Great Gun Stuff Blog

[ This is a guest post is written by Y-Man. If you have been reading the blog over the past year you will have seen the incredible ingenuity he has demonstrated in Nigeria, where there exist severe restrictions on guns and ammunition. His previous exploits include Turning Birdshot into Slugs for Self-Defense and Fabricating a Shotgun Stock. ]

Remember I did some modifications to my shotgun, and later to the ammunition I could get? Well, I have gone a few more steps further. I have made three more major (In some ways: crude but safe) modifications to my shotgun: based on what is available here in my country and what I can get.

Firstly, I was in an accident in the 1990s, and lost some muscle tissue from my right arm. This has healed over the years, but my arm is not as strong as it should be. This affects my charging of the semi-auto shotgun: so much so sometimes I am forced to charge with both hands awkwardly. I then thought of getting and fixing a charging handle extension: obviously not easily available in my country, and not easy/ sensible to take the shotgun out to a welder to fabricate something (You most likely would get the welder and his apprentices run shrieking out of the workshop when you pull out the shotgun from the carry-bag...!)

So, I got a grip from an adjustment tab of an office chair, made out of plastic, and "JB-Welded" it to the charging handle. See pictures after the jump. I got some concerns from a few friends: wondering if the plastic adjustment tab would stand much firing/ shooting.

Well, I did me some shooting: a total of 25 rounds of my slugs, and tab is FIRM and helping me so well. I can charge my shotgun much more easily now. Very ugly, but functional!

Secondly, I have been shooting my own "brand of slugs" for some time now, and recently got quite uncomfortable with the lack of good sights on my shotgun. I had been using the bead sight, and on a good day, could get 3" groups at 35yards using the open bead sight. On some bad days, I can barely hit a barrel at 25 yards! I KNOW it doesn’t have to do with the consistency or otherwise of the slugs themselves: they are regular, Foster-type slugs that I cast myself, but the problem is my own aim. I am just not getting it right. The alignment of the bead is just too much for me sometimes. Sometimes, my shots go over, and sometimes into the ground in front of target.

So, I decided to make (Fabricate) or get some proper "rifle-like" sights. A "firearm-enthusiast" friend traveled home to Louisiana on vacation last month, and I asked him to get me some sights. After checking and researching online, I settled for the Truglo Xtreme Turkey Combo from Pro Bass, which is right around the corner from my friend's place in Baton Rouge. I asked him to get 2 sets, which he did.

I then asked him, when he was on his way back, to make sure he removed the parts from their packaging, so that some beady-eyed Customs Officer would not start asking questions. Well, luckily, no one even looked twice at the packages at the airports.

I excitedly worked on fitting them to my shotgun, and discovered that while the rear sight fit perfectly, the front sight had some seatings; none of which actually fit my shotgun accurately. I still persevered, and fit them: rear-sight was okay, and finally front-sight seemed to seat well, bolted to the bead hole, and with a little glue and pliers-manipulation. It seemed firm and I had HIGH hopes.

I went out shooting at the range the other day, and while I was hitting my 12" x 12" target (Half-inch thick steel plates.) quite well (Most shots out of twenty went into a 10" x 10" circle at 38 yards.), the front sight began to jiggle loose. At the end of the day: it was sliding from side to side, while the rear ghost ring remained strong and firm. I got home, and in my usual way, started thinking of ways to get this thing sorted...

Finally: I took a look at the unused second set of sights, which I had initially kept as a spare... Then a brainwave hit me: why don't I fit the SECOND Ghost Ring Sight on the FRONT of the barrel: where the bead used to be?! Then that way you have two rings. Align the two circles (Rear and front) against your target when aiming and you have a good aiming picture! Look through the two rings to your target, and you are ON TARGET!

See pictures...

Finally, I got tired of looking for a place to store my shotgun safely: it came originally as a PGO (Pistol Grip Only.) then I initially did some modification by creating a "wire-type" stock. See link...

This increased the length of the shotgun to about 42": quite unwieldy and difficult to conceal sometimes. (Like when driving to the range: even though I have all my legal permits, it is better to avoid too many questions at the Police checkpoints.) I have long thought about getting or fabricating a collapsible stock, or a folding one. Well, like you know: it is completely impossible to get such a thing in Nigeria, so my "creative-mind" went to work.

I ended up with a stock that can be tightened onto the shotgun for shoulder-firing usage, or off for storage: leaving a much shorter shotgun in Pistol Grip only configuration. I know it takes "forever" to screw on the stock to use it or to screw off the stock to store it: crude and ugly but it works!

UPDATE:

Actually NOT on target! I went to the range to do a test with my “double Ghost-ring sights” and did absolutely the WORST shooting of my LIFE! The two ghost rings aligned okay, but obviously not correctly. At one point: I fired TWICE at a crow, using one of my “slugs” at less than 10 yards, and MISSED both times! ALL shots at my steel 12” x 12” target at 30 yards, and 50 yards MISSED EVERY TIME.

