ronaldrothb49
45 Cal.
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2021
- Messages
- 678
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- 1,146
Just finished what I call my rescue pistol. I was looking through my junk cabinet for something I could use for an experiment when I found this old CVA pistol kit that someone had screwed up and the put up for a prize at a blanket shoot. Couldn't use the lock it had been doubled drilled with overlapping holes for the front lock bolt. Found this old Japanese lock looked like I could use it. Took it apart and it fit the lock inlet perfect. Blew me away when I took it apart, it has a posted bridle. Had a devil of a time cleaning the coating on the coating on the interior and then polishing the plate and did some tuning on it. Had to slightly go deeper on the inlet and take some wood out to accommodate the bridal. Widened and deepened the pan. Seems like a nice lock, throws a pretty spark into the pan and doesn't seem like it will be hard on flints.
As usual on these old kits the lock was right at the back of the barrel, Luckly it didn't have the excessively long breech plug that many of these have. I moved the barrel back as far as I could without interfering with the lock bolt. I hate touch holes and usually use inserts. an insert would have gone into the breech plug. Use an 1/8" bit and drilled to the depth of the point then switched to a smaller bit to drill the actual touch hole at a slight angle to get in front of the breech plug. Didn't have any of the screws so retaped for 8-32. Didn't have the ramrod, It was drilled for 1/4" original was probably steel Drilled it out to 5/16" about half way down so it didn't interfere with the front lock bolt, made a tapered wood ramrod. Took the excess wood off and tried to fix all the screw ups. The best thing is I have exactly zero $ in it.
The hinge point on the trigger was an inch in front of where the trigger bar touched the sear. That combined with only having 60% use of my right hand created an impossible trigger pull. Common on the guns that used this type of trigger. I moved back 5/8" and as high as I felt safe and drilled a new hole for the hinge point. Cut the front part of the trigger bar off it interfered with the movement in the new hole and is no longer needed, did a little filing on back bottom of trigger bar and came up with a 3 to 4 pound pull which I can easily work with. This is the easiest modification to this type of trigger to reduce trigger pull and when you are done the trigger is in the exact same place.
The stain came out a lot better than I expected, it needs some refinement but that is what it was about. Wish I had taken pictures as I worked on it. The finish I tried something different. My finish is always Boiled Linseed oil, Turpentine and a teaspoon of Vinegar. Usually I start with a 1 to 1 mix, this time I decided to try a 1 to 2 mix ,I figured the wood would soak that up pretty good so coated it pretty good. As usual came back in a half hour to wipe the excess off and nothing to wipe off. Let it sit for 24 hours, steel wooled it and applied another heavy coat, a half hour later nothing to wipe off. did it again and this time had a couple spots with a little excess to wipe off. Switched to the 1 to 1 mix 3 coats and then finished with the 2 to 1. As I've already said it turned out a whole lot better than I expected and next pretty day we will see if it is a shooter.
Since I started this project I have called it my rescue pistol since all the parts for it came from my Junk cabinet. Taking a cue from the people who have designer dogs, we used to call them MUTTS, some of which are worth a fortune today I have decided to rename it. Considering it started as a Spanish kit that now has a Japanese lock I now have a Spanese Designer Pistol and the value on it just shot up through the roof.
As usual on these old kits the lock was right at the back of the barrel, Luckly it didn't have the excessively long breech plug that many of these have. I moved the barrel back as far as I could without interfering with the lock bolt. I hate touch holes and usually use inserts. an insert would have gone into the breech plug. Use an 1/8" bit and drilled to the depth of the point then switched to a smaller bit to drill the actual touch hole at a slight angle to get in front of the breech plug. Didn't have any of the screws so retaped for 8-32. Didn't have the ramrod, It was drilled for 1/4" original was probably steel Drilled it out to 5/16" about half way down so it didn't interfere with the front lock bolt, made a tapered wood ramrod. Took the excess wood off and tried to fix all the screw ups. The best thing is I have exactly zero $ in it.
The hinge point on the trigger was an inch in front of where the trigger bar touched the sear. That combined with only having 60% use of my right hand created an impossible trigger pull. Common on the guns that used this type of trigger. I moved back 5/8" and as high as I felt safe and drilled a new hole for the hinge point. Cut the front part of the trigger bar off it interfered with the movement in the new hole and is no longer needed, did a little filing on back bottom of trigger bar and came up with a 3 to 4 pound pull which I can easily work with. This is the easiest modification to this type of trigger to reduce trigger pull and when you are done the trigger is in the exact same place.
The stain came out a lot better than I expected, it needs some refinement but that is what it was about. Wish I had taken pictures as I worked on it. The finish I tried something different. My finish is always Boiled Linseed oil, Turpentine and a teaspoon of Vinegar. Usually I start with a 1 to 1 mix, this time I decided to try a 1 to 2 mix ,I figured the wood would soak that up pretty good so coated it pretty good. As usual came back in a half hour to wipe the excess off and nothing to wipe off. Let it sit for 24 hours, steel wooled it and applied another heavy coat, a half hour later nothing to wipe off. did it again and this time had a couple spots with a little excess to wipe off. Switched to the 1 to 1 mix 3 coats and then finished with the 2 to 1. As I've already said it turned out a whole lot better than I expected and next pretty day we will see if it is a shooter.
Since I started this project I have called it my rescue pistol since all the parts for it came from my Junk cabinet. Taking a cue from the people who have designer dogs, we used to call them MUTTS, some of which are worth a fortune today I have decided to rename it. Considering it started as a Spanish kit that now has a Japanese lock I now have a Spanese Designer Pistol and the value on it just shot up through the roof.
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