mill428
Bearcat
My wife finds me amusing sometimes when I rearrange the furniture in our house. It seems I am never content with leaving things alone. About every six months or so, I "adjust" the setting of one or more rooms in the house.
This is generally the case with everything in my life - my home, my vehicles, and my guns. I like a little variety now and then. Which brings me to my stainless .45 Colt/ACP BH I got 20+ years ago. Surprisingly I have done almost nothing to it - just shot it.
A few weeks ago, I came across the original box that got me thinking and sparked the need to ask a few questions about it here. I found out it was 1 of 537 Ruger made for a special run at Davidsons in the early 90's. I thought that was kind of cool. For those who are curious, this I what it looked like.
That thread got me thinking about options for this BH. While this had always been a favorite Ruger, what I really wanted was a Bisley .45. I was a follower of Ross Seyfried's writing in G&A back in the early 90's when he was creating all of his Bisley hand cannons. I immediately went out and found the first Bisley I could find - a blued 7.5".44 Mag SBH. Although some don't like them, I loved the grip frame. Because I am a short barrel fan, I didn't like the barrel length but it was all I could find at the time. A few years later I cut the barrel shorter to 5.5", removed the barrel lawyer-speak and the cylinder scrolling, silver soldered the original sight pack on, installed a steel ERH, and reblued the whole thing with Brownell's Belgium blue (which works far better than I thought it would). The SBH was almost exactly what I wanted - accurate, fun to shoot, but it wasn't a .45. I reload and have had great fun working up loads over the years for my .45 convertible - but my .45 wasn't a Bisley.
Most of you have probably guessed by now what has transpired. I don't know why I hadn't swapped grip frames before. I had tried in the past on another short barrel SBH I had at the time and can remember the frames didn't line up at all. I scrapped the idea because I didn't want to grind on either gun or grip frame at the time. But I had never tried the Bisley frame swap over to the .45. I did it last week and it fit almost as if it were made for the gun. There is an almost imperceptible ridge on one side but the rest fits clean and smooth.
I decided if I was going to continue to make it truly mine, I would give it a few extra "touches." I started by removing the billboard on the barrel, then bead blasted it with a fine glass abrasive. Nothing too drastic. Then I polished the pins and screws for contrast. Smoothed the action and modified the pawl for free spin. I had already slightly rounded the Bisley grip frame years ago, but I reworked the factory grips a little more. So far I am very pleased with the results. I can't keep my hands off of it! If I'm not careful, my wife might get jealous.
Some might think I ruined it. But to me, it's perfect!
What do you think?
Although I left it two-tone, I may at some point have the frame hard-chromed. Then again, I might not. I want to get a Bowen rear sight on it before long. I love the way it balances with the short barrel over the longer. The Bisley frame is my favorite. It is like it was made for my hand - very natural. It's blowing snow here today or I would be outside finding out how it shoots but I guess I will have to wait a few days for that. It'll give me some time to get all my brass re-charged.
For those of you that are interested in seeing the SBH transformation, here are a few pictures for you. I have a lot more of the total process but these give you the idea.
New
After the initial work (and much shooting)
Today
I don't think the SBH turned out too bad either. I kind of like the two toned look on it for something new. I also like the way the grip frame feels now. I'll know more once I get it to the range.
For those who are worried that I defaced a rare BH, I have all the parts to put it back to original (minus the billboard ). Although I am not worried - I'll never get rid of it.
Craig
This is generally the case with everything in my life - my home, my vehicles, and my guns. I like a little variety now and then. Which brings me to my stainless .45 Colt/ACP BH I got 20+ years ago. Surprisingly I have done almost nothing to it - just shot it.
A few weeks ago, I came across the original box that got me thinking and sparked the need to ask a few questions about it here. I found out it was 1 of 537 Ruger made for a special run at Davidsons in the early 90's. I thought that was kind of cool. For those who are curious, this I what it looked like.
That thread got me thinking about options for this BH. While this had always been a favorite Ruger, what I really wanted was a Bisley .45. I was a follower of Ross Seyfried's writing in G&A back in the early 90's when he was creating all of his Bisley hand cannons. I immediately went out and found the first Bisley I could find - a blued 7.5".44 Mag SBH. Although some don't like them, I loved the grip frame. Because I am a short barrel fan, I didn't like the barrel length but it was all I could find at the time. A few years later I cut the barrel shorter to 5.5", removed the barrel lawyer-speak and the cylinder scrolling, silver soldered the original sight pack on, installed a steel ERH, and reblued the whole thing with Brownell's Belgium blue (which works far better than I thought it would). The SBH was almost exactly what I wanted - accurate, fun to shoot, but it wasn't a .45. I reload and have had great fun working up loads over the years for my .45 convertible - but my .45 wasn't a Bisley.
Most of you have probably guessed by now what has transpired. I don't know why I hadn't swapped grip frames before. I had tried in the past on another short barrel SBH I had at the time and can remember the frames didn't line up at all. I scrapped the idea because I didn't want to grind on either gun or grip frame at the time. But I had never tried the Bisley frame swap over to the .45. I did it last week and it fit almost as if it were made for the gun. There is an almost imperceptible ridge on one side but the rest fits clean and smooth.
I decided if I was going to continue to make it truly mine, I would give it a few extra "touches." I started by removing the billboard on the barrel, then bead blasted it with a fine glass abrasive. Nothing too drastic. Then I polished the pins and screws for contrast. Smoothed the action and modified the pawl for free spin. I had already slightly rounded the Bisley grip frame years ago, but I reworked the factory grips a little more. So far I am very pleased with the results. I can't keep my hands off of it! If I'm not careful, my wife might get jealous.
Some might think I ruined it. But to me, it's perfect!What do you think?
Although I left it two-tone, I may at some point have the frame hard-chromed. Then again, I might not. I want to get a Bowen rear sight on it before long. I love the way it balances with the short barrel over the longer. The Bisley frame is my favorite. It is like it was made for my hand - very natural. It's blowing snow here today or I would be outside finding out how it shoots but I guess I will have to wait a few days for that. It'll give me some time to get all my brass re-charged.
For those of you that are interested in seeing the SBH transformation, here are a few pictures for you. I have a lot more of the total process but these give you the idea.
New
After the initial work (and much shooting)
Today
I don't think the SBH turned out too bad either. I kind of like the two toned look on it for something new. I also like the way the grip frame feels now. I'll know more once I get it to the range.
For those who are worried that I defaced a rare BH, I have all the parts to put it back to original (minus the billboard
). Although I am not worried - I'll never get rid of it.Craig
