Best guns you've made up?

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Awesome talent here but I have a thread drift question. Was there a real Holmes and Watson??

Oh, they don't mind that, really they don't. That question raises more indignation among Holmes enthusiasts than it does over any other character in... er... fiction. They didn't exist in the strictest sense of the word, although Conan Doyle is said to have been inspired by the acute powers of observation and deduction of one of his medical professors in Edinburgh, Dr. Bell. Watson is undoubtedly in large part himself, and some movie versions have been unjust in portraying Watson as obtuse. He was intelligent but normal.

Conan Doyle was a genuine medical doctor, but not, I think, a very successful one. One or two of his non-Holmes stories (which he preferred writing) deal with young doctors leading a hard life in private practice. He was knighted, not for writing, but for organizing and running a medical unit during the Boer War, of which he wrote an excellent history.

TF Fremantle (great-nephew or thereabouts of the Colonel Fremantle you can see on the field of Gettysburg in the movie) wrote a "Book of the Rifle" in 1901, which includes a list of civilian rifle clubs. "Dr. Conan Doyle" is given as secretary of his club in South London, at a time when his time could have been worth a great deal of money. His was not the usual thriller-writer's knowledge of firearms. Here are three war correspondents who find the freedom of the press threatened in the Sudan:
"This is an excellent revolver of mine if it didn't throw so devilish high. I always aim at a man's toes if I want to stimulate his digestion. O Lord, there's our kettle gone!" With a boom like a dinner-gong a Remington bullet had passed through the kettle, and a cloud of steam hissed up from the fire. A wild shout came from the rocks above.

"The idiots think that they have blown us up. They'll rush us now, as sure as fate; then it will be our turn to lead. Got your revolver, Anerley?"

"I have this double-barrelled fowling-piece."

"Sensible man! It's the best weapon in the world at this sort of rough-and-tumble work. What cartridge?"

"Swan-shot."

"That will do all right. I carry this big bore double-barrelled pistol loaded with slugs. You might as well try to stop one of these fellows with a peashooter as with a service revolver."

"There are ways and means," said Scott. "The Geneva Convention does not hold south of the first cataract. It's easy to make a bullet mushroom by a little manipulation of the tip of it. When I was in the broken square at Tamai——"

[oldred]

Awesome talent here but I have a thread drift question. Was there a real Holmes and Watson??

No, they were of course fictitious characters created by writer Conan Doyle, Holmes however was I think based on a medical professor acquaintance of Doyle's.



[EDIT] Looks as if Scotland and I were posting at the same time, thanks for a much more concise answer!

[justashooter]

I've built a lot of custom guns over the years, including a "para-hakim" with a 25 rd mag, an AK underfolder stock, and a 16" barrel, the 9X19 "pumpkin gun" detailed on this forum and based on a Remington 580, some Carcano conversions to 7.62X39 detailed on this board, some Tec-9 based subgun conversions adapting various WW2 era subgun kits to de-milled USA made Tec-9 style receivers, a semi-auto Beretta-38, some bizarre variations based on AK type parts kits, including the "gold plated pimp gun", and the "space gun", some mauser projects, including a 458 WM, and all kinds of handgun related stuff. Which is my favorite? It's like the wind, ever changing, always new, depending what I am working on at the time.

[oldred]

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[Artful]

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Wow, that's a long word to be censored!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

A typo for zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, perhaps? Well we are all entitled to an opinion.

[oldred]

No just a deleted redundant post.

[RustyReel]

First off, I love every rifle and project Von Gruff posts, so I think he is the winner or any "best" contest.

My modest contribution is truely a "made up" rifle rather than a custom. I had a Zastava 458WM Mauser that I simply could not get to shoot anything lighter than a 500 grain cast boolit. Pulled that barrel off, had a friend shorten it and rechamber it to 458x2" ie 458 American. Used a receiver from a Zastava 22-250 (had to open the rails a bit), an FN Bolt and trigger guard, a Mark X trigger and stock. Other than shortening, chambering and headspacing the barrel, it was pretty much a lego type build....My current favorite rifle.