Then to close the day with the WORST news: the firing pin on my shotgun broke! Now my nice Turkish EFE shotgun was wrecked! I don’t think it has to do with my modifications: either to the gun or to the ammo: I really believe it has more to do with the quality of the parts of the gun. Would you believe that the firing pin assembly was of a brittle cast-iron metal and NOT steel!? The Plastic bits for the trigger assembly are weak, brittle PLASTIC!

Well, my EFE Magnum shotgun is useless now: it is not possible to repair it: by myself or a gunsmith (Archeologists discovered the fossils of the extinct Nigerian Gunsmith a few months back! ) The Shotgun makes a good club though: and when used right: a great hammer! (No ammo loaded, of course…) Just kidding!

At least: I have a “happy” ending to my story: I met the supplier of my Turkish Shotgun (A licensed firearms dealer…) and complained to him about how strange it was that my shotgun would spoil in less than one year, not with any really heavy shooting… He was more worried that I could tell the large number of clients I already have showing interest in buying from him: so we came up with a deal:

• I returned the EFE Magnum Shotgun to the dealer (He says he can get it repaired ... Good luck to him!)

• He brought me (At my choosing) a Mossberg 500A PGO 18.5” 7+1 Pump-action Shotgun. I like VERY MUCH! As soon as I travel/ have someone travelling: I will get me some tactical sights (Mossy’s already drilled and tapped!), a sling and a stock. I hope to try some shooting this weekend...

• I paid him a little something extra to cover his costs: About $200. (Y’all would be SHOCKED to know I paid about $1,000 for the Turkish Shotgun originally! You don’t know what you guys are enjoying in the US: buying firearms legitimately for as low as $100!

Phew! All’s well that ends well, I guess… I’m now the proud owner of a more reliable Mossberg 500A pump-action shotgun! I fabricated a “Y-Man” Steel target too! This is just perfect for plinking: you hear the slug ring loud and clear! Half-inch thick steel, a steel rod, a discarded car spring, and voila! It is fixed on a spring to reduce the impact of slugs hitting it, and to reduce/ eliminate the risk of ricochets. The steel plate is painted white: so the impact of slug-hits can be seen using Binoculars.

See below:

[ I am pleased to present this guest post written by David Gomez (aka. redmanlaw). The photo was by his 7th grade son Joaquin. ]

The term “Black Rifle” has become synonymous with the AR-15. My Black Rifle is a 1942 Remington M1903A3.

The rifle came into the family when my late father in law Tom Ansley, a union electrician who worked in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, ordered it for $14.50 around 1961 from the Pueblo Ordnance Depot. After I married Tom’s daughter Inez I would bump into the action and barrel in the closet of his wife Emerita’s sewing room at their ranch in Mora County, New Mexico, put aside and forgotten, but not by me.

Feeling the burden of his 90-some years, Tom and Emerita had me bundle up his rifles – a pair of Savage 99s in .308 and .250-3000, a pre- 1964 Model 70 .243, a 1943 M1903A3 and an old Savage 28 12 ga shotgun - and other shooting and reloading gear one day and take them back to Santa Fe. I pledged to care for them and cherish them just as I did several years earlier with their daughter.

The unstocked M1903A3 intrigued me with “SA 4-42” stamped above and below the Flaming Onion cartouche. It had been drilled and tapped for a scope mount, its dark finish was mostly unmarred, except for some wear and tear. Wanting to shoot it, I ordered an inexpensive black synthetic stock from Cabela’s and dropped in the action and barrel. A gunsmith cut a notch in the stock for the bolt handle and checked the headspace.

I wanted to make my version of a post-war sporterized rifle, something a guy would put together for hunting deer and elk. I found a vintage Weaver K4 scope in Tom’s stuff and mounted it on the rifle. The scope was high enough so that the safety worked. I laser bore sighted it and headed to the range, actually just a berm bulldozed into some BLM land west of town.

Once sighted in, my black rifle easily shot groups of two inches or so at a hundred yards with ammo it liked. The old scope with a dot reticule was sharp despite its age. I’ve been shooting it weekly recently as I’m taking it hunting this fall as my backup to Tom’s .308 Savage 99.

Tom died two years ago this winter. I’ll be in the woods every year as long as I can, carrying one of Tom’s guns or a Marlin .30-30 I got from my dad.

[ Steve says: One of the attributes I love most about firearms is the very personal history each one carries with it. A gun will easily outlive its owner and, if well cared for, outlive generations. ]

Ethan Dublin, a very innovative 18 year old college freshmen, has developed an interesting charging system for AK-type rifles.

The Ratchet Charging System comes with a replacement gas tube and a sleeve that bolts onto the end of the gas piston. The design offers quite a few advantages over the standard charging handle. Being on the left hand side it is faster to manipulate when doing magazine reloads (if you are right handed), it can be used as a manual bolt hold open and, if the standard charging handle is removed, the Ratchet system can cycle the bolt and chamber a round with the safety engaged. This video demonstrates it in action ...

