Plum OM Super Chop Job

[tek4260]

http://imageshack.us/a/img197/5863/7fgi.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img59/4990/4f7w.jpg

Length marked, sight hole marked.

http://imageshack.us/a/img716/2134/h4zr.jpg

Drilled. Ready to tap.

http://imageshack.us/a/img580/636/hz2t.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img401/4153/oul5.jpg


And there were 2 front sights

http://imageshack.us/a/img35/8986/iw15.jpg

After the hacksaw attack

http://imageshack.us/a/img843/809/bteo.jpg

Crowned

[tek4260]

Dirty ol revolver

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/809/hrtr.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/mhhrtrj)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/838/6nel.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/na6nelj)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/822/4rev.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/mu4revj)

New trigger spring from an expensive ball point pen. Simply cut to length and crimp one end down slightly so it will grab the recess in the plunger as the factory did. About half the diameter of wire and a lot lighter trigger is the result

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/856/u981.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/nsu981j)

26# progressive mainspring as compared to the shorter smaller factory spring

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/59/4ik2.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/1n4ik2j)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/41/9rdu.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/159rduj)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/855/soqt.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/nrsoqtj)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/829/slxv.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/n1slxvj)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/203/dkx2.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/5ndkx2j)

[tek4260]

And here is how you prepare a .595 Blackhawk sight for screw attachment

http://imageshack.us/a/img855/6053/h6jl.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img35/7558/sgne.jpg

Scribe prick at center according to my caliper.

http://imageshack.us/a/img809/219/77un.jpg

Started with center bit

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/1641/mi9h.jpg

9/64" hole through the sight. Now to countersink for screw head.

http://imageshack.us/a/img703/1233/4ki2.jpg

7/32" countersink

http://imageshack.us/a/img819/7041/39qv.jpg

Torx head screw as it will be when on the revolver.

Under the sight, I roughed up the barrel and the bottom of the sight with a file, cleaned it with acetone, then applied real JB Weld. I cleaned off the excess with a razor knife before it cured.

[MtGun44]

Nice end product.
Never saw one with that color on the frame.

Bill

[EMC45]

Looks great. I have often thought to do the same with my 7.5 SBH 44Mag.

[W.R.Buchanan]

They are definatly handier with a shorter bbl and you just don't lose that much in Velocity. The bottom one is my chopped 5" SBH Bisley, and my BH Bisley that came that way. Both are .44's

I used a Weigand Front Sight that I can change the blades on to compensate for light or heavy loads. It would bolt right on where yours is and give you some more flexibility in sighting.

I still have to fit my longer Ejector housing so it is flush with the end of the barrel. It is a Ruger part for the 10" bbl SBH. You cut it to length.

Randy

[Whiterabbit]

Q&A time! (A if I am lucky. :))

What makes the coloring come out purple? age? chemistry? factory job and time? material choice? What makes "plum", plum?

Doesn't look like you pulled the barrel. Did you use a hand reamer to cut the muzzle profile? If so, did you cut the crown after the muzzle profile, or did the reamer clean it up sufficiently? Did you buy a reamer or rent one?

Why is the frame plum and not the barrel?

[tek4260]

Q&A time! (A if I am lucky. :))

What makes the coloring come out purple? age? chemistry? factory job and time? material choice? What makes "plum", plum?

From what I understand it is from the makeup of the alloy in the frame. Trace amounts of certain elements or some such.

Doesn't look like you pulled the barrel. Did you use a hand reamer to cut the muzzle profile? If so, did you cut the crown after the muzzle profile, or did the reamer clean it up sufficiently? Did you buy a reamer or rent one?

I used the Brownells 79 degree crowning tool(90-11=79) and a 44 caliber pilot. I bought it several years ago when I first started cutting barrels. I tried filing and using pointed stones, ect, but the results were less than spectacular so the tool was the only option.

Why is the frame plum and not the barrel?

I suppose it is a different metal and is forged, not cast?



Added replys in quote

[Whiterabbit]

OK, so its not like the frame is stainless with some strange coating that "does not age well" (like cheap window tint) or something of that nature then? Just regular alloy steel, regular brown process, but a different alloy steel than the barrel and grip frame?

[pietro]

.


(sigh) Old Model/3-screw Ruger's usually are worth more than a 2-pin New Model; but many place a premium on one that's turned a plum color - especially if the plum's got crackling/lightning running throughout.

Quite a few different/older Ruger's turn plum - including tang-safety Model 77 boltgun's, & #1 rifle's, besides the single-action revolvers.



.

[tek4260]

Actually the grip frame is just as plum. Bright light makes it show up better.

[quack1]

A lot of cast gun parts will turn from blue to plum color over time when hot dip blued. Other parts can do the same, springs (best example are Mauser ejector springs), case hardened parts (Krag recievers), and nickel steel parts (nickel steel Winchester barrels). A rust blue job usually takes care of the problem.

[KCSO]

Oh My Gosh !!! How can you do such good work with that cheap mill, don't you know that you can only do good work on a Bridgeport? Why that round column is a guarentee that nothing will come out right.

That's a nice job there and just kidding about the mill as I have used one for the last 20 years with no problems. I usually pull the barrels and crown them in the lathe but I have done fine work with the Brownel's tool also.

[tek4260]

Cheap mill? :)

Hell that is a junk drill press from Big Lots. My wife wanted to go in there one day for something and they had them on sale for the lofty sum of $25. Beats using a hand drill. :)

[OuchHot!]

Nice job, I like the plum color. I have a 35Whelen Rem 700 classic that turned the same color stored in a safe with other guns that did not. I assumed they didn't boil in water long enough after the blue tank.....