Winter Projects

[Green Frog]

Well, it's that time of year. We start planning our Winter projects and looking for parts and materials. Is anyone doing a special project with our hand tools such as the 310? This would be a good time to share needs and wants as well as potential items we have in excess to trade/sell? I swapped off most of my excess back in the Summer to BrassMagnet and a couple of others, but I might be able to find a few odds and ends somebody might need, especially if it's really odd.

Froggie

[Mk42gunner]

My main project this winter will be to restock a saltwood era Browning T-Bolt .22. I bought the gun for at an auction for ~$200 and later got the semi-inleted stock at the same sale for $30.00. I think it is an old Bishop or Fajen, the only marking on it is Browning T bolt on the butt.

I need to come up with a piece of wood for the forearm tip, by the time I clean it up it will have an awful short forearm otherwise.

As far as loading projects go, I think I will work with the 1899 Krag carbine and my two .32 H&R Ruger SSM's.

That should be enough to keep me busy for a while.

Robert

[trails4u]

Mk...you'll love the old t-bolt. Mine is (if I recall correctly) a 1966 or 1969 variety...still an absolute tack driver to this day! Luckily....no saltwood for me, it's still pristine! Was a gift from my old Scoutmaster many moons ago...love that rifle!

[Wayne Smith]

My winter project will be three Mission end tables! Have the white oak and the plans.

[Green Frog]

Wayne, will at least one of those end tables be drilled for a TruLine Jr and a Model 45 Lubrisizer? If you put a little shelf on the back you can clamp a powder measure there too! Don't bother to thank me, I'm just trying to think ahead for you.

Froggie

[Wayne Smith]

Froggie, when the boys moved out I got a whole room! Built in benches, added the Brown Bair, a Hollywood Sr. and my Trueline Jr. I had one Model 450 sizer and added the RCBS as well. These are for her, not me.
We have been married 40 years and she will finally get matching tables.

I just won a set of Lyman 310 41 Colt dies off of eBay! I guess I'll have something to play with anyway.

[Pavogrande]

Looks like my winter and maybe spring and summer project will be a move to the peach state -
Tear down, packing, moving and set up of house, shop, and reloading will likely last the rest of my natural born days --
It does look like I will have a nice shop/reloading area in the basement though --

I do have a few 310 bits and pieces to sell or swap though -- have to get busy and sort them -

[Whiterabbit]

That makes me sad. You will be missed here, sir.

[Silver Hand]

To finish the bathroom cabinet started last winter it is about 75% complete! but things like tumbling brass and reloading keep getting in the way.
Silver Hand

[labradigger1]

Restocking a Stevens 44 chambered in 25-20 single shot, build a 50 cal Kentucky flinter from a maple blank and 42" GM barrel I've been saving. This hopefully happens after I remodel the bathroom for the mrs.

[bedbugbilly]

Robert . . . you sound like me! I'm not planning on doing it this winter but I bought one of the Browning t bolt 22s a couple of years ago in a pawn shop in Tucson It was a "salt wood" model as well. The stock was pretty rough on it but any of the salted damage is on the underside of the barrel, etc and doesn't affect the function at all. I can't remember where I got it as it was a couple of years ago - but I bought a beautiful replacement walnut stock for it that is about a 99% done - by that I mean just very minor fitting if any. I think I paid about $80 to $90 for it. I was planning on restoring it to shoot but with the lack of 22 ammo - just sort of "set it back" and will eventually get to it My original stock was beautifully checkered - the replacement is not but other than that, you can't tell the difference in them. If you can't find a decent piece of wood for a nose cap on yours - you might consider pouring a pewter one? Mine was missing the original rear sight and had a cheap scope on it but I'm going to scope it anyway. An interesting rifle!

My main "winter project" is to get to AZ for a few months. Hopefully we can eave after Christmas - depends on hows the mother-in-law is doing - she's 94 and in Assisted Living here and is doing well, but at 94, anything can happen. This trip out I'm taking spare die sets, scales, etc. out to leave there and hopefully can get things set up and organized so I can reload out there as well and not have to cart stuff back and forth. I won't cast out there so I cast up more than usual this summer to take a supply of boolits to leave thee as well. Of course "getting organized" will include painting the garage first as it could use a fresh coat as the original the contractor put on it was "pretty light" in application.

[Green Frog]

Well, I went to the gun show @ Fishersville, VA yesterday and it was pretty much a bust. One fellow did have some old bullets and dies from the estate of a friend, and I was able to go through the flotsam and jetsam to assemble a complete 5 die set for a 310 tool in 45 Colt... even had the factory box! One of my goals is to sort some more of my stuff so I can get rid of duplicates (and triplicates and more-plicates) of stuff that has followed me home over the years. I'm sure I'll be putting a listing of some really neat stuff for sale on our "Swappin' and Sellin'" board.

Unrelated to casting, I've reestablished my interest in shotguns and shotgun reloading and was gifted the very first shotgun press I ever used (about 40 years ago) by my old friend's widow. I've gotten a 16 ga OU that is currently at the gunsmith for a new set of 20 ga barrels to be fitted as well as an adjustable butt plate and Kick-eez pad. Although I am not really doing much of the hands-on work to this, I am chasing down parts and "ram rodding" the process. I hope to be shooting skeet and a little sporting clays come Spring.