I asked Ethan if the cut out gas tube venting gas would affect the operation of the rifle. He said it would not.

The only major disadvantages that I can see is that the charging handle must be unscrewed when field stripping and that leaving the bolt locked back in the field could allow dirt to get into the gas block.

The installation is gunsmith free and it is compatible with ...

• Romanian AK-47 (7.62x39)
• Saiga (5.56)
• Polish Under folder (7.62x39)
• Bulgarian AK-74 (5.45)
• Egyptian Maadi (7.62x39)
• Russian Milled AK-47 (7.62x39)
• ROB. Arms VEPR (7.62x39)

I wish Ethan the best of luck with his endeavor and future engineering studies. Maybe we have our next Eugene Stoner here?

In 1973 a pair of pistol made for Pedro IV of Portugal, worth 100,000 euros, where stolen from the Military Museum in Lisbon. They have finally been recovered. The Publico reports (translated with google) ...

Designed by master gunsmith Arsenal Real in Lisbon Thomás Jozé de Freitas, weapons (one-offs that charge after he unscrew the pipes, which are embedded in gold and silver) were eventually stolen, along with a set of parts lowest, by a burglar who at the time was right pages in the newspapers but that, far from being an Arsene Lupine, it would reveal a "brick" because that stole not meet even the approximate value of the goods. Still, it was celebrated by the method, but effective, he chose to commit the crime: he hid inside the museum, behind a large clock, and when he was alone, plundered what was at hand.

Thanks to my Portuguese source for sending me the photo and links.

The Automag was a revolutionary pistol when it was invented. It is recoil operated and uses rotating bolt similar to the AR-15. Despite the gun being a commercial failure (it cost far more to make than the sale price), it was the inspiration for the Desert Eagle and the Wildey autoloader pistols.

Jeff Cooper attributed the design to gunsmith Max Gera, although his name did not appear on the final patent. After a falling out with the boss he sold his share of the company and, after a brief stint at Charter Arms, fell off the face of the Earth. Even his daughter had no idea where he was until earlier this year, after three decades in obscurity, when he contacted the author of a book about the AutoMag. Max was interview in April and it is a fascinating read ...

First, who is Max Gera ? In the March 1970 issue of Guns & Ammo magazine, Jeff Cooper twice credits Max Gera as the designer of the Auto Mag and refers to him as Auto Mag Corp.'s Design and Engineering Manager. Max was also named as co-inventor of the Auto Mag on the first patent application which was later abandoned. Max's name didn't appear on the final patent.

In October of 1970, Max sold off his interests in the Auto Mag and left Harry Sanford.

After Auto Mag Corp. declared bankruptcy in May of 1972, Max was blamed by some for causing Auto Mag to fail. These were mostly just rumors. However in a letter to Deputy Ed Lippert in July of 1972, Jeff Cooper of Guns & Ammo explained why Auto Mag Corp. went bankrupt. The letter blamed Max and typified the type of rumors that were flying around at the time. Max has asked me to remove this letter from this work as it is inflammatory, libelous and damaging to my reputation.

The above photo is of an AutoMag that was auctioned off earlier this year by the son of Harry Sanford, who owned the company that made the pistol. He claimed to be the brains behind the operation and that Max was just the machinist. His son obviously also thinks so. From the auction ...

You guys that have been watching these AutoMag auctions and have probably been wondering when will it end. Well, it does with this one...with the exception of one gun which we are trying to get from a family member that may never show up. This is the last AutoMag from the Harry W. Sanford estate.

The guy that read Col. Coopers article in 1958 about a .44 magnum rimless cartridge. In the 60's, as I was a kid, I hung out with Max Gera. He had some thoughts on my Dad's idea of an M-16 rotating bolt magazine pistol in .44 Mag. He started some machining on a crude milling machine and I was there when he shot his first shot in a hole in the back of my Dad's gun shop. They were on there way.

Max had different ideas. He was bought out and my Dad brought some partners in. It was some wild times. Every gun guru in the world was flying in to see this new pistol. The first AutoMag rolled off the production line about two years behind schedule. They were beautiful -- all hand-machined and fitted. They were the best AutoMags ever to be made.

So who really designed it? I think we will never really know. There seems to be much evidence that Max was the designer, but in business rarely does the brains really get the credit, usually it is the guy who paid the bills ... or at least that is my experience.

By the way, that pistol was auctioned off for over $6000! Some more photos of it ...

Many thanks to Ken for the link.

Brownell's has just launched an improved website!

Brownell's offers a great supply of:

- Rifle Parts
- Handgun Parts
- Shotgun Parts
- Magazines
- Shooting Accessories
- Gunsmith Tools
- Gunsmith Supplies
- Optics
- Gun Cleaning Supplies
- Gun Books & Videos

To see their new site for yourself, visit Brownell's.

- Greg