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Everyone should have at least one "custom" gun.


H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619

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I am firmly of the belief that everyone is SASS should have at least one "custom" gun.  Even if it's not something you shoot often, we should all have that one special piece that we think is cool to have.

Custom can take many forms.  Unusual configuration, engraved, whatever.   Just something that makes the gun so unusual that you are extremely unlikely to find another one like it unless you make it yourself.  

 

Just an opinion from someone who is bored.   :)

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I did exactly what you are describing.  A long time ago I bought a mauser rifle that had been re-chambered to .284 winchester.  I fell in love with that cartridge and felt like Winchester really missed when they didn't chamber that caliber in a model 70 bolt action.  A few other manufacturers did, Ruger and Browning, but Winchester should have been the one to do it.   At one point my collection centered around pre-64 model 70's and in a trade deal for multiple rifles I got one that was a perfect donor action.  Barrel had been cut off, original stock was gone so it had no collector value.  I have a friend who worked at Kreiger barrels so I sent it to him.  He turned me a barrel with the exact contour, rear sight boss and all of a pre-64 model 70.  I have an original pre-64 stock for the rifle but as it was a custom  project I wanted a custom stock.  There is an old gentleman in a town near where I lived who was an employee of Bishop stocks for years.  His daughter is a master stock carver.  So I had him and his daughter do a custom stock for it.  Here are a couple of pictures of the rifle. 

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The only truly customized guns I have are the ones that have been so heavily modified for SASS that I would not or could not use them for anything else.  

 

My most custom SASS guns are a pair of 1851 percussion guns fully tuned by Mike Brackett and the backstraps have been engraved with the quote, "we deal in lead."

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1 hour ago, Jack Spade said:

I did exactly what you are describing.  A long time ago I bought a mauser rifle that had been re-chambered to .284 winchester.  I fell in love with that cartridge and felt like Winchester really missed when they didn't chamber that caliber in a model 70 bolt action.  A few other manufacturers did, Ruger and Browning, but Winchester should have been the one to do it.   At one point my collection centered around pre-64 model 70's and in a trade deal for multiple rifles I got one that was a perfect donor action.  Barrel had been cut off, original stock was gone so it had no collector value.  I have a friend who worked at Kreiger barrels so I sent it to him.  He turned me a barrel with the exact contour, rear sight boss and all of a pre-64 model 70.  I have an original pre-64 stock for the rifle but as it was a custom  project I wanted a custom stock.  There is an old gentleman in a town near where I lived who was an employee of Bishop stocks for years.  His daughter is a master stock carver.  So I had him and his daughter do a custom stock for it.  Here are a couple of pictures of the rifle. 

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Wow!  That is a beautiful rifle, love the checkering on the grip. 

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I am going to get back this week of a new/old Colt King Cobra, new pistol, old 6” King Cobra barrel from the 80’s models. I wanted a 6” Colt and was told by Colt Tech support that the TPI was the same on the old barrel as it was on the new barrel. So I paid $100 for the old barrel(EBAY), $780 for the pistol, and around $300 to put the barrel on and the adjustments necessary.  Found a new King Cobra wood grip for $84, again EBay, and we will see what it will look like. When I get it I will post a picture. Still want a Python, have an Anaconda with an 8” barrel from the previous run. And that’s my custom gun story. 

158015F0-4AF7-4526-9FF7-DB9DF46A0571.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Jack Spade said:

I did exactly what you are describing.  A long time ago I bought a mauser rifle that had been re-chambered to .284 winchester.  I fell in love with that cartridge and felt like Winchester really missed when they didn't chamber that caliber in a model 70 bolt action.  A few other manufacturers did, Ruger and Browning, but Winchester should have been the one to do it.   At one point my collection centered around pre-64 model 70's and in a trade deal for multiple rifles I got one that was a perfect donor action.  Barrel had been cut off, original stock was gone so it had no collector value.  I have a friend who worked at Kreiger barrels so I sent it to him.  He turned me a barrel with the exact contour, rear sight boss and all of a pre-64 model 70.  I have an original pre-64 stock for the rifle but as it was a custom  project I wanted a custom stock.  There is an old gentleman in a town near where I lived who was an employee of Bishop stocks for years.  His daughter is a master stock carver.  So I had him and his daughter do a custom stock for it.  Here are a couple of pictures of the rifle. 

