Gunsmithing the Revolver

Now I’ll be the first to tell you I am not a gunsmith. On the other hand, I’ve spent quite some time as a mechanism designer, and if the hand of man put it together, the hand of Billll can take it apart, re-assemble it, and reasonably expect it to work. The mind of Billll can even, eventually, figure out what the leftover parts were supposed to do, and tell you if they were really needed.

Earlier, at a club pin shoot, I got some comments about the amount of stuff spraying from the sides of my gun. Now revolvers do this normally, because of the gap between the cylinder and the barrel which allows the cylinder to turn freely. Never mind that the Russians came up with a way to make the cylinder move forward to eliminate this. Look, no side spray, and you can even mount a suppressor on the revolver, but what do those dumb Russkies know anyway?

There are two causes for excessive side spray: One is that the barrel is not as close to the cylinder as it should be. The fix involves modifying the barrel, and I don’t want to get in to that. The other reason is because the cylinder isn’t lining up with the barrel when the hammer comes down, which is a mechanism problem. The thing is that the cylinders seldom line up exactly right anyway, which is why the barrel starts out with a conical inlet at the cylinder end.

I noticed that the cylinder on my gun had rather more rotational free play in it than I thought it should have, and set out to remedy the problem. Fools rush in or something.

Removing the side plate, the mass of clockwork that makes revolvers work is revealed. Also a small piece resembling a 3-Iron falls out. Placing this carefully aside, observation suggests that the Do-Hicky that is supposed to hold the cylinder in place is pretty much free to float and rattle, which would explain the loose cylinder. The obvious solution is to install some shims under and over it to hold it in place. Over it is easy. Under requires that all the other parts be removed as this was evidently the first part to be installed at the factory. This principle was first developed by Sam Colt and Dan Wesson in the mid-1800s, and has been successfully applied to the automotive industry whereby the $.50 part that is expected to be the first to fail, requires the removal of the engine and transmission in order to get to it.

The revolver has six major sub-assemblies in it each consisting of a minimum of 3 parts, carefully cut so as to mesh like gears designed by a demented dwarf on acid, held in place by mutual pressure, one against the other, provided by springs capable of launching said parts into near earth orbit.

The first part to come out is the hammer, held in place by a 3-part spring assembly. The hammer is a 5-part assembly, not counting the main spring, which for some reason, stays together when removed.

The trigger is in 2 parts, the lower, which everybody is familiar with, and the upper, consisting of protuberances, recesses, slots, holes, pins and springs. The right side engages the do-hickey. The left side has a tongue that engages the Thingy, which is shaped like Pamela Anderson in a burlap bag. This is held against the trigger by a whacking big spring. The trigger is also home to the Blivett, shaped like California, floating on one of 3 pins embedded in it, and secured by swinging under an overhanging bit of the frame. Swing California back and lift it out. Did you hear the little click? Neither did I.

Pry the trigger and the Thingy up carefully. They have to come at least halfway up together on account of the Tongue inserted into the Thingy with Pam Anderson in it. Lift the Thingy out, holding your finger over the Whacking Big Spring to prevent launching it. You can now lift the trigger out, it’s Tongue lolling like an overheated dog, pushed down by a tiny spring.

The Do-Hicky is all that’s left, and rotating it down will clear the frame so you can lift it out. Again, with a finger over it as there is a spring behind it.

Insert a shim, about .005” thick over the Do-Hick pin, and begin re-assembly which of course is the reverse of the assembly. The 3-Iron and the Blivett fit into recesses in the cover plate, assuming you figured how to orient them correctly in the assembly process. When you are done, you will notice that everything works OK as long as the gun is pointed at your foot. If you try to operate it horizontally or upward, the cylinder will not turn, and the trigger will stick.

Dis-assembly is the reverse of the assembly. Remember that click you didn’t hear? Take the trigger and place the Blivett into its pivot hole, being careful this time to get the tiny Tongue Spring above the second pin. The Tongue does not require a spring, it just lives next to one. The third pin in the Blivett serves no purpose that I can identify. Don’t remove it, there’s a curse involved.

