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Rusted old C&B brought back to life


Rye Miles #13621

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Posted

Excuse the DNA commercial just fast forward through it. Interesting video fro a Brit!

 

 

Posted
2 hours ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

Its a 44 caliber so reproduction.

Reproductions rust too ;)

Posted

I got a similar challenge when I bought a 36 cal Remington New Model off of Gunbroker. I knew it was a junker from the price and the pictures couldn’t hide the fact that it was really sketchy.  It cost me fifty-five bucks and I originally bought it for parts.

 

When it arrived, it was as I suspected. It was rough and someone had tried to cover all the rust and pitting with what appeared to be bondo and they’d painted it black! The bore was pretty much destroyed and the cylinder was junk.

 

I disassembled it and set the internals aside, threw the grips away and dumped the rest of it in a barrel of cold dip carburetor cleaner and left it there for a couple of days with the agitator running.

 

When I got it out and scrubbed it down, I knew the barrel would have to be replaced and likely the cylinder as well.  I spotted a stainless Ruger Vaquero .357/38 barrel on one of the classifieds and bought it for around $35.00 delivered. I took the frame to a gunsmith friend who bead blasted it and put a hard clear powder coat on it. He removed the old barrel and had the Ruger barrel machined to fit the frame and notched it for the front latch post for the loading lever and a front sight made from an antique dime.  We polished the trigger guard, replaced the main, trigger and bolt, and the pawl springs with new ones.

 

We’d tried to save the cylinder, but it really was junk and with the new barrel, I decided to have it fitted with an R&D .38 cartridge conversion cylinder.  
 

We assembled the gun and sent it to Taylors. It was stamped as a Lyman revolver and we had no idea who the actual manufacturer was, so we let them fit the new cylinder to avoid having to swap them until we found what would fit.

 

While it was gone, my gunsmith fire blued a new set of screws and jeweled the hammer. He also blued a loading lever to go on it.

 

A knife maker friend roughed out a set of grip panels out of water buffalo horn and we inlaid a couple of antique dimes into those.

 

It’s now a neat little barbecue gun that I occasionally use in a match and carry when I dress up, (something that almost never happens) for some special occasion.

 

(Pics when I get a chance to pull ‘em up)

 

 

IMG_0512.jpeg
 

IMG_0511.jpeg

 

IMG_0513.jpeg

 

 

IMG_0515.jpeg
 

IMG_0514.jpeg


I wish I had some pics of it before we fixed it up!

 

 

Posted

What amazed me about this was this magic chemical vat he had that dissolved all of the rust in a matter of hours.

Posted

I like how, in that first one, as old and neglected as that gun apparently was, all the screws had perfect slots. And even though he broke them loose with a screw gun, none of the screwdrivers walked out of the screw slots.

Posted

I could've lived better without the damn "snap" thing he kept doing!

Posted
On 10/20/2024 at 4:01 PM, Blackwater 53393 said:

I got a similar challenge when I bought a 36 cal Remington New Model off of Gunbroker. I knew it was a junker from the price and the pictures couldn’t hide the fact that it was really sketchy.  It cost me fifty-five bucks and I originally bought it for parts.

 

When it arrived, it was as I suspected. It was rough and someone had tried to cover all the rust and pitting with what appeared to be bondo and they’d painted it black! The bore was pretty much destroyed and the cylinder was junk.

 

I disassembled it and set the internals aside, threw the grips away and dumped the rest of it in a barrel of cold dip carburetor cleaner and left it there for a couple of days with the agitator running.

 

When I got it out and scrubbed it down, I knew the barrel would have to be replaced and likely the cylinder as well.  I spotted a stainless Ruger Vaquero .357/38 barrel on one of the classifieds and bought it for around $35.00 delivered. I took the frame to a gunsmith friend who bead blasted it and put a hard clear powder coat on it. He removed the old barrel and had the Ruger barrel machined to fit the frame and notched it for the front latch post for the loading lever and a front sight made from an antique dime.  We polished the trigger guard, replaced the main, trigger and bolt, and the pawl springs with new ones.

 

We’d tried to save the cylinder, but it really was junk and with the new barrel, I decided to have it fitted with an R&D .38 cartridge conversion cylinder.  
 

We assembled the gun and sent it to Taylors. It was stamped as a Lyman revolver and we had no idea who the actual manufacturer was, so we let them fit the new cylinder to avoid having to swap them until we found what would fit.

 

While it was gone, my gunsmith fire blued a new set of screws and jeweled the hammer. He also blued a loading lever to go on it.

 

A knife maker friend roughed out a set of grip panels out of water buffalo horn and we inlaid a couple of antique dimes into those.

 

It’s now a neat little barbecue gun that I occasionally use in a match and carry when I dress up, (something that almost never happens) for some special occasion.

 

(Pics when I get a chance to pull ‘em up)

 

 

IMG_0512.jpeg
 

IMG_0511.jpeg

 

IMG_0513.jpeg

 

 

IMG_0515.jpeg
 

IMG_0514.jpeg


I wish I had some pics of it before we fixed it up!

 

 

Okaaaaay!  I got one gripe: what's with the "engine turned" jewel job on the hammer

Posted
33 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Okaaaaay!  I got one gripe: what's with the "engine turned" jewel job on the hammer


Because I LIKE it!!  
 

The hammer wasn’t very pretty and didn’t turn out well when we blued it.  
 

Part of this was an exercise in different treatments to metals in the gunsmithing process.

 

Most of the work done by the gunsmith, who is Willy McCoy, aka Ken Doherty of Rock Creek Armory, was performed at reduced rates and he used the gun in some advertising for his operation.

 

It was fun!!

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