16320.jpeg

16317.jpeg

That rifle is absolutely beautiful. Nice checkering designs. You should be real proud to own it.

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I built this 1911 for myself. It's a Para Ordinance warthog super short slide on a Caspian officer's model receiver that I cut down to fit. It has a Kimber barrel and dual slide spring. The rest of the parts were high end hand picked pieces just for this build, some, like the safety, were heavily modified to work.  I cerakoted top, bottom,  front,  and rear of the gun then hand polished the sides.  I then made the grips out of black palm. The trigger is a crisp and super light 2.5lbs and it's surprisingly accurate for its size which is about equal to a S&W Shield.  

 

JEL20170804_070846.thumb.jpg.1b46a22f7d2611c0d276efa82f63afcb.jpg20170804_070838.thumb.jpg.89e2ede22d409212131d1ab95ed76d47.jpg

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Almost all of my guns are 'working' guns, some customized but none what I would call collectible, or even necessarily 'pretty'.   Probably none of them would meet the OP's definition of 'custom'. 

 

I wouldn't think that it would be difficult to either find others that are fairly similar, or to have 'duplicates' made.  The only guns I have that it would be difficult to replace are ones that are stock, but rare. 

 

How easy would it be to find another pre-64 Winchester model 70 in 300 Winchester Magnum?  It's not heavily customized, but it's a fairly rare gun, I think.  It probably isn't custom and from my perspective it's not really a 'cool' gun.  Nor is it a gun that I shoot much or have much interest in shooting.  At one point I thought of it as an heirloom, but recently I think of it more as a PITA that's taking up space in my safe and that requires me to spend time maintaining. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, John E. Law said:

I built this 1911 for myself. It's a Para Ordinance warthog super short slide on a Caspian officer's model receiver that I cut down to fit. It has a Kimber barrel and dual slide spring. The rest of the parts were high end hand picked pieces just for this build, some, like the safety, were heavily modified to work.  I cerakoted top, bottom,  front,  and rear of the gun then hand polished the sides.  I then made the grips out of black palm. The trigger is a crisp and super light 2.5lbs and it's surprisingly accurate for its size which is about equal to a S&W Shield.  

 

JEL20170804_070846.thumb.jpg.1b46a22f7d2611c0d276efa82f63afcb.jpg20170804_070838.thumb.jpg.89e2ede22d409212131d1ab95ed76d47.jpg

 

JE LAW,

Now that is a nice work of art.   I love 1911's and mine are all 5" and 6" models BUT....that is one 1911 that would be a showcase piece.

You didn't mention the caliber.

 

Ya dun gud!

 

..........Widder

 

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1 hour ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

 

You didn't mention the caliber.

 

Ya dun gud!

 

..........Widder

 

Thanks Widder. It's 45 acp. Is there really any other for a 1911?:P

 

JEL

 

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:) 

 

Purchased 2006 in honor of my grandfather who was a tall man and owner/operator of X9 Ranch, Vail AZ. Inspired by Quigley Down Under. A family heirloom I hope it will be.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, John E. Law said:

Thanks Widder. It's 45 acp. Is there really any other for a 1911?:P

 

JEL

 

 

Your right.   Although not a true custom, I have two of the .460 Rowlands, set up on Kimber frames.

And I got two other 5" .45's by BUL and Mag Research.

 

BUT, three of my 1911's are in 10mm.   In my opinion, the 1911 is also a great model for the 10mm, which I think is a lot better than

some of the striker fired or plastic framed other stuff on the market.

 

..........Widder

 

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Part of the CAS fun is feeling like you have something 'special'. I have the obigatory 73 in 357, and 92in 44 mag rifles that look bad but shoot great. My 'custom'? 

I am a 44 guy so I have a blued ruger vaq in 44-40 with a 44 mag extra cylinder. My other hand has a stainless vaq in 44mag. My back-up? A nichol plated Uberti in 44-40 with and, you guessed it, a 44 special extra cylinder. Someday I will get a stainless 44-40 cylinder for the ss Vaq. Makes no sense. But I like it. In my imagination I have the best stuff!