The gun now works normally, and has noticeably less wobble in the cylinder.

I have an exploded view picture of the gun. It’s about as useful as looking at a bomb crater and trying to reassemble the bomb. True, the picture has all the names of the parts, according to the factory, but a rose by any other name would still rattle.

Having done this, the gun has noticeably less wobble in the cylinder, and I only got one complaint about side spray at the last match, so I’m on the right track here. Professional advice, of course, is gratefully accepted.

Another obvious solution would be to get a new Do-Hicky, slightly thicker than the one I have, and with a tighter pin hole. If I knew a real gunsmith, I'd ask him where to get such a thing.

Geek Stuff

Found the link at Tameras to another site which pointed out that pi x 1337% = 42.*

Those of you who do not understand the cosmic implications of this, find a geek and ask him or her.


*Well not exactly, but probably close enough.

Degrees of Separation

As the investigation into what appears to be an impressively massive vote fraud in Houston, names are beginning to percolate to the surface.

Now they say that "If the margin is big enough, they can't cheat." This is wishful thinking. The left will cheat regardless, and if they get lucky, they win. The damage is long lasting. In Houston, you remember, the investigation had barely started when a fire destroyed all the voting machines stored in a warehouse there. Can you say "Reichstag Fire"? I know that phrase is running through my mind.

Maria Isabel is a recruiter at www.barackobama.com, which is now called "Organizing For America" She is also a prime mover with Houston Votes, which has been implicated in the biggest part of the fraud effort.

So how many degrees of separation are there between the president and an operating vote fraud organization? Possibly only one.

Cosmic Karma

Or some such thing. It's as though something truly cosmic just happened, but I can't quite put my finger on what it was.

The multi-millionaire owner of the Segway company died in a freak accident yesterday when he rode one of the high-tech two-wheel machines off a cliff and into a river.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first single-vehicle fatality on a Segway. I personally like the technology that went into the thing, although the application as human transport never struck me as particularly wonderful. Still, it's the first step toward Rosie the Robot.

Gun Show Report

Modest attendance from where I was, but small pistol primers are down from $45/1000 to $29/1000 which is quite promising. Components are coming down.

Loaded ammo:
EBR food (.223 and 7.62) is as low as .35/rnd which is about 60% of last summers highs. Pistol ammo is closer to .45/rnd which is outrageous.

Guns: Prices seem to be dropping. Lots of stuff with "new lower prices" on it, typically 20% off.

20 questions

An Anti, blogging here, has put forth 20 questions for the gunnie community, and possibly her own people in an attempt to try to understand our mind set. Many of the gunboggers I regularly read have posted answers, either on her blog or on their own, suspecting that, as frequently happens, the discussion will not last long if she thinks she's losing. Anyway, here they are, and I'll have a go as well.

1. Do you believe that criminals and domestic abusers should be able to buy guns without background checks?

Criminals avail themselves of all sorts of goodies right now, many of which are proscribed, drugs, for example without any sort of check at all. You would think that making crime illegal would fix this, but alas, no. If the check has no effect of criminals, then it shouldn't be imposed on the rest of us.

2. What is your proposal for keeping guns away from criminals, domestic abusers, terrorists and dangerously mentally ill people?

We could, of course, put the criminals in jail. This would certainly limit their access to firearms.

3. Do you believe that a background check infringes on your constitutional right to "keep and bear arms"?

Yes

4. Do you believe that I and people with whom I work intend to ban your guns?

Yes

5. If yes to #4, how do you think that could happen ( I mean the physical action)?

Chicago and D.C. made a heroic effort, but were told it was unconstitutional. Of course you could get the EPA to ban lead bullets as toxic, and the ATF could declare all other metals to constitute armor-piercing, and thus also illegal.

6. What do you think are the "second amendment remedies" that the tea party GOP candidate for Senate in Nevada( Sharron Angle) has proposed?

I know nothing of this. Ask her yourself.

7. Do you believe in the notion that if you don't like what someone is doing or saying, second amendment remedies should be applied?

