so I'll smooth it and I'll have to carefully craft handloads, the tolerances are minimal.  

The gun was fired with Lawman 230g FMJ.  Recoil is mild and the fatter than usual grip panels are nice to hang on to, even though they are smooth.  Would be nice checkered....unfortunately, I don't checker, not well anyhow, unless I am converting pressed checkering to cut, then I seem to do okay.  

But, the trigger guard is a bit of a knuckle buster.  Going to be interesting to see how it shoots with ruger only 45 ACP loads and 260g or heavier bullets.  

I do need to tweak the rear sight but was able to regulate it at 10m.  I just like the rear sight to be sitting down about half way or lower on its hinge and its just above half....an easy fix with a taller rear blade, I believe one is inbound!  For me this is less function and more looks.  Its a flattop now and the rear sight looks a bit strange when elevated above half way on its hinge.

Spent some time on the falling plates and the fine Nickle Buffler is easy to pick up and centers easily in the wide rear notch.  Accuracy is good and pointability is almost as good as the Lightning.  Recovery in counter recoil is more like the plowshare than the Lightning.....but I am able to take a solid two handed grip on the big panels without having to squeeze the juice out of the gun.....Overall, I'm happy.  Almost done!


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## Sharps40 (Dec 20, 2014)

Ruger Blackhawk trigger on the left, stainless Bisley on the right.  Like the Bisley hammer, the Bisley trigger will require some metal removal (at the red line) to fit up in the RP grip frame.






Stainless button head cylinder pin finally arrived to replace the tired old blue one that was in there.






Ruger Super Blackhawk 7.5" Hunter rear sight on top.....see how much taller the rear blade is than the original?  This will most likely get me nicely regulated with the entire rear sight exhibiting less pivot.  Better look.  When regulating sights, keep this in mind and you don't have to buy the entire sight (I needed a new/pretty one though), just the rear blade....there are several heights.  Gives ya lots of options on selection of fronts, loads, bullet weights, velocities, etc.






The Super Blackhawk Hunter 7.5" rear sight installed.  Neatly, it sits a bit above the line of the flat top.  A neat look.  And I think it'll be the berries for regulation and use.  Plus, it adds the ruger squashed chicken back to the gun.  The original sight base doesn't have it and since I changed to Bloodwood grips, its missing there too.  Good to have the squashed chicken back on this one again.  






And finally, the source of drag with some of the factory ammo....a sharp transition on the left side of the recoil shield and the firing pin bushing was a hangnail higher than the shield.  Initial smoothing with swiss files to blend the transition from bottom to top and to flush down the firing pin bushing.  I'll finish it up with stones later and test again.


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## Sharps40 (Dec 21, 2014)

Buncha work on the Bisley Trigger.  Sacraficed it to see if it could be made to work rather than fit the frame to it.  (had to remove rather more metal than I'd have liked to fit the trigger to the RP Frame.....) The trigger at under $15 is the cheep part to experiment on.  I like the feel and will press forward with final finish and bluing but go ahead and fit the RP frame to a new Bisley Trigger later.  The feel is worth a bit of final work opening up the trigger slot in the RP frame.  BTW, Polishing up the engagement surfaces of that test Bisley trigger reduced pull from 4.4 lbs to 3.8 lbs.  So, probably clean up the blue trigger for now and get this gun closer to done and come back to Bisleyfication later.....

Stock Trigger on top/Modified Bisley on the bottom.....Hammers Down.






Stock trigger on tip/Modified Bisley on the bottom....Hammers Back.


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## Sharps40 (Dec 22, 2014)

Well, I've pretty well decided.  The Gentleman's Workhorse has enough changes to it to make it a good Workhorse.  Form and function, I'm happy with the changes.  Time to final fit the grips and grip frame and get started makin rust.

The parts I'll be bluing.....shaped and then wire brushed to remove the old blue and produce a matted final finish.  No gloss needed on this one.  Barrel and flattened top strap are hand sanded 120g for a nonreflective finish.

Clean the metal before bluing however you desire.  Boil in brownells cleaner, swarf it with brake cleaner or other solvent or what I do....simple wipe down with alcohol saturated lens cleaners.  I typically have them pretty clean before starting all the work so grease doesn't get pushed into the pores anyway.  Maybe not what a pro would do but it works for me and the finishes come out pretty fine.






10 minutes in and the humidity is coming up along with the temperature and rust.  As always the first coat of pilkingtons is very wet and the first rust is one hour.  (No boil....at one hour a second dry wipe of pilkingtons and back into the damp box for 2 or so more hours of rusting....then the first boil.)






Final shaping of the high quality Ron Power two piece grip frame is completed.....love it!  Two pieces make a new model so easy to assemble.  Makes me wonder if a ruger alloy grip frame could be modded to a two piece configuration.  But, fitted, shaped, sanded then polished bright and finally, knocked back to satin by hand with 220g aluminum oxide paper.  The grips were also final sanded and awaiting the drying of about the umpteenth coat of urethane.  






The muzzle was straightened and the crown received its final wipe with the 11 degree cutter on a pilot that barely slip fit into the bore so they should be dead square.  Couple three days and this one should be ready to zero with 230g Hydra Shoks and start riding and bumping around in that nifty cross draw De Santis holster.

