Limpid Lizard

A good buddy of mine has lymphoma. That is his chair. I put it in there so that he could be out in the shop with me. I think the chair will no longer be needed in a very short time. This buddy and I have camped, hunted, smithed and shot together for years. Years ago, he helped me build the shop.

This is my smithing shop. The reloading shop is elsewhere.

I also recently bought a large lot of new in the 50 round bag 30/06 Winchester brass. I am pretty busy the next week or so, but I am going to try selling about 600 pieces of it around the end of the month. I bought more than I could afford, but it was the only way I could keep the price per piece down. I have 6 30/06's and I usually keep the brass separated. I should be able to sell it pretty reasonably, even if I have to ship it. LL

ATK, just down the road from me, recently called back 80 laid off workers. LL

Natchez has primers. I paid $33 per 1000 delivered. I bought 5000 to dilute the hazmat fee. I have had locals begging me for them, so getting rid of them will be no problem. Wideners has a bunch of powder. I bought an 8lb keg of 4350 for $115 and an 8lb keg of 3100 for $135. With hazmat, it averaged $18 per pound. I'll probably buy 8lbs of 4895 or Accurate equivalent if I can find someone else to order with me to dilute the hazmat. I did not have the extra cash for the 4895 when I bought the other powders. LL

Sorry guys, I had to go out of town for a few days and was not able to upload from where I was. I honestly have no idea who stole the snow. Tinker's idea is great, but the driveway is a couple of cars wide, and I parked inside rather than in the driveway. I'm thinking that someone I did a good turn for decided to do me one. I cannot imagine what else could have happened to the snow unless it was an alien abduction. LL

T5, I wish you would let me in on the secret. LL

I spent last night down on the river. It was wet and cold, with just a hint of snow in the air. When I got up on the hill this morning, I had 4 inches of heavy snow in the driveway. No tire tracks but mine, in or out. I ran a few errands and was gone for about an hour. When I returned, my snow had been stolen. Not one other driveway in the neighborhood was cleaned out, and the snow had not been pushed into the street. There was only a bare driveway, and no piled up snow. I figure someone must have stolen it. I'm tempted to call the police and report this crime. I do not even have a suspect in mind. LL

Some people's kids! Mostly we are old farts, and we are not into the illegal aspects of gunwork. LL

Add M1a to the list. LL

Can you see it yet? I had to change the pic. The first one had too much shine on it. LL

Okay, here is a sample of my checkering abilities. This rifle was found in a pawn shop. It had the factory barrel, and an old Weaver 4X in Stith mounts. The D&T was .020 out of line front to back. It is a DHT '03 Springfield, and the bit probably walked on the hard surface. I straightened the holes by going with #8 screws and made the bases to match the receiver hole spacing. I modified a Timney Featherweight trigger to fit. They are made for the '03A3, but not the '03. I also slimmed down the trigger bow. I reshaped the stock as it was chunky, bedded the barrelled action and then checkered it. The rifle is a 257AI with a 26" PacNor 3 groove tube. It was blued here at home and now wears a 6X Leupold in Burris Zee rings. It has accounted for a couple of deer and antelope. The pictures highlight the imperfections. IRL the thing looks better. Last but not least, for all of you Fennimore Cooper fans, my black rifle, "Deathwind". It is a VZ24 in 7X57. Once again it is wears a PacNor barrel at 24". It is a 1/10 as I have no use for heavy bullets in this rifle. It handles 150 grain BT's very well, and they are the heaviest I have tried. I have a pile of 139 Hornadys, so that is what I usually use. The bow has been reshaped, a Timney Featherweight added and the barrel and action ride in a Bansner Stock. It wears a Leupold 4X in Millet rings and a B Square base. It is my favorite deer rifle. Again, all work including bluing done at home.

A 25AKI is a Krag 30/40 necked down to 25 caliber and then blown out straight with the shoulder pushed quite a bit forward. Case capacity is just a tich over that of a 257 Roberts Ackley Improved and just a tich under a standard 25/06. Thanks for the compliments. I am completely self-taught and have a long way to go yet. I'd like to checker both of these rifles, but the quality of my checkering leaves a lot to be desired. LL

The Siamese stock is a Richards modern classic reshaped by myself. I cut off the tip and grip cap, reshaped the stock profile, and shadow cut the cheek piece. It is claro walnut, AA grade I believe. The tip is off a 721 Remington stock. I bought the 721 with a cracked Bishop stock on it and cut that piece out of the butt. I restocked the 721 with an ADL stock I had on hand. I bought a real pretty piece of wood for this years project. The project will be a Mexican with a PacNor barrel in .308. I'm thinking 21 or 22 inches long. Most of my other rifles have barrels of 24 or longer. It may look like hell as I am starting from an uninletted blank. I have the action, the barrel, and the wood. As soon as it warms up a bit outside I will start. I like to work with the door to the shop open on warm days. I have heat, but feel more in tune with the world with fresh air and birds chirping. Next weekend I committed to rebarrel a Rem 700 SA for a friend. I hope the weather is nice. LL