Attachment 146873

[Whiterabbit]

There have been a few but this was one I really enjoyed doing but have since sold it on. I have been in the habit of making a pair of rifle to cover light and heavy duty (so to speak)
The 404 Jeffery on FN 98 was the heavy


and the 7x57 on 1908 DWM covered the light end of use.

Just about perfect. I did the same. 7x57 (commercial mauser) on the light side, and 404 jeff was the second place caliber to what I wound up building. ended up going 510 cal, and final cartridge choice was Wells Express.



If I did it all over again, there is a pretty good chance I would end up with a 7x57/404 jeff combination.

3rd place was obviously 416 rigby.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Attachment 146874Attachment 146875Attachment 146876Attachment 146877Attachment 146878
I do not butcher as-issued military rifles, but like to rescue those that would not be easily restored. Such was the case with this one, a 1940 mfg. Nice crest.Attachment 146882
Attachment 146879

[gwpercle]

That stock was my own layout from proportioning I learned years ago when I took a class for Custom Rifles.
The rifle is designed to fit my measurements.
I thought the grip looked a little Too Open, but when I shot it for the first time, I was very happy I did not make the grip angle any tighter.
People don't realize how much of a difference it makes when the angles of the stock are made to fit them.
And designing a stock for one type of shooting, and not expecting it to be as good for all types of shooting.
IE; a hunting Field offhand rifle wont be able to be shot as well off a bench or in the prone position.
and the other way around.

That's the absolute truth !
I bought a Herter's 90% inletted stock blank for a 95 Spanish Mauser and quite by accident, I know nothing of design and fit, that stock fit perfectly, I could shoot 3 round clover leaf groups off-hand with it, no work at aiming or shifting around on the stock looking for the sights, throw it up and fire...like magic it would aim itself. Still got that gun and it's still my favorite.
But proper stock fit is critical to good off hand shooting.
Gary

[Budzilla 19]

Only two I did was a bench rest type gun built on a Jap Arisaka Type 38 action,Dayton Traister target trigger, 28" E.R. shaw 1.250" blank in .264, chambered for 6.5-308 as it was called back then, what a tack driver! 13+ lbs! when installed in a HUGE American black cherry stock. Second was a Model 96 Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55 Swede,29" military issue barrel, Weatherby style Richards Micro-Fit stock, bent bolt handle, drill and tapped receiver,military trigger, wonderfully accurate with Sierra MK 140's. As a side note, anything I have ever shot with that Swede gun went down in one shot! Not too shabby for a 105 year old gun.

[KCSO]

I have to add I asked this question of the old fellow I started learning from in the 1960's...his answer...The next one! His attitude and mine is that I will get it all perfect someday and the next gun will be better than this one.

[oldred]

I have to add I asked this question of the old fellow I started learning from in the 1960's...his answer...The next one! His attitude and mine is that I will get it all perfect someday and the next gun will be better than this one.

Ain't it the truth!

[seagiant]

Hi,
Wow a lot of nice work here!

I enjoy working on 1911 45's.

I also build rifles, but the pistols give me the most enjoyment!

Here is a retro .45 with a Brazilian Army Forged Slide mated to a Caspian frame.

It has 20 LPI hand cut checkering with all internals polished and a trigger job using the Power Custom Series I & 2 Jigs

All sharp edges were removed and 10-8 Performance retro rear site installed with a Novak front sight peened and soldered in!

Arched mainspring housing with lanyard keeper also checkerd.

Finished with a home slow rust blue and a set of Ebony checkerd Ahern grips!

This pistol works flawlessly with Wilson 47D mags, and shoots POA at 25 yds!

[Metalshaper]

Not the normal fodder seen here, but these are two of mine !







