Search results

Got out my plastic mold 1911 so I could make a molded Yaqui Slide holster for one of my guns. It was harder than I thought it would be even thought the holster looks simple. There is a lot more stitching and a lot of thought on where to start and finish. It's not one continuous line of...

A few years ago my son called me and told me he wanted to get a new .45 style gun in .22. He found a GSG 1911 22 and was really telling me all the great detail of it. I found one locally, liked it and bought it. I did a lot of upgrades and really enjoyed shooting it. He wasn't as lucky in...

Today's Steel Challenge Match was much easier because I replaced my stock front sight on my S&W 617. I'm getting old, will be 70 in Nov. and my eye sight isn't what it use to be. I was having difficulty finding my small OEM front sight until today. I replaced my OEM sight with a fiber optic...

I finally completed my project of putting a new fiber optic front sight on my S&W 617. It took me a few tries. I broke the rod on the first one because I didn't have the right tools. A little bit of searching the garage and I came up with a jig that works. I also installed a new rear sight...

Recently DS-10 Speed Loaders sent me 5 of their new design to test them out compared to my older generations. I have 4 different sets of different configurations now and have 19 loaders all together. Over that past few months I broke a couple of loaders while in my tight fitting shooter's bag...

The more I play with it the more I like this 617. I almost sold it years ago but fortunately the buyer backed out. I now shoot it regularly in practice and for Steel Challenge Rimfire Pistol Iron. My Go-To ammo is Federal BYOY 36 grain bullets. I can shoot an entire match without having to...

I decided to make a new holster for my S&W 617. I'm trying an Avenger Style with a bit of Cobra to accent it. Black leather around the Cobra and the rest of the holster is basket weaved with tan dye and antiquing. Then a coat of sheen. All is done with punches and hand stitched. I run a rotary...

I got to shoot my Smith & Wesson .22 caliber 617 today. I really like this 10 shot gun and am now shooting it for Steel Challenge matches instead of my Black Mamba. At 69, I'm more into having fun and comradery than score but I still want to do the best I can so today's practice session was...

Not my best day but I sure did have fun today shooting my S&W 617 during out monthly Steel Challenge Match. As long as it took to get use to the red dot sights, I can see having to spend a lot of time dry firing to get use to irons. I could see my misses before I shot them but was in a too...

I decided to take my C-More off my 617 and shoot it for the next few weeks in RFPI (Rimfire Pistol Iron) category for Steel Challenge. Today I fired 300 rounds of Federal BYOB and Remington Golden bullets and only had 2 Failure To Fires so I'm pretty happy. I have a new mainspring on order...

Weather was perfect today for out monthly Steel Challenge Match. Registration was full with 75 shooters showing up for the 8 stages of fire. I shot my Black Mamba, after getting it back from Volquartsen two weeks ago. Basically it's a new gun and all the little problems with it have been...

Shot it today: 400 rounds of Federal 36 grain hollow points. No failures and surprisingly accurate out to 25 yards...that's the farthest target at our indoor range. Off hand on a Shoot & See 6 inch target I kept all rounds inside the center ring. Not bad for me. I just look for minute of...

I've been fighting with my Black Mamba for a few weeks. Today I tried to install a Volquartsen Extended Safety and I broke the frame where the pivot spring goes. I guess I yanked on it too hard. When I went o to the range with the new ES it immediately fell out. Fortunately I always take two...

Well I finally got my 617 back from out local gunsmith and I'm happy with the results. I tried to replace the hand myself and ran into all kinds of problems...I was using a centerfire hand on my rimfire. I also had a bent crane and don't have the tools to fix this. I'm too old to be buying...

I took the crowd out today and played a little with loads and accuracy. Off the bench, at 25 yards with the 10 inch barrel I had little problems keeping all rounds inside of 2 inches. I then shot the 5.5 inch barrel with iron sights at an 8 inch Shoot & See target keeping all shots within 6...

I love modifying my guns. Here is my Bronze Mark IV 22/45 Lite with 5.5inch Target Barrel and 10 inch Barrel, both bought from the Bargain Bin at Volquarten. All barrels shoot fantastically. From a bench the 10 inch has a little advantage but I see no difference between the Lite and the...

For years I've been doing my own gunsmithing and have gotten pretty good at getting a decent trigger pull. I recently tried to replace the hand in my 617 because it was slightly out of time. That's where I went above my skill level and had to call my friend Nelson Ford, The Gunsmith to help...

I really tried to find a decent holster for my 7.5 inch Mamba ( Ruger Mark IV 22/45 Lite with all Volquartsen upgrades. A few companies now show leather holsters that will work but I decided to get out my leather and make my own. It has two layers of leather and a felt layer on top. The...

Getting bored with the Corona Virus I decided to take up on old hobby and bought some leather and tools. This is my first creation. Designed from my old holsters it fits just right. Next time I'm going to copy some other designs and see what happens.

I bought a new S&W M&P 9 EZ last week from Sportsman's Warehouse in Phoenix. I wanted a .380 or 9 mm and had to settle on the 9. None of the places I looked at had any pistol ammo so, why buy a gun I can't use. I had about 1000 rounds of 9 mm on had from when I shot centerfire guns. I had to...