Custom (home) work?

[UGA]

Has anyone done anything to improve their firearm? Major or minor, tell us here...

I've shaved the trigger hump in an old mauser rifle (removed the second stage hump to give a smoother pull) and cut the barrel back about an 1/8" and re-crowned it.

Anyone customized a 1911 with aftermarket parts? I'm interested in getting another RIA 1911 and doing some work to it. I heard a guy say one time that he sold one and the guy put a little work in it and started using it at competitions. He tried to buy it back afterward without luck... :biggrin:

[Decline]

I took a razor blade to my Kel-Tec when it was new and shaved all the seams (flashing) from the molding process off. Made the gun look way better.

Thats about it... Obviously I'm no gun smith:wink:

[UGA]

I took a razor blade to my Kel-Tec when it was new and shaved all the seams (flashing) from the molding process off. Made the gun look way better.

Thats about it... Obviously I'm no gun smith:wink:

Glad you mentioned it! I've done it to mine too. Makes it more comfortable in the grip too...

I've also taken a Dremil tool and polished the feed ramp of all my auto's. Makes a tremendous difference in feeding some hollowpoints.

[JavamanX]

Glad you mentioned it! I've done it to mine too. Makes it more comfortable in the grip too...

I've also taken a Dremil tool and polished the feed ramp of all my auto's. Makes a tremendous difference in feeding some hollowpoints.

Are the feed ramps not chromed? If so would this not serve to shorten the life of those parts? Educate me UGA

[Rossi]

Has anyone done anything to improve their firearm? Major or minor, tell us here...

I've shaved the trigger hump in an old mauser rifle (removed the second stage hump to give a smoother pull) and cut the barrel back about an 1/8" and re-crowned it.

Anyone customized a 1911 with aftermarket parts? I'm interested in getting another RIA 1911 and doing some work to it. I heard a guy say one time that he sold one and the guy put a little work in it and started using it at competitions. He tried to buy it back afterward without luck... :biggrin:

I have not done such work (but may do some site work soon), but I might remind the readers about STI International. They build great guns of course (I have one) but they also have a wide market for add-on and upgrades that are made just for one of their base guns.

Rossi

[mmszbi]

Put some CTC grips on my Kimber CDP II 4". Had to trim the length of the ambi safety to clear the diode housing. Taped the frame under the safety and hacked it back 3/8" with the dremel, rounded and polished the cut end.
Installed a mag well on same pistol.

Removed the front sights and grenade launcher from my Yugo SKS. Took the grinder to the front sights and removed the bayonet lugs, grenade launcher sights, cleaned it all up and reinstalled sight.
Much cleaner appearance.
Want to cut and rethread end of barrel for different flashider.

Built an AR lower for first time. Wow.....those little detents can fly a long long way. Want to remove front sight/gas block and install a picatinny rail gas block to better mount an optic with foldable iron sights.

[Bebo]

I replaced the factory trigger, block guide rod, and hammer on my CX4 .. the factory parts were all plastic and I replaced the plastic parts with metal parts ... fun project and really smoothed out the cycling of the rifle ... money well spent to improve a wonder rifle.

[UGA]

Are the feed ramps not chromed? If so would this not serve to shorten the life of those parts? Educate me UGA

Anything mass produced has flaws in production. It may look real smooth but fine marks and burs are not uncommon. Do an inspection with a magnifying glass and you will see what I'm talking about. I think you may have perceived my polishing as a gritty disk. If noticeable burs are present I will "bump" them with a really fine grit but I polish them using a soft cloth disc and jewelers paste. Basically finishing the surface to a super smooth mirror like finish.

High end auto's are better at this & not as likely needed, like my Warthog, but it still should be checked. Older guns, cheap autos, and heavily used barrels can and will benefit from polishing. Guns will naturally feed various brands and types of ammo differently, especially soft nose and the different cone angles of hollowpoints.

Take copper jacketed ball ammo for example, take some Winchester "white box" target ammo to the range. After shooting a box or two, pay attention during cleaning to the copper residue on the feed ramp. That residue is formed by friction as the round is slammed up the ramp. It cleans off easily but you can tell there is friction present. You can also see the travel pattern of the round and point out high and low spots if there are any. You cannot completely eliminate this friction but with a real fine polishing you can lower it.