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1 hour ago, Doc Moses said:

Part of the CAS fun is feeling like you have something 'special'. I have the obigatory 73 in 357, and 92in 44 mag rifles that look bad but shoot great. My 'custom'? 

I am a 44 guy so I have a blued ruger vaq in 44-40 with a 44 mag extra cylinder. My other hand has a stainless vaq in 44mag. My back-up? A nichol plated Uberti in 44-40 with and, you guessed it, a 44 special extra cylinder. Someday I will get a stainless 44-40 cylinder for the ss Vaq. Makes no sense. But I like it. In my imagination I have the best stuff!

 

Along those lines, I did obtain a .44-40 cylinder for use in my .44 Special Colt Buntline.  :)

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22 minutes ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

Along those lines, I did obtain a .44-40 cylinder for use in my .44 Special Colt Buntline.  :)

Its a disease. No mandatory vaccine required. ;)

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I have a "fun gun" 7th Cavalry model.  I like to pull it out at plinking sessions at my son's parties.  After they'd shot a few of their black guns and semi auto pistols, and maybe some of my SASS smokeless loads, I hand them the Custer loaded with 255g bullets and 40 grains of FFFg and say "This is how it really was".

 

They usually shoot it, immediately use some creative swearing, and hand it back with smiles on their faces.

 

BTW, I did have to use it for the last two stages at Land Run, after realizing my main match revolver was occasionally over-rotating.

 

Here's a video I made, but I was using smokeless that particular day.

 

 

 

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23 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

I am firmly of the belief that everyone is SASS should have at least one "custom" gun.  Even if it's not something you shoot often, we should all have that one special piece that we think is cool to have.

Custom can take many forms.  Unusual configuration, engraved, whatever.   Just something that makes the gun so unusual that you are extremely unlikely to find another one like it unless you make it yourself.  

 

Just an opinion from someone who is bored.   :)

 Why are you bored? Get out and rake some leaves.

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54 minutes ago, Diamond Jake said:

I have a "fun gun" 7th Cavalry model.  I like to pull it out at plinking sessions at my son's parties.  After they'd shot a few of their black guns and semi auto pistols, and maybe some of my SASS smokeless loads, I hand them the Custer loaded with 255g bullets and 40 grains of FFFg and say "This is how it really was".

 

 

 

This is the closest I have to that...

 

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Reproductions all, a S&W American, S&W Schofield, and a Colt Single Action Army, all in military configuration.   (All are .45 Colt.)  The Colt is an Armi San Marco, and I really like it.


And here is a video of me shooting it, paired with a (converted) Walker.

 

 

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3 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

Along those lines, I did obtain a .44-40 cylinder for use in my .44 Special Colt Buntline.  :)

And I have to get a nickel plated .44 spcl for my Nickel plated .44-40 Colt Buntline!  
we are definitely kindred Spirits!

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My main match pistols are completely custom. I guarantee there is not a single pair like them throughout all of SASS and there are only 2000 of my rifles, mine is #1557 of 2000... my SKB 100 is pretty common...lol...

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20 hours ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

 

Your right.   Although not a true custom, I have two of the .460 Rowlands, set up on Kimber frames.

And I got two other 5" .45's by BUL and Mag Research.

 

BUT, three of my 1911's are in 10mm.   In my opinion, the 1911 is also a great model for the 10mm, which I think is a lot better than

some of the striker fired or plastic framed other stuff on the market.

 

..........Widder

 

You are 100% correct. The 1911 is just an all around great gun in any caliber, I just wanted the traditional caliber for this one. I originally planned on 9mm, but went with the 45acp. The .460 is one that I really want to build, Why? Because it's a 46 LOL. I have most of the parts...I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I have a Delta Elite in 10mm and it is a phenomenal gun. I also have a Glock 40 long slide and the 1911 is just better all around in the 10. The 38 Super is also an awesome cartridge for the 1911.

 

I have, have had, or have built and sold several unusual caliber ARs. I currently own one in 6.5 Creedmoor that I used a Lothar-Walther barrel blank and machined it. I reamed the chamber and headspaced the bolt so it is perfect and went with an extra long gas tube so its very smooth and extremely accurate. I then built a bolt gun using a Sako receiver and the same barrel, the Sako action is just buttery smooth. 