I'm anxious.  It'll be wonderful to have a 45 caliber daily rig that I can carry and never worry if the safety is on or off or the grip thingie is stuck up or down or the mag is clicked in or out or the ...... well, ya get the ider.


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## Sharps40 (Dec 23, 2014)

Second rust.  A 12 hour sit in the Under Bar damp box....looking good and I think it'll be done sooner than later.  Summertime is nicer though.  In the garage and in the heat/humidity you can get to a boil every 3 to 6 hours, several iterations per day.  At the lower temps and humidity in my makeshift damp box, subsequent rustings take longer and longer as the color builds up....not so in a warm humid garage.  Perhaps I'll have to build me a real damp box with controls for heat and humidity.


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## Sharps40 (Dec 24, 2014)

Bout done, all but the final sight in and already checked the fit in the DeSantis cross draw rig.  List of customizing is somewhat as follows:  Bisley hammer and trigger, trigger shim, Ron Power old style two piece SS Colt Grip frame ground to Birdshead, Bloodwood grips, topstrap flattened and nosed, 45 ACP cylinder fitted, Cimarron Cammed Ejector Rod Housing in steel, ERH screw converted to stud and nut, Reshaped ruger ejector rod and rod button, SS Ruger Birdshead Cylinder pin, recoil shield scalloped, loading gate scalloped and undercut, light trigger smoothing, Barrel shortened to a true 3.5" and squared and beveled and recrowned, Front sight replaced with a trimmed buffalo nickel, Ruger Superblackhawk Hunter 7.5" rear sight with white outline fill, wirebrushed finish with slow rust blue of action and barrel + Small parts.  I think that's it.  It was a long trip.

The bluing is done and looks great.  A slight amount of speckeling on the frame but the barrel was clean and smooth.  Fine for a working gun and I'm pleased with the look.  Always ungentle with my firearms, they get used instead of rested in a dark safe I look forward to the final zeroing so I can fill the holster with its heft in the near future.  For now, the assembly.

EHR Stud cinched in with medium locktite.  Front sight ramp screw also in medium locktite with a smear of Black Max under the ramp to add some additional strength.  Naturally, the metal and holes were cleaned and degreased first.  Warming to ouch temp will allow release of the screw and adhesive should I ever want them off.






Ejection system installed.  It clears the Cylinder pin so, it'll never have to come off again for any cleaning or maintenance of the overall gun.  A big improvement from Rugers factory style captive cylinder pin which requires removal of the entire EHR system to clean the pin and oil its holes in the frame.






The Bisley Trigger is installed for now.  I have the original trigger held back should I decide I like it better.  Shooting time will tell me which way I want to go.  Even with a spanky new trigger, the shim previously installed is still a good fit and helps insure the cylinder locks exactly when the sear hits the hammer notch...i.e. the hammer does not have to be drawn past the notch to proper lock the cylinder.  As you can see, I could use and even thicker shim and I will be going back to replace the shim and thereby tighten up the mechanism just a scooch more.






Fitted and Matted Ron Power Trigger Guard is installed and the screws snugged in tight.






Fitted and Matted backstrap installed and the gun run thru all function checks, passing with flying colors.  The trigger a smooth 3.75 lbs with a bit of take up and no gritty feel.






The Super Blackhawk Hunter 7.5" Rear Sight comes with outline grooves.  Fast dry white out is a perfect and reversible filler to use here.






Bloodwood grip panels got a final sanding and rounding and finished in urethane, rubbed out smooth.  The final finish is low gloss and the new rounder feel is even better in my hands.  Anxious to try it out at the range!






For occasional assembly/disassembly, the Cimarron Camed EHR assembly can "Capture" the cylinder pin....and with a gently tug, the cylinder pin will slide right out from under the EHR button for more thorough maintenance and cleaning.  For now, I drop in the cylinder and run thru the function checks one final time.


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## Sharps40 (Dec 24, 2014)

Raining hard all night and day so no good outdoor light photos.  But, by the window and good enough for now.  

Loading Side:






Top Side:






Business End:






Off Side:






Quartering Away:






Working Combo:


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## Sharps40 (Dec 24, 2014)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Boar Hunter (Dec 24, 2014)

Beautiful!  You are an artist!


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## Sharps40 (Jan 3, 2015)

Did the final zero today, put it dead on at 10m with 230g hardball and 230g Fed Hydrashoks.

Factory ammo works great.  Drops in and out.

My reloads, originally made up and reliable in a 1911 are a bit sticky going into the very tight chambers of this revolver.  Came home and put on a taper crimp and Hoo Ahh!,,,,reloads drop in, drop out and fire, no cylinder binding when taper crimped.  

So....looks like I have several thousand taper crimps to do!  But it'll be worth it.  I need to make up some shot shells for spring copperheads too.  Rule around here is if it ain't got legs it gets shot at!

Initial thoughts....the Colt Lightning style grip is a better pointer, but this modified colt grip ain't bad at all.  I think I can live with it and be quite happy.  The grip panels are shaped differently than the rugers and I fitted em to my hand so maybe that makes the difference.  In any event, its spent its first full day in the crossdraw De Santis and its quite comfortable.  Now to get over to Mr. Belly Gun and start makin some progress!


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