Most state laws include bits that specifically permit the use of deadly force, be it with a firearm or a ball bat, in the defense of ones life, liberty, or property.

8. Do you believe it is O.K. to call people with whom you disagree liars and demeaning names?

If the shoe fits, attention should be called to the wearer.

9. If yes to #8, would you do it in a public place to the person's face?

Yes, and on a soap box, and with a bullhorn.

10. Do you believe that any gun law will take away your constitutional rights?

Yes

11. Do you believe in current gun laws? Do you think they are being enforced? If not, explain.

Much as I would like to disbelieve, they certainly exist, and are being enforced.

12. Do you believe that all law-abiding citizens are careful with their guns and would never shoot anybody?

Most law-abiding citizens are careful, and would never intentionally shoot anyone who didn't need it.

13. Do you believe that people who commit suicide with a gun should be included in the gun statistics?

No.

14. Do you believe that accidental gun deaths should "count" in the total numbers?

Only is separated out from intentional shootings, which should be broken out by criminal and defensive.

15. Do you believe that sometimes guns, in careless use or an accident, can shoot a bullet without the owner or holder of the gun pulling the trigger?

No modern gun will do this.

16. Do you believe that 30,000 gun deaths a year is too many?

Compared to what? And I see you're including suicides here.

17. How will you help to prevent more shootings in this country?

Lobby for stricter sentencing of criminals, and voting for funding to build additional prison space.

18. Do you believe the articles that I have posted about actual shootings or do you think I am making them up or that human interest stories about events that have happened should not count when I blog about gun injuries and deaths?

I'm sure the incidents actually happened. I have some doubts about the relevance of some of them.

19. There has been some discussion of the role of the ATF here. Do you believe the ATF wants your guns and wants to harass you personally? If so, provide examples ( some have written a few that need to be further examined).

The BATFEIEIO is a bunch of incompetent jack-booted thugs with no adult supervision which should be defunded, investigated, and some percentage of them thrown in jail. They harbor no animosity toward me personally, but are like a drunken 800 lb gorilla heaving large rocks randomly in all directions.

20.Will you continue a reasonable discussion towards an end that might lead somewhere or is this an exercise in futility?

Will you?

November Surprise

Who needs an October Surprise to make your opponent in the elections look bad when you can arrange for a November surprise that fixes everything in one fell swoop.

First off, Chris Coates has testified before congress on the Just-us departments handling of the Black Panther case. It seems that while the Ku Klux Klan is reduced to a hand full of beer-drinking rednecks, the new Black Klux Klan is boldly going where Robert Byrd has gone before, and up till now, no one is calling them on it.

Fox covered Coates. Everyone else covered Colbert teaching the amateur clowns how a real professional does it.

Meantime, enforcement of the portion of the Voting rights act requiring periodic cleansing of the voter rolls has been dropped. Several states have been implicated.

Apparently the states in question include Maryland, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Tennessee. Several other states including Indiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Kentucky now have more registered voters than people of voting age.

You see, it doesn't matter if your opponent gets 54% of the registered voters in your district, as long as you get 55%. The surprise comes after the election in this case.

The Future of Transportation, Micros

Todays weather made even a Smart car rather look like an improvement, but on a daily basis, you sort of wonder.

Here's an ad that confirms all your suspicions about the things.

Seasonal Changes

Today is officially the end of Summer of Recovery, and the beginning of the Fall of Something To Be Named Later. Suggestions cheerfully accepted in comments.

So I cheerfully rode off to work this morning, paying no attention at all to the weather reports as they waffle a lot to avoid being wrong, and it rains seldom enough around here anyway. The rain began around noon. By 4:45 the big question in my mind was weather I would get home looking like a drowned rat, or just get struck by lightning between the office door and the parking lot.

Lucky me, I guess: Light rain and no lightning.

Remember the wisdom of The Prophet who said:

While it is true that the motorcyclist doth sometimes bite of the dust of the land, is it not also true that he sometimes dines on essence of butterfly?

Some day I'll find a reprint of that piece. It's hilarious.

