Blackhawk Ligntning Restyle

[Sharps40]

For starters ita 3 screw (1967). Don't wanna hear it. Folka 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.

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

3. Colt style Lightning grip.

4. Polish and blue.

5. Shorter ejector or no ejector

 

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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.

 

[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.

 

[Sharps40]

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

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!

 

[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.

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.

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.

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.

 

[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....

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.

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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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.

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.

 

[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!

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.....

 

[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.

 

[Sharps40]

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

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.

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!

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.

 

[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.

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.

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.

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

Before...

After...

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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 hell, 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.

 

[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.

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)

 

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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.

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.

 

[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.

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.

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!

 

[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.

 

[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....

 

[sathington]

Great write up. I appreciate all the detail, both in the pictures and in the writing. I'll be following with great interest. I do have a question for you, if you don't mind: Do you think the black powder cylinder chamfers could be done freehand, ie, without a mill/lathe/press?

Gun looks great.

 

[DGW1949]

Great report on an interesting project.
Thanks for posting it.

From the FWIW Dept:
I think that a flate gate would blend-in with rest of your changes perty-well.
If you are planning for a lot of holstered use, you might want to consider a more conventional front sight. Not that threre's anything wrong with a "dotted post", a lot of folks like them. I've had a few like yours (on various rifles) over the years myself, and discovered that when put to heavy use, the "ivory" insert somehow managed to come-up missing on about one in four. Just sayin' that something a bit more snag resistent might be better for holster use.
Don't know if you are planning any action work or not, or how much attention you've paid to Ruger's infamous "safety conversion" lockwork thus-far. To me, it seems more "Coltish" than Rugerish", or should I say that it's a hodge-podge of both?....at any rate....in my mind, it's most glaring short-coming is it's incredably tiny hammer cam (which makes timing the gun very difficult). Well that, the sear-edge of the trigger is often too tall, and it seems to me that about all Ruger does as far as fitting goes, is reach into a box of parts, stand back, and then sorta throw them into the gun. What I'm getting at is that if you run into trouble getting your's fitted-up correctly, give me a holler and I'll send you some spare pieces to play with.

DGW

 

[Sharps40]

Great write up. I appreciate all the detail, both in the pictures and in the writing. I'll be following with great interest. I do have a question for you, if you don't mind: Do you think the black powder cylinder chamfers could be done freehand, ie, without a mill/lathe/press?

Gun looks great.

Yes I do. Locked in a vice and a good steady hand. It would be basic file work,,,,though in need of a masters hand to do it well and evenly.

Heck, a variable speed drill, clamped to the table will spin the cylinder for an even chamfer for us wobbly handed fellas!

 

[Sharps40]

Great report on an interesting project.
Thanks for posting it.

From the FWIW Dept:
I think that a flate gate would blend-in with rest of your changes perty-well.
If you are planning for a lot of holstered use, you might want to consider a more conventional front sight. Not that threre's anything wrong with a "dotted post", a lot of folks like them. I've had a few like yours (on various rifles) over the years myself, and discovered that when put to heavy use, the "ivory" insert somehow managed to come-up missing on about one in four. Just sayin' that something a bit more snag resistent might be better for holster use.
Don't know if you are planning any action work or not, or how much attention you've paid to Ruger's infamous "safety conversion" lockwork thus-far. To me, it seems more "Coltish" than Rugerish", or should I say that it's a hodge-podge of both?....at any rate....in my mind, it's most glaring short-coming is it's incredably tiny hammer cam (which makes timing the gun very difficult). Well that, the sear-edge of the trigger is often too tall, and it seems to me that about all Ruger does as far as fitting goes, is reach into a box of parts, stand back, and then sorta throw them into the gun. What I'm getting at is that if you run into trouble getting your's fitted-up correctly, give me a holler and I'll send you some spare pieces to play with.

DGW

Thanks. The Try sight is a fake ivory bead......I rarely use em since they break off so easy. The final site, pending some reshaping to sail shape with be a 1/16" brass bead. Rear sight may be the factory notch or I may put in an aperature rear for easy alignment on the quick.

Right now the lockwork seems fine. Havn't dropped in a range rod but based on initial shooting, doubt I will do anything more than clean and inspect the guts. Accuracy is plenty good and as I recall, it gives the typical converted 3 clicks spelling COL instead of the original guts to render the PeaceMakerish 4 clicks spelling COLT. (Guess that's an excuse to go fondle it and count clicks.)

But that's okay. Seeings how this is sorta set up for carrying (and I hope it sees daily use and as a field/woods walking backup, camp stew pot filler, etc) having the xfer bar safety means 2 snake shot up front and 4 squirrel to deer slayers follow, all carried safe and snug, hammer down in the holster.

 

[Doc Fillem]

I'm really enjoying this! Have you considered a Bisley hammer? I think it would like look awesome!

 

[Sharps40]

Nah. Bisley hammer for an old model is either a pound of money from a very few custom houses or a heavy modification of a new model hammer involving cut and weld or cut and silver solder. I'll leave that mess o frustrations ta the next owner!

 

[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!

 

[Joe S.]

Man this is a great write up!