It has seven or eight coats of Tru Oil on it. After I shoot it a bit, I will tear it down to mount stock swivels. I'll probably add another couple of coats then. I debated posting pics of it, but pic posting of completed projects seems to me to have been a little slow this winter. Luckily, I footed the bill for the entire project, so I do not feel as if I have someone else's rifle in my hands. This rifle has the same finish. I think there are about 10 or 12 coats of Tru Oil on it. I blued them at the same time, however this one is polished. This is a Siamese in 25AKI. LL

Almost four years ago a friend asked me if I woud make him a 30/06. Foolishly I said yes about the time he asked the ninetieth time. He picked the stock and base/ring style. The rest he left up to me. A lot of life got in the way over the last four years, and I have not seen him in about 3 years. I piddled around with the rifle off and on, and last week I finally mounted a scope on it. It has never been fired, but I will most likely rememdy that shortly. It has the ususal Richards stock and Redfield style base/ring combo. Neither are to my taste, but the rifle has been growing on me. It fits me very well, and mounted with my eyes closed, I have a full scope picture when I open my peepers. It has a Shilen 24" barrel, Wisner safety, Bold trigger and Turk bottom metal. I used aluminum oxide to blast it before bluing, and it is my first matte blue job. I used DuLite chemicals in a home built bluing system. I jeweled the extractor, but not the bolt. I may do that yet. Rather than shim the rear of the base, I recut the front radius. I built a jig to modify the shroud for the Wisner safety, and have used it for 9 other shrouds since. I did not open up the mag well as the rifle was built as a deer rifle using 150 cup and core bullets. It will accept a 150 grain bullet seated just out past the cannelure. At that length, the bullet is seated just off the rifling when chambered. And yes, the bolt is forged. The scope is a Burris 6XHBR.

Natchez, 5K limit.

Technically, the only correct answer is zero. No matter the number of legs any of the beings possess, unless they were riding upon the roof they would be in, rather than on, the bus.

Would one of you be so kind as to point me in the direction of a source for LR primers. I cannot find them on the shelf locally, and my usual online sources are also dried up. I did find 4350 at Widener's for $115 per 8#. I bought one of those and 8#'s of 3100. That will augment my powder supply pretty well, but now I need to find a way to ignite it. LL

I know this is not pertinent, but it does highlight the many ways to enjoy this hobby. My current 7X57 is a 1 in 10 twist Pac Nor on a VZ24 action. It wears a 4X leupold and rides in a High Tech stock. It will handle bullets of 150 or less quite well with good velocity out of its 24" short throated barrel. It is pretty much my favorite deer rilfe. My prior 7X57 was a Ruger #1. It would only shoot the 175's accurately, and fussing with it is what eventually led to home gunsmithing. The 7X57's have accounted for many a deer for me, and I think everyone should be blessed with one or a dozen. LL

Does the dowel extend through to the outside? If not, I would use a piece of key stock in epoxy. I would drill the stock with small, shallow holes angled in different directions to give the epoxy some grip. I would roughen up the keystock to help the epoxy adhere to it also. The cartridge this thing is chambered in should be considered. If a pipsqueak, most any method will work. What I discribed should be good for an '06 or so, but for a traditional elephant gun cartridge, I would be reluctant to trust a repair. LL

I like the Denny's breakfast honoring her. It consists of eight eggs, no sausage, and the customer next to you pays the bill. LL

If you do not have the skills and equipment to modify that action wrench, you are going to find duplicating the Arisaka breech face on the new barrel a first class pain in the butt. Hopefully you have a barrel you can just change out. That said, probably the easiest way to modify the action wrench is to take a piece of steel that will just fit the width of the mag opening, drill two or three holes in it with matching drilled and tapped holes in the wrench. Slip the wrench on the action, tighten it up, slip the piece into the opening, bolt it to the wrench and go to town. You will find the Arisaka steel to be quite hard. It is unlikely that you will mar the mag opening. LL

The 03's are my favorite action to play with, especially the DHT models. The 03A3 was designed to be produced quicker and cheaper than the 03. One of Remington's modifications was to omit the removal of tool marks prior to park. Your barrel looks pretty normal from what I could see of it. They take a lot of work to polish up. I have a Remington 03 set aside for sporterizing. Actually it will be a Lazurus project like yours. It had been previoulsly sporterized and now I have to breath new life into it. It is more or less the transition between the Springfield Armory 03's and the Remington 03A3's. It is nickle steel, but finished much nicer than the 03A3's were. Nirvna pretty much is a DHT Springfield in 257AI. LL

I hated to take the one with the bent bolt, but the bolt body itself was very nice. These are all spoken for. Ikesdad, the stripped one is yours. LL