October Surprises

A couple of sites, and probably more than a couple, are speculating on the type of "October Surprise" the administration can be expected to unveil in an effort to minimize the impending damage of the upcoming elections. A quick Google search of the term yields 9.88 million hits.

High on the list is speculation on the killing or capture of Osama bin Ladin.

I continue to believe that Osama has been dead for some time now, and is buried in an unmarked grave in the Tora Bora mountains. “Finding” the grave site would certainly be a winner, and blaming Bush for keeping it secret would also help.

Massive and overt vote fraud to protect the Senate, and complete refusal of the justice dept to even look in to it would certainly dismay the voters. Protecting the gains of the revolution, as they said in Nicaragua. At this point, the House is probably a lost cause for the Dems, but that’s not to say they’ll go softly into the night.

The September jobs report is being delayed into October, which will get the temporary poll workers listed as “jobs created” and the October report is being put off until after the election so the loss of those jobs won’t show up just before election day.

Several states have been given permission to delay sending out absentee ballots to servicemen until probably too late to get them back in time to be counted.

An extension of the Bush tax cuts would help the administrations image, and the media can be counted on to not mention that this is an admission that the Republicans (some of them anyway) were right all along. Do not expect such an extension to be long lived.

Ric's Rulez is soliciting speculation as to the nature of such a surprise, but feel free to speculate here.

Dabbling

Christine O'Donnell says she dabbled in Witchcraft when she was in high school. To me, this qualifies her as knowing at least a bit about the topic.

Contrast this with the average Democratic member of Congress who has, arguably NEVER ever dabbled in economics.

Recession Ends...

Women and minorities hardest hit.

To help myself to a running joke over at the WSJ. A couple of economists have produced proof, of the sort that only an economist could appreciate, that the recession ended back in June of 2009. So I guess all you folks who have been out of work since then have been laboring (or not laboring) under a misconception.

Somehow I am reminded of a memo someone sent out once noting that the world had ended some 400 years ago, but the paperwork was still in process.

Of course there is no silver lining that does not come with a commensurate dark cloud. As commenter bandmom notes:

Actually, if the recession was over a year plus ago, then the bad stuff that's happened since then has got to be Obama's fault. Bush must be heaving a great sigh of relief. Unfortunately the teleprompter hasn't gotten the word yet.

The Stupid Party

Primary season is (hopefully) now behind us, and the Republicans find themselves with a number of candidates who, shockingly, were not selected by the poo-bahs of the seekrit inner circle of the party.

Bummer, dudes!

Initial reaction is to write these folks off an non-viable, and concede the seat to the Dems. If this becomes the case, the Republicans may well find that come 2012, the presidential race is between the Democrat and the Tea Party candidates with the Republican largely ignored.

Think it can't happen? In 1856 the Whigs were the Other party. By 1860 a bunch of upstarts, the Republicans, had elected their president, and the Whigs were history.

Thanks Uncle!

Lots of linky love from Uncle. Thanks Unc!

Large Caliber Magnum Handguns

We are all familiar with the phenomenon of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, produced when the common strains are soaked in a dilute mixture of, say, penicillin. 99% of them obligingly croak, but the remaining 1% go on to produce offspring that drink penicillin for breakfast and poop out Mutant 59, all consuming strains of even the commonest ailments, that reduce the victim to the legendary "gray goo".

It seems that North American big game has been following the same path, with Elk and Moose now able to destroy small towns in a rampage, and laugh off the efforts of hunters armed only with the current crop of magnum pistols.

My brother observed that beyond say a .44 mag, very large pistols seem to mostly fill the gap left behind when someones Viagra supplier fails to make a delivery. The anti-gun peopls even suggest that an adequate supply of the little blue pills could make all guns unnecessary. Everyone who finds the mental images conjured up by this to be a bit disturbing, raise your hands. Yeah, me too, although you have to admit there's potential there for some great, if X-rated, humor too.

Pay no attention to the above paragraph if the thought of a bullet-proof Moose trampling your town to dust keeps you up at night, because help is on the way:
Behold the .825 Express Mag, shown here bracketed by the .44 Mag on the left, and the .357 mag on the right. The actual pistol is said to be currently under development,
This baby, made in Taiwan, may have been the inspiration for the piece, certainly the final item will be in the same size range. One also expects a short-barreled "snubby" version to accompany, built of lightweight alloys for easier carry and concealment.

