A Dance With Dragons Part I
Ever since I learned about the Ed Masaki Dragon gun, I was sort of obsessed with it. I was lucky enough to buy one, but some questions still remained unanswered – why is it not available anymore? Why no one else tries to make one? And can I be the one? After a years of […]
Turning Tugnsten Tuesday
It is Tuesday and I’m back in my shop, turning tungsten….wait, what? I recently upgraded my .22 pistol to the famous Pardini SP22. The gun is absolutely fantastic, the trigger, balance, feel and accuracy is superb, no wonder pretty much all Olympic shooters choose it. However, there’s still room for improvement and this time it […]
Z-Axis Power Lift
I think in every machinist’s life there is a moment when hand-cranking that z-axis table or head becomes almost unbearable pain in the rear. In my case it was when I had to make a part with a lot of holes of different sizes. It went something like this: Indicated the part. Cranked the head […]
Black and Gold
I wish all jobs always went according to the original planning, but, as we all know, it’s never happening. This one was a classic example. It came to my shop in a pretty rough shape, the parts were unfinished, the dust cover had multiple holes drilled and tapped for previous scope mount installations and the […]
Low Voltage Rock’n’Roll
A customer needed a scope mount for his Bullseye gun. It’s not a particularly difficult part to make, I’ve done it before many times but I always just spray painted the parts with Cerakote or even a regular Rust-Oleum matte black paint. This time, however, I decided to go big or go home and instead […]
What’s In The Box?
Bullseye shooters know how hard is to find a range box in a decent shape. There were several companies and people making those boxes back in a day, such as Pachmayr, Gun-Ho, Greg Walloch, etc. Unfortunately, the new boxes are not made anymore, and the used ones fetch a hefty premium on eBay and other […]
Electronic Lead Screw on PM-1130V
The Precision Matthews PM-1130V is a very capable machine. It has everything I need, but there’s one major drawback for me – the external change gears. Every time I needed to change feed rate or cut a new thread, I had to perform a set of pole dances around the lathe, taking off the side […]
Better Lathe Than Never
I finally pulled the trigger and got a lathe for my shop! It is a Precision Matthews PM-1130 lathe with 2-axis DRO installed. Very capable machine, I must say, but not without the downsides. One thing is that it is an external gear change machine, so I’m going to build an electronic lead screw, this […]
I’ve Been Working on the Rail
A friend of mine recently got a nice Smith & Wesson Model 52 and started looking for options to mount an Ultradot on it. One of the best possible options was the BME slide mount, but unfortunately BME is out of stock at the moment. Well, said I, challenge accepted, if I cannot buy it, […]
All Quiet on the Beretta Front Sight
A club member asked me to work on her Beretta. Among other things, I’ve installed an adjustable Bomar-style rear sight, which required a much taller front sight than the original factory one. A quick search for readily available product revealed nothing, so I decided to make one. I got a small piece of mild steel […]