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 […]
Rebarreling my Pardini
This was an interesting experiment. I’ve been trying to make my Pardini .32ACP accurate at 50 yards for quite some time, but without any luck. Finally I’ve decided to make a custom barrel for it and see if the results will improve. The 5″ length of a rifle .308 blank was a perfect candidate. I […]
Stone Soup – Part 1
A club member brought me a no-name GI-style 1911 made in Philippines and asked to rebuild it as a ball gun suitable for the CMP service pistol EIC matches. This project reminded me of the old European folk tale Stone Soup. Pretty much every single part of the gun needs to be replaced. Even the […]
Raw Deal Project, Part II
I started cleaning up the slide with face mill and noticed that it leaves very deep tool marks. Obviously, either I was doing something wrong or the tool was not the right one of the job. Most likely, all of the above. So I used various grits of sandpaper and a lot of elbow grease […]