Full story and more details on the .825 G&S Online Express Magnum are available here.

The Party of the Rich

Back in the 70s, I became a Republican, or at least quit being a democrat. The president at the time may have had something to do with it, or maybe it was buying my first house. Anyway one of my friends noted that the Republicans were the Party of the rich, while the Dems advertised themselves as the party of the poor, and given my status as perennially poor, shouldn't I be a Dem?.

My answer was: "Well, which would you rather be?"

He converted about a week later.

Today we have further proof. The Dems are well and truly the party of the poor.

WASHINGTON – The number of people in the U.S. who are in poverty is on track for a record increase on President Barack Obama's watch, with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led to the national war on poverty.

So which would YOU prefer to be?

New Low Score!

American Progress, a page for the inner "progressive" in you has a quiz to see how well you fit the mold of the New Socialist Man.

I got 64/400, which they define as extremely conservative. Keep in mind that for them, Ted Kennedy is probably the paragon of an even-keel centrist. Other such "tests" I've taken have me slightly to the right of center, but only slightly.

A couple of the questions were deceitfully worded. I do not have a problem with immigrants. The word "Illegal" was conveniently left off in the question. Scoring is done on a 10 points per question basis, so having no opinion, and voting a 5 will get you 5 points toward becoming a progressive.

Magnetic Holsters

Uncle has a link to a post about using a computer hard drive magnet as a gun storage device, say on a wall. I found that the magnet is strong enough to use as part of the holding device on a holster.

I started with a piece of aluminum, bent the end over 90 degrees, and installed a 5/16" nylon bolt and nut. This picks up the barrel. I then added the drive magnet to pick up the cylinder of my revolver. The brackets for the magnet keep it from sliding.
The strap is a securing measure as this rig will not allow you to run or engage in other acrobatics without it. It holds the gun well, but it's not perfect.
Note that the red dot is not a problem with this rig. Try finding a leather job for this.
There we go, open carry with no visible means of support. I have since removed the red dot, but the holster is still a fun attention getter at the range. The draw is quick, too.

Note to self: Next time find some curvaceous cutie to model this stuff.

Burning Qurans

The pastor at the Dove church in Florida has announced that the planned Quran burning has been called off. This after everyone from the local dog catcher to the President has weighed in on the idea.

He says Imam Rauf has agreed to relocate the New York Victory Mosque to a less controversial location. Imam Rauf has issued an official statement, saying that the memo to that effect has, alas, not yet reached his desk.

Meanwhile the Westboro Baptist church has offered to fill in for the wobbly faithful in Florida if necessary. Imam Rauf has also suggested that he would not be held responsible for the actions of the more fervently devout if any burning goes ahead.Not that we expected him to take any in any case.

My first thought here is that this could be a win-win situation in the making; Rauf's people look like violent whack-jobs, and Westboro disappears in a cloud of car parts. Alas, probably not. Typical Islamic reaction will more likely be a general strike of cab drivers in New York, bringing the city to its knees, and the ritual burning of a McDonald's in Karachi.

If I were Prime Minister of Pakistan, I'd have an all-concrete effigy of a McDonald's build in a park, safely apart from surrounding structures, and encourage all hate-America rallys to be held there. It gives the rioters something to take their frustrations out on, and with a quick wash and paint job, it's ready for the next mob.

Basic Engineering

Half of engineering is coming up with a new idea.

The other half is figuring out how to market it.

H/T to Theo Spark for this one.

Inflamed

Gen. Petraeus says that burning Korans on 9/11 will inflame the Muslims.

So how can you tell?

We All Believe You Harry!

Harry Reid says any economic problems we may be having are not his fault. After all, he stood forthrightly against everything Bush proposed, and 100% behind everything O'Bama wanted.

If there's anything wrong today, it's because of those things Bush somehow slipped past him.

Nevada's unemployment rate is up there with Michigan, but not because of anything Harry did. No sir!

