Installing the Largest 1860 Army Grip Frame

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Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
1,018
Great progress, all together but the transfer bar and hand and it all works, coil spring conversion completed, one piece grip keyholed for coil spring conversion and found a nice place to hook the new model trigger spring feet on....I used the bear cat locking bolt plunger and spring because though the same diameter, they are shorter and work much better with the converted flat spring uberti trigger guard. Rough, gritty and clunky right now but I'm all in but for the finesse work.

The photos show the keyhole in the grip making room for the coil main spring and its foot. The legs of the trigger spring pulled up and over the center of the one piece grip assembly in order to tension the trigger. The rough but assembled grip and grip frame with the hammer at the ready and the locking bolt fully functional/locking the cylinder in preparation for firing.

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Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
1,018
First test. 6 yards. 45 Colt. Starline, CCI LP, 6.3g Bullseye, 260g LEE REAL sized .454.

6 shots.

1 hole.

Good enough.

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Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
1,018
Sorry I havn't posted more here. The forum is down more than its up and the forums picture loading (aside from outside hosting) steadfastly defies my attempts to use it. Outside hosting of photos proves unreliable as I lost lots of pics in the past but these are hosted, perhaps they'll last a bit. Plus, I live in a country area with no hard line phone service, no cable service, no satellite service so everything go's over the 2.22456 regularly available (of 5) bars on the Verizon hotspot. But, to the project......

Functionally, 100% with a consistent trigger measuring about 3 lbs prior to finalizing the location of the legs of the trigger spring. Grip fit and shape is about 90% and the feel is wonderful. Love it for a medium and larger hand, filling without being too big. Plenty of room to wrap around the little finger and the Bisley hammer is low and wide and easy to find.

Probably time to move on to cleaning up the action and shim the space between the locking bolt and trigger.

Not a bad mix coming together well. Bearcat locking bolt plunger and spring (cause its shorter) Ruger frame, Pietta backstrap and Walnut grip With Uberti steel trigger guard.

The barrel, cylinder and grip will be rust blued. For the frame, I'm not sure. It still needs a lot of work to remove the pitting and I like the dull grey that comes with age.....perhaps after polish a simple grey vinegar tarnish to go with the satin black components.

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Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
1,018
Heading towards the finish. Finalized the main spring foot. Finished up filing the trigger guard and back strap to the frame. Started the removal of pitting and blending the mating surfaces to a perfect fit by filing and initial sanding at 100g.

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Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
1,018
Initial polish is 180g fresh. Removing the bulk of the pitting from the frame and barrel, without loosing the lettering. What pitting is left will disappear into the satin finish. Final polish will likely be 180 worn to soften it up some and will be done with the trigger guard and back strap installed. Then its time to get it just pretty darn rusty and boil the bulk of the rust right back off. Cylinder and smalls will be done similarly after the bulk of the action is completed.

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Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
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Messages
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Hurricane, good time to rust stuff. Interestingly, i was able for the first time (first try too) to recreate an aged case hardening pattern on the frame. I think it looks grand. Can't wait to see it in sunshine. Should be quite durable as its rust blue. I basically didn't clean the frame much at all after polishing with worn 180, slopped on the sauce heavy, rusted it once then ignored the frame as i rusted the barrel 5 more times. Barrel grey-black and even, frame nicely patterned.

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Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
1,018
Still some work to get bluing done, cylinder, screws, etc. But, had to put it together just to see how it looks. Even better in some good daylight I think. The factory case colors on the loading gate are a nice match for the rust blued case colors on the frame.

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jringo8769

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
238
Location
Jamestown NY
wow...love this one...and love the one piece grips...thank u for this info to...it will really help...God Bless,John..excellent work again
 

Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
1,018
Good deal John. My first 1 piece grip on a bh. Im glad its easily dooable. Very slick look. Gives the vaq a real colt look.
 

jringo8769

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
238
Location
Jamestown NY
well i have been wanting to do the one piece and everyone i spoke with said it could not be done...thank u for doing this...it really helps...God Bless,John
love how yours have turned out...you do excellent work...
i can not wait to get mine done now
 

jringo8769

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
238
Location
Jamestown NY
hey i forgot to ask...can u tell us how u made the strut mount?...what thickness did u make it from?...u state you used a bearcat strut and spring too...that was a idea i had too...thinking it would take up less space...i am off to my gunsmith later today and hope i can get mine moving forward like yours...thank u again so much for this thread...really helps us all...God Bless,John
 

Sharps40

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
1,018
Mainspring strut is just cold rolled..anout 1/8"


Bearcat part was the shorter locking bolt plunger. May or not be needed. Depends on the itialian parts. Every guard and backstrsp is different.
 
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