Pavogrande, I feel your pain. I'm not sure I even could move all the way across the country without some real soul-searching about what I had to get rid of, but leaving anti-gun Kalifornia for Jawjuh might just make it worthwhile for me. That Model 44 in 25-20 SS sounds good labradigger1. I've always had a soft spot in my heart (or head??) for that caliber and have a high wall Winchester in that caliber as well as the parts to build a low wall... maybe that will be one of the things on this Winter's to-do list. Silver Hand, don't let house repairs and upgrades get in the way of the REALLY important stuff like guns and reloading. The house work will still be there when you get back from the range!

Keep those project stories coming in, guys!
Froggie

[Greg]

needed 310 dies

# 4 - adapter

# 4 - priming chamber

# 12 - adapter

# 19 - priming chamber

thanks for looking
Greg

I do have a few 310 bits and pieces to sell or swap though -- have to get busy and sort them -

[Mk42gunner]

bedbugbilly, My original stock is uncheckered, and has a pretty poor refinish on it. The guy that owned it had glass bedded the action and free floated the barrel to get the steel away from the wood; after it was damaged, of course. The barrel was at least cleaned up and reblued, could have done a better job getting rid of the pitting, but as you say it is under the wood.

For some reason people take the peep sights off of these little rifles and they are never together when time comes to sell the gun. If I could have picked the right container out of three hours of auctioning, I bet the guy still had it though. Mine will wear a scope.

I am still trying to decide what type of wood to use for the fore end tip. My first thought was to buy a block of ebony, and I probably should have done that and been done with it. Then I started thinking, (uh oh). Some of the woods that I have been thinking about:
Hedge, aka Osage Orange, bois d'Arc. Pros- pretty golden yellow that morphs into a dark amber as it ages. Cons it checks and cracks badly. I cut a chunk out of an old corner post that I would not be surprised was first cut in the nineteenth century. I got a nice block that looked good and left it sit for a few days, it developed checks and cracks.

I also have both black locust and honey locust that is already cut and seasoned, its a matter of finding a suitable piece.

Then there is the spalted maple, this one has possibilities, I just need to find a piece of it that is big enough.

Robert

[Green Frog]

needed 310 dies

# 4 - adapter

# 4 - priming chamber

# 12 - adapter

# 19 - priming chamber

thanks for looking
Greg

For some reason, adaptors are what I have the least of, but I'll keep your needs in mind as I sort through my stuff. You might also send a PM to BrassMagnet if you haven't already been in touch with him... he and I have swapped a lot of stuff back and forth over the last couple of years.

Froggie

[Pavogrande]

The #4's for the hornet are common enough but the 12 & 19 for the lovell may be a mite scarce --
A #3 adapter might be modified to fit but I am not sure about the primer.
The adapters can be lathe turned but you have to be quick with only about 3 threads
I no longer am - quick that is -

froggie - where is fisherville? I am an old fairfax county fugitive myself -- groveton -

WR -- thanks - we will have to have bs time before doomsday --

If I ever get set up again I have a 22 colt lightning, a stevens favorite and a stevens 414 to resurrect.

[catskinner]

Mk42, Love my T-bolt. Bought my first one a T-2 in 1966. Lot of money for a kid just out of high school. That one got stolen in the 70's and I looked for years before I found a T-1 at a gun show. Shot it in our winter 4 position gallery league for about 10 years. Won one year using the factory peep sight but the most satisfactory thing was finishing ahead of the Anschutz with a Lyman Targetspot scope.

[Green Frog]

The #4's for the hornet are common enough but the 12 & 19 for the lovell may be a mite scarce --

froggie - where is fisherville? I am an old fairfax county fugitive myself -- groveton -

Greg, Do you need that #19 priming chamber die for a Lovell cartridge? If yes, you might also try a #9, which worked OK for me with the parent case, the 25-20 SS. I believe I also have a screw in shell holder for the old aluminum bodied Lee priming tools if that would work for you(?)

Pavogrande, Fishersville is on I-64 just a little West of Waynesboro. The gun show is held at a fairgrounds type facility that is right beside (and visible from) the Interstate. Not a real big show, and with some junk, but it usually has at least a few good things to buy. When did you leave Fairfax? Had they started having the "Nation's Gun Show" at the Dulles Center @ Chantilly? That is the largest (in number of tables at least) show in VA these days. There has also been a show sponsored by the VA Gun Collectors' Association up that way for many years (at least 30) and after moving through several venues it is now in the little county fairgrounds facility at Manassas. It's a pretty small show, but is strictly guns and closely related stuff, making it pretty much worthwhile most times.

Froggie

[Pavogrande]

Froggie, when I left fairfax county there wasn't even a thought of dulles -- It was all farms and dirt roads as was most of fairfax county.
I have been back a number of times over the years while my mother in law still lived there --

[Green Frog]

I fly in and out of Dulles whenever I want to go overseas. My niece and her family live 15 minutes from the airport and she loves to "babysit" my Mitsubishi Spyder when I travel!