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What's the most difficult gunsmithing job you've doen?

W

Waddy

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I have done 5 checkering jobs as a gun owner. By FAR it is the most tedious, time consuming gunsmithing job I've ever attempted. And to be honest, four of those jobs were only chasing worn checkering. Single 90 degree checkering chaser. I will NEVER do another checkering job. I will sand the checkering off completely before I ever chase another groove.

A friend from the shooting range says he will never attempt to cast lead again. One bad experience and he's through with the idea. Quitter.. :)

Any other contenders for most difficult gunsmithing job? Well, not just gunsmithing, most any job related to guns.
 
I made a new barrel for an old .22 I have. Took me a few attempts and cost way more than just buying a replacement, but it was satisfying when I got it right
 
Chillfolks said:
I made a new barrel for an old .22 I have. Took me a few attempts and cost way more than just buying a replacement, but it was satisfying when I got it right
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You mean like made from scratch, rifling and all? Or just fitted up another barrel? (Which would be difficult enough).
 
1986, took an old second hand 70 series Gold Cup and turned it into what another GM level shooter called the Handgun that Ate Cincinnati. Put a quadra-comp barrel and comp on it-that wasn't tough and i had to ream the chamber slightly so it would reliably feed the 225 TFP lead bullets I used.The tough part was getting a 2 pound trigger on it-I probably wasted 2-3 sears because I kept pushing the envelope on the weight and it would end the hammer following sometimes. It was worth it-broke the pin national record with it at the Ohio State tournament. I finally cracked the frame-the frame sits on my reloading bench. My late father said one of the master welders at the factory could fix it, but by then I was shooting for Wilson and later EAA so the old frame, crack and all (by the hole for the slide stop) has been sitting there for over 30 years now.
 
Waddy said:
You mean like made from scratch, rifling and all? Or just fitted up another barrel? (Which would be difficult enough).
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From scratch, I will not do it again making it with what I had verse what I need was way more complicated than it needed to be.
 
TurtleDude said:
1986, took an old second hand 70 series Gold Cup and turned it into what another GM level shooter called the Handgun that Ate Cincinnati. Put a quadra-comp barrel and comp on it-that wasn't tough and i had to ream the chamber slightly so it would reliably feed the 225 TFP lead bullets I used.The tough part was getting a 2 pound trigger on it-I probably wasted 2-3 sears because I kept pushing the envelope on the weight and it would end the hammer following sometimes. It was worth it-broke the pin national record with it at the Ohio State tournament. I finally cracked the frame-the frame sits on my reloading bench. My late father said one of the master welders at the factory could fix it, but by then I was shooting for Wilson and later EAA so the old frame, crack and all (by the hole for the slide stop) has been sitting there for over 30 years now.
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Technology has improved over 30 years. A little JB Weld could probably fix that now... :) But good work on that gun.
 
Waddy said:
Technology has improved over 30 years. A little JB Weld could probably fix that now... :) But good work on that gun.
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after I messed up my left elbow (setting an archery target that fell) I had surgery. Six months later, and lots of therapy, it still hurt to shoot an Olympic bow. So the surgeon consulted a couple other top experts and they reviewed the MRIs and the HD pictures taken in the elbow when the surgery was done. And they all noted all sort of other damage that was not obvious on the first MRIs, -micro-tears etc. So they started asking me all the stuff I had done (this happened when I was 55). And I noted from age 25 or so until 37 I was shooting 200+ power factor 45 ACP pin guns and then 9X21 race guns, They asked how much-and I said, maybe 30-50K a year. And the head surgeon just said HOLY F! I just shoot steel now where I can use PF 120 9mm rounds now.
 
First one that popped into my mind was a .22 revolver that came in with a collection of over 200 guns. The older man had died and the widow just wanted the guns out of her house.

The sheriff's department loaded them up a d took them to the country jail and unload Ed them into a cell until I said I had time to appraise them.

They took them out of the cell, loaded them into their cars drove them to the store, uploaded them and brought them into the back room of the gun department.

Theses hi s were handled at least seven times by professionals that carry guns everyday.

When I received. Them over 20% were still loaded.

I was pissed!!!

Among that group was a .22 revolver fully loaded but covered in so much rust ever part was frozen.

I took it on as a special project, got the rounds out and cleaned the **** out of it.

When I was done it was still pitted but it was functional.

In retrospect I wish I would have bought it, it would have made a nice trapline gun...
 
I bought an ATI 1911, made in the Phillipines; compact model, 3.5" barrel. It ran like dog****. Replaced the guide rod assembly with a Kimber guide rod assemble, widened and flared the ejection port, replaced the extractor with a Wilson Combat extractor, did some work on the feed ramp. Ran great. It didn't malfunction any more than any other semi-automatic pistol I've ever had and I should have left well enough alone, but the brass would hit me in the face sometimes. So, I decided to replace the ejector with an extra long ejector and that's when it got hard. The roll pin wouldn't tap out, had to drill it. Then, the front peg on the ejector snapped off in the frame. It was time for a real gunsmith at that point. He drilled it out, I got the sermon and now it runs great, no brass in my face. I carry it in my day pack as a backup.
 