Respect always
Metalshaper

[skeettx]

1978 and I wanted a S&W Model 19 round butt 4"
S&W did NOT make one.
Took off and went to Ron Power's house near Kansas City and got a take off Smith 4' barrel
fitted that barrel and longer ejector rods and target hammer and standard trigger
and thus you see below.
It has been carried lots and shot lots and yes I need to clean it but will shoot it
VERY soon again



Mike

[Blackwater]

Wow! Once again I'm so impressed by the quality of the work done by the guys here! I anticipated some really great work, but this has truly been impressive. I guess I've always appreciated art. Back as a young swabby in the Navy, before they "professionalized" it, and raised pay very significantly, I was in San Diego with a pregnant wife, and just eking by, and I read in a paper that they were having an art exhibit downtown, that included a genuine Rembrandt painting. This caught my eye. I'd always been told that the only way to really appreciate the REAL talent of the old masters was to see an original face-to-face, so ... I went. I'd had an art appreciation class in my prior college training, but in NO way pretended to "understand" art very well at all, but I still just had to go, out of curiosity if nothing else. I went, and the painting was placed under some stairs by a doorway. I entered the doorway and walked inside, and looked around the room trying to locate the Rembrandt, when BAM! It hit me. I just turned around, and it was right behind me on the left as I entered the doorway, and it struck me so deeply that it nearly floored me. The painting looked almost "more lifelike than real life" if that makes any sense. A friend who lacks only two language courses to have a degree in Fine Arts from UGA once told me that if you stick a pin into the paint of some of these old masters' paintings, it'll still be wet on the inside, which is one of the things that makes them so delicate, and so very well protected usually. Here, though, in a different time in a place now far, far away, it was at least momentarily, just me and the Rembrandt, and I was just flat awed by it. It almost looked like it could hop out of the frame and say something like, "I'm tired of that pose, let's go get a cup of coffee!"

I feel very much the same way when I see a nice wood and steel rifle that has lines that flow like water in a clear mountain stream. Water in those old mountain streams have been flowing for eons, and though they may have changed course very slightly, they've never ceased to flow, or even slow down. Their curves and twists and turns are always smooth as only nature can make them, and the water flows over, under or through whatever gets in its way, always smooth, always flowing right along, and never slowing down or abruptly changing direction. Good custom stocks are like that, but they also tend to fit the shooter just right, which is a much bigger factor than most shooters want to think.

We shooters are an adaptive lot, and we really CAN learn to shoot most anything, but having a stock that fits us well really DOES make shooting that gun a lot easier and more consistent in performance in the field or on the target range. I'm impressed with the guns you guys have shown here, and wish others would post some pics as well. I never get tired of looking at good art or gunsmithing, which really, are just two versions of the same thing.

One friend of mine was surprised when I called him an "artist." He's worked on motors most all his life in one way or another, and he can tell you more about a motor by listening to it run than most of the young "educated" types can with their computer analyzers! He's built and raced cars for many years, and always has to put his little "touch" on anything he's driven for very long at a time. He thought I was crazy until I explained it to him. I also taught him to tie flies, and he really took off on that, and his use of color was something I'm still trying to learn from him. I told him at the start that teaching him would make me a better tyer myself, and that I'd probably learn as much from him as he would from me. He laughed at that, but now he's a believer. He's given many little spinners to friends that amaze them at how well they've been catching redbreast sunfish in our little beloved Ogeechee River.

So if you haven't shown off a little of your work, c'mon in, boys, the water's really FINE! And personally, I like the innovative but simple stuff like my friend's 12 ga. slug gun he made up on a real lark, as I do the fine art type stuff. Real workmen will always appreciate the simple, elemental and well thought out stuff, so don't be shy or reluctant to post these, too. It's not a contest here, and there are no winners or losers. It's just a show and tell thread, so we can ALL learn from each other. Keep 'em coming, please!

[nekshot]

no kids to help download pics so I will enjoy what you all show!

[dragon813gt]

Is this for work you've done yourself only? I don't have the skills which is why I send them out to people that know what they're doing. Don't want to post pictures if it's your work only.