what was your first

[white eagle]

mod. done to one of your guns ?
mine was replacing the rear sight on my Ruger Super Blackhawk
the previous owner had a red dot mounted
its been a continual cycle of do it yerself m0ds from then on.
I have only had to take my gun in to the smith once for something I messed up
tried to cut a dovetail with files .....turned ugly fast :lovebooli
almost had it too............

[Four Fingers of Death]

Bought a second hand 10 1/2" Ruger NMSB/hawk and the sod of a thing wouldn't fit in my safe (without knocking the alarm transponder or whatever it is called off).

I was going to try it with the original Bbl, then if I still didn't like it cut the Bble myself and re crown it on the drill press or by hand. Trouble is, while the Bbl looks like a bull barrel, it has a slight taper. I decided to get it cut by the gunsmith and have the base of the sight milled slightly so that it would all come together ok. He will re-blue it as well.

Apart from taking a spring leg off the ruger SAs, a trigger job on my first centrefire, a 586 and a recrown on my Beretta 92FS to remedy a faulty damaged crown on a brand new gun and later on a trigger job on the same gun, thats it since 1981.

[Char-Gar]

Bobed the hammer spur off a Smith Chief Special in 1964. Not the best idea I ever had.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
My first was cut the front globe sight off my BB gun so I could better pop starlines out of the large mables that surrounded our house in Riversdie Michigan. The pesky birds would sleep up there and when there are 300+ they tend to mess up everything below. I used to climb up there about 30 minutes before dark and could not see through the globe sight so off it went. At less than 20 feet the left over stub was plenty to thawp 50 starlins an evening.
Next was a single shot caliber.22 rifle (Savage) that had a bad barrel which became a canvas pouch belt type that slew many a blackbird and sun basking carp.... Been modifying to my tastes ever since.
Mike in Peru

[98Redline]

I kinda went all in with my first mods.

Took my bone stock Para P-14 and dropped it off to EGW (in 1994 when they still did gunsmithing) for a full IPSC limited package.

From the top down:

Bomar sights
Cocking serrations on front of slide
Match barrel bushing
Polish barrel ramp
Widen ejection port
Lightened firing pin
Tuned Extractor
Full length guide rod
Ambi safety
EGW match trigger
EGW trigger internals (crisp 2 1/2 lb)
Beavertail
Checkered mainspring housing
Checkered front of grip
Wide magwell

Haven't had a any gun to the smith since then.

[Potsy]

Sent a Stainless Bisley .45 Colt to Hamilton Bowen for a Action Job, Target Sights, and a Freewheel Pawl. Stuck a set of Black Hogue Micarta grips on it.
Need to get the throats opened up a couple thou someday, don't know if it would make a difference or not, especially with this nut behind the butt.
Love it. Not as much as my wife or dog, but it's close.

Worst thing about getting any kind of work done on a gun is when it comes out right, it gets hard to look at a gun after that and not think about what you'd wanna do to it if you owned it.
At least that's the worst for those of us whose pockets do not extend into our boots.

[Groo]

Groo here
Replace the grips on all double-action revolvers with Pac's or Hogue's...

[NoZombies]

When I was 13 I got my first revolver, it was a cheap German made .22 single action. It shot about 3" to the side at 10 paces, had an excessive flash gap, and just wasn't "right" for me.

I removed the barrel and faced the frame back with files, enough to get 95% of another turn, to get the sight alignment right. I reduced the flash gap to .004 (from the .020 it had been!) re-cut the forcing cone, gave it a trigger job, and cut a bunch of meat out of the trigger guard to allow easier access to the trigger during "fast draw". I cut the hammer spur off, and fashioned a wider, smoother and higher spur and brazed that on. I also made new grips and a holster.

All of that work was done with files, sandpaper, a dremmel tool, and a lot of spare time during the summer before I turned 14.

In the end, it shot to the sights, was much quieter, and looked "cool" to my 13 year old eyes, but still wouldn't hold a group smaller than 2" at 10 paces, proving that sometimes you really can't polish a turd enough to make it shine.

[tek4260]

About everything you can do(weather you should or shouldn't)

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_2601.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_2836.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_2560.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_2344.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_2333.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_2207.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_1635.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_1151.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_1152.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_1088.jpg

[tek4260]

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_0944.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_0844.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_0366.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_0372.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/tk3945/101_0238.jpg


And waaaay more than this back in my pre married with children days.

[Nueces]

My first 'smithed gun was this 5-screw Smith 27, handed to Bob Sconce at Miniature Machine in Deming New Mexico in 1976. With it, I gave him a factory new 4" 1950 Target barrel in 44 Special. In the mid '70s, these could be had for $40. There had been a couple guys at the big Houston show who had a hat full of 'em and couldn't move 'em. Boy, do I wish I had been greedy.

Bob's crew at MMC rechambered the cylinder and fitted the barrel. I asked them to checker the barrel rib to match the top of the frame. Instead of rolling his eyes, he showed me a hand made tool for doing just that. I had wanted a revolver such as might have been ordered from the factory by Mr. Keith. You can see the result. That's a graceful target hammer and a smooth combat trigger. I used to rathole Smith stocks, too.

Ok, now, get hold of yourself. The tag for all this work, including the hand polish and reblue was....$85. At that time, the work they did for those of us brave enough to trust them was really experimental, to see if they wanted to get into it more deeply. But, heck, they did Skeeter Skelton's guns, so how much risk was there? I think it was a good call. This is one of five handguns they did for me around that time.

No, I wasn't rich. But I was single and beginning 2 years of active duty as a Captain. Before leaving home, I had paid off all debt and put in a large order for Starrett tools. I don't think flight pay ever went for a better cause.

The revolver.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_23634e6c109dbbb08.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=2096)

The barrel rib.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_23634e6c109e52376.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=2097)

My first hack was this 3-screw Ruger Super. I had wanted a flat top, but couldn't find one, so I sorta made one. I swapped in an old model grip frame and a steel ejector housing. I fitted a factory new standard hammer and trigger, having to file the cylinder ratchet a bit to even up rotation. Then went in a steel rear sight from Micro Sight of California. Their MR-44 fit new models and the MR-35 was a replacement for the flat tops. I've got these on all my Rugers now. Of course, they're long out of production. See? Being old does have some advantages.

The steel makes it a bit muzzle heavy - points like my finger, and I much prefer the higher hammer spur to the Super one. I like the newer Bisley hammer for slow work, though.

The revolver.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_23634e6c10edbd9c8.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=2098)

The rear sight.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_23634e6c10ee54210.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=2099)

Mark

ps, the new image hosting rocks!