 

I have build several ARs in 338 Nano. We started with the 338 Specter which is a 6.8 parent case necked down to 338, but later went with the "NanoSonic" which is the 10mm case necked down for the 350gn 338 bullet and 13.5grains of Lil'Gun. It's running at around 875fps and is only good to about 75 yards, but in that range it hits like an anvil and it's ULTRA quiet with a suppressor. It's very popular with the hog hunters. A friend and I using them with night vision and the gas block shut off alternated and took 13 hogs in a large team in just a few minutes without scaring any away. The farmer who was having the problem was elated. I don't have mine anymore but I still load the ammo for several customers who bought them. 

 

I then have a full auto AR I built in 45acp that is a 4 inch barreled D.I. gun, not a blowback. I machined the gas block and the tube from scratch and that also serves as the barrel nut and handguard mount. It uses old grease gun mags that the mag catch is machined into. My buddy actually came up with both the 338 and this one, I just helped dial them in and then copied his after he had a few hundred receivers built, well, cause I'm not that smart.

 

JEL

  

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Dang, JEL......... you seem to have all the fun toys.

 

My only life long custom gun was a pistol.

It was a Remington XP-100 receiver with a 15" Shilen stainless bull barrel in 6mm BR, with a tight neck chamber.

Yep, brass necks had to be turned and I only bumped the shoulders back a small .000 when resizing the brass.

The brass was also 'prepped' with primer pockets uniformed, flash holes uniformed and flash holes chamfered

on the inside.

 

I mounted a Leopold 6x20 scope on it with normal eye relief.   YES..... I got popped in the eye a few times during recoil.

But every shot put a smile on my face.

It was set up in a McMillan black 'pebble grain' pistol stock.

 

I think my best 5 shot group at 100 yds was a .266,  center to center.   Outside to outside would be .309

 

As I got older, I found that I couldn't do that pistol justice and a local dealer wanted it....... so I let it go.

 

..........Widder

 

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My latest, built from mostly spare parts, and not quite finished.(the frame will be bone color case hardened)  Built to be a lightweight woods carry gun with some fun.  Got it down to 31 ounces.  It could probably be lighter, but I've got enough time in the mill with it already and I'd be lucky to get another ounce or maybe 2.  The purchased part is the Merwin Hulbert inspired grip frame from Ronnie Wells @RWgripframes.com in aluminum.  I'm planning a more "conventional" looking, brass frame version.

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Put these together to suite me. A trio of 44/40 OMV stainless: bisley gripframes, bisley hammer, vaquero trigger, and ejector rod housing on a CCH frame and blued cylinder and barrel. Short stroked, half cock, free spin, and slicked up. Will be sending the gripframes out for engraving sometime this coming year. 

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On 10/19/2022 at 8:41 PM, Nimble Fingers SASS# 25439 said:

And I have to get a nickel plated .44 spcl for my Nickel plated .44-40 Colt Buntline!  
we are definitely kindred Spirits!

518385825_BuntlineBigIron.jpg.11b42c651cfc9b611cc6d7af90ffc264.jpg
 

The Buntline is a real Colt, and as you can see, this .44 Special is nickel.    The Big Iron above it is a .45, and I guess it's my "custom" gun.

My "other" custom gun is this weird little thing...

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I run .38 Long Colts in it.

And I will soon have another custom gun. :)

 

 

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23 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

518385825_BuntlineBigIron.jpg.11b42c651cfc9b611cc6d7af90ffc264.jpg
 

The Buntline is a real Colt, and as you can see, this .44 Special is nickel.    The Big Iron above it is a .45, and I guess it's my "custom" gun.

My "other" custom gun is this weird little thing...

Pepperbox.thumb.jpg.9e0bd2cbc41ba12137c37f1d8180c019.jpg

 

I run .38 Long Colts in it.

And I will soon have another custom gun. :)

 

 

As is my nickel plated .44-40!  It is the Colt .44 spcl cylinder I have to get. 

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Winchester mdl 94 .30-30:  26" octagon bbl, measures .850" across the flats from the breech to the muzzle.  A Smith Enterprises tang peep, a customized Shiloh globe front sight, Fajen stock, bone & charcoal CCH receiver, "jeweled" guts.  Best part, it's a tack driver, best group has been ¾" @ 200 yards.  But I now need younger eyes to repeat that!

 

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