Most difficult is ongoing and should be the most simple. I have a S&W Highway Patrolman that simply will not reliably cycle. I have had it completely apart, replaced parts, and had 3 different smith work on it...and the damn thing simply will not function properly.


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Gunsmithing is not my thing. I put a timney trigger in my AR15 (a one piece drop in) and when done the trigger worked, but the fire select could not be turned to safe and had no stops. Took the trigger out, repeating this, twice. No clue what I did wrong. Took it to the gunsmith. He thought I left out the spring and tiny piece in the grip. Nope. It has an ambidextrous fire select and I had put it in backwards.
A gunsmith is building me a 2nd complete lower from scratch, rather than doing it myself. Picked up a repaired stripped out scope rail on a Ruger 10/22 a couple of weeks ago from the gunsmith. I'll leave gunsmithing to gunsmiths.
 
joko104 said:
Gunsmithing is not my thing. I put a timney trigger in my AR15 (a one piece drop in) and when done the trigger worked, but the fire select could not be turned to safe and had no stops. Took the trigger out, repeating this, twice. No clue what I did wrong. Took it to the gunsmith. He thought I left out the spring and tiny piece in the grip. Nope. It has an ambidextrous fire select and I had put it in backwards.
A gunsmith is building me a 2nd complete lower from scratch, rather than doing it myself. Picked up a repaired stripped out scope rail on a Ruger 10/22 a couple of weeks ago from the gunsmith. I'll leave gunsmithing to gunsmiths.
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Dude...try and try again. Building your own ARs is easy and there are a lot of videos to assist. Once you master it you will be able to fix anything that goes wrong with it.

There is an app “World of Guns” that does a great job of breaking things down piece by piece.


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VanceMack said:
Dude...try and try again. Building your own ARs is easy and there are a lot of videos to assist. Once you master it you will be able to fix anything that goes wrong with it.

There is an app “World of Guns” that does a great job of breaking things down piece by piece.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Put together several ar's and savages. I enjoy it a lot. Got kind of addicted to the ar's. Most were precision rifles. Ar's much too heavy for any practical use but they sure shot good. Savage benchrest consistently in the 1's &2's.

But the most difficult project and one i will never attempt again was building a stock from a blank. Inletting is an art best left to the experts. Bedding is kind of fun. Shaping and sanding is just overwhelming. Rifle shot great but i sold it because every time i took that ugly thing to the range it reminded me of what it took to get there. I have ultimate respect for stock builders.
 
rickc said:
Put together several ar's and savages. I enjoy it a lot. Got kind of addicted to the ar's. Most were precision rifles. Ar's much too heavy for any practical use but they sure shot good. Savage benchrest consistently in the 1's &2's.

But the most difficult project and one i will never attempt again was building a stock from a blank. Inletting is an art best left to the experts. Bedding is kind of fun. Shaping and sanding is just overwhelming. Rifle shot great but i sold it because every time i took that ugly thing to the range it reminded me of what it took to get there. I have ultimate respect for stock builders.
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I don’t know if I have the small
Muscle dexterity to mill a lower receiver.

One of the intriguing things I am seeing is the polymer molds for lower receivers. Those could end up being game changers.


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VanceMack said:
I don’t know if I have the small
Muscle dexterity to mill a lower receiver.

One of the intriguing things I am seeing is the polymer molds for lower receivers. Those could end up being game changers.


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In this time of the CAD milling machine no dexterity needed.

3-D Printing is the wave of the future. Cook them up at.home
 
rickc said:
In this time of the CAD milling machine no dexterity needed.

3-D Printing is the wave of the future. Cook them up at.home
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I don’t know that I trust the 3D printed lower rcvrs. Most of the videos I have seen of them show them cracking or shattering with repeated use.


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VanceMack said:
I don’t know that I trust the 3D printed lower rcvrs. Most of the videos I have seen of them show them cracking or shattering with repeated use.


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As technology improves that will be less of an issue. Also if you plan to do a suicide by cop and take out people with you repeated use isn't really an issue. Use it till it fails then take the return fire and mission accomplished.
 
Chillfolks said:
As technology improves that will be less of an issue. Also if you plan to do a suicide by cop and take out people with you repeated use isn't really an issue. Use it till it fails then take the return fire and mission accomplished.
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Ummmmmmm...not my line. I build weapons I plan on using multiple times with the intent for them to be safe and long lasting. And if suicide by cop is in your brain at all, maybe you should go talk to someone.


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