Reising .22 Pistol

This little number was made from 1921 to 1924 by the Reising Arms Co. Given the rather short production run, one has to wonder a bit, but here's a puff piece from Hunting Blades.com which seems to be a repro of some original advertising copy. Later Eugine Reising became famous as the patent holder / designer of the Model 50 and 60 .45 cal submachine guns which the Marines threw into the rivers in the Phillipines in order to expedite getting M1s.
This example seems to be one of the first (1921), to judge by the serial number, and features wood grips, heavily checkered, and featuring the slogan "Like A Bear" carved under the image of a bear. Note the small button just above the trigger. This releases the barrel and slide for maintenance.
Note the lack of any other buttons or levers. This was evidently on purpose, so as not to interfere with the shooters grip. In place of a safety, the shooter was expected to lower the hammer fully, and then pull it back to a half cock position. While the half-cock is certainly safe, you've got to wonder about the process of pulling the trigger on a loaded gun to get there.
Here it is with the barrel tilted forward. At this point the slide can be slid back slightly and removed.
Looking down on an open gun, notice the spring looks like it was borrowed from a ball point pen. This makes for very easy slide action, and is the reason, along with the very light construction of the slide, why .22 high velocity ammo should not be used.

I found that Remington subsonic worked fine in it, never failing to cycle the bolt. The only problem was that the ammo failed to fire as regularly as I had expected. I found that a failure to fire could usually be corrected by manually pulling back the hammer, and trying again.

I don't know when this gun was last serviced, but I suspect that a thorough cleaning would probably help. It seemed to be reasonably accurate, but with all the failures to fire, I decided to test that another day. It seems to be a good matchup with Lesters Ammunition.

Shortcomings notwithstanding, I believe I'll try shooting the next e-postal match with it.

Term Limits

An idea whose time has certainly come. Here's a Fox News survey that suggests that:

A Fox News poll released Friday found that 78 percent of voters favor establishing term limits for Congress. That’s nearly five times as many as oppose limiting the number of terms members can serve (16 percent).

Large majorities of Republicans (84 percent), Democrats (74 percent) and independents (74 percent) favor the idea.

The demographic breakdown info is available here (pdf). The survey is of registered voters which gives the results slightly less weight with conservatives than liberals.
Generally survey results skew more to the left as the standards are lowered. A survey of "adults" will skew more leftward. Registered voters less so, and "likely voters" even less. If this issue were on the ballot, one would expect an even higher level of support in spite of all the media and all the pols being opposed.

Quote of the Day

From Curmudgeonly and Skeptical, who suspects it's from Abe Lincoln.

"The only good Democrat is a deceased Democrat, and even then half will vote against the public good for another 50 years."

Anyone got a better likely source ? This doesn't sound like Lincoln, although an Illinois pol would certainly one of my prime suspects.

Shooting Bowling Pins

Club bowling pin shoot today, and like Maxwell Smart, I missed by that much. In 10 rounds I lost only one table to a fellow who finished in a 4-way tie for 4th, and wound up third overall.

All in all, not bad. Our oldest competitor was 84, and she still managed to win 2 tables.

One of the better competitors, using a Springfield XD, had his gun self-disassemble when the barrel lug fractured. No injury, but this is the second barrel lug failure on this gun in about a month, and it's still under warranty. He can get a new barrel, but was mad enough to seriously consider throwing the remains of the frame at the remaining pins.

We are nothing if not accommodating. When his gun broke, Fred (not his name) went off to shoot his AR on the rifle range, so we opened his slot up to anyone who wanted to volunteer to be the "Fake Fred". His stand-ins did well enough to finish him in the upper ranks, albeit with an asterisk next to his name.

Coal Powered Cars

Those new coal powered cars may not be the cleanest thing on the road when all the factors are considered.
What? I hear you say. Who would ever drive a coal-powered car? Try the sales and marketing description: Electrics. You "fill" the "tank" every night with power from your local utility, which probably burns coal. Sweet. No pollution in my back yard by golly, it's all over at the power plant, out of sight, out of mind.