The Undecided Project

[Sharps40]

Ever one to do it my way....I wanted the loading gate back cut for finger access to flip it open and a matching scallop on the right side.

Back to the shop and 45 minutes later it was done to my satisfaction. The scallops ain't as big or deep as those from the spensive houses but I like em and it left me enough metal to make the loading gate function the way I like it to, easy.

So, the loading gate, scalloped front and rear for function and looks. Just enough scallop on both sides to look and work right and leave the original round tailed shape to the gate. Both notches were filed in by hand then finished and straightened on the drill press with 80 and 120 drums.

Installed on the loading side....thumb access and a scallop.

Flips open easy and the original contour of the loading gate is retained but without a knife edge.....just a bit of that original flat left.

Closed you can see how much extra finger room there is for positive function when the back of the loading gate is scalloped.

Both scallops are the same height....the top of the concavity is just shy of the top of the loading gate. Both parallel to the recoil shield and have the same thickness from the face of the recoil shield. The loading gate side is slightly shallower since there just ain't enough metal in the gate to have a deeper scallop and a back scallop without loosing the rounded shape of the tail of the gate. But, visually, its fine and I am very happy.

I got the light bad on this photo but the gate scallop does not cut into the frame above the gate. Just below, mirroring the off side scallop. I'll shoot a better photo later. But for now, looks like its range time for this ol man along with the arthritis project. I think the last major mod for the Gentleman's Workhorse will be a Bisley trigger for less length of pull, a stainless cylinder pin and perhaps a final shaping of the grip panels.

 

[7pt62THOR]

Gonna be another beautiful six shooter!

 

[Sharps40]

Thanks. Got a hankerin to start bluein but still got a few tweeks to do after shootin......hard to wait. Missin my Lightning daily carry but the new owner seems tickled with it, as I was.

 

[Sharps40]

The small ruger ejector button does fine work, if a bit slippery. But a small button does fit a tight holster nicely. Reshaping the factory small button will allow a better bite on the finger and with the cammed ejector rod housing, the button will cam over the finger making for less slip when working the button fast.

Rough shaped but grabs the finger well. Final polish will round out and smooth out all the transition lines making it look good and function without being too sharp on the edges and points. Next job is to smooth out and round over the slot in the Ejector Rod Housing for a smoother ride back and forth.

 

[Sharps40]

The Cimarron EHR is a steel part and the central bore is drilled. This one was pretty rough inside. Fully functional but felt notchy. Smoothing up the inside of the bore, even a little, materially smooths out the feel on ejection and eliminated that last little bit of bind. A couple quick photos about half done, I'll finish the bore and remove about 90% of the machine tool marks and then finish smoothing out and rounding over the edges of the slot.

 

[Sharps40]

Test fired this one today. Tight fit chamber and headspace.....occasional factory load rubs on the recoil shield. The shield is rough so I'll smooth it and I'll have to carefully craft handloads, the tolerances are minimal.

The gun was fired with Lawman 230g FMJ. Recoil is mild and the fatter than usual grip panels are nice to hang on to, even though they are smooth. Would be nice checkered....unfortunately, I don't checker, not well anyhow, unless I am converting pressed checkering to cut, then I seem to do okay.

But, the trigger guard is a bit of a knuckle buster. Going to be interesting to see how it shoots with ruger only 45 ACP loads and 260g or heavier bullets.

I do need to tweak the rear sight but was able to regulate it at 10m. I just like the rear sight to be sitting down about half way or lower on its hinge and its just above half....an easy fix with a taller rear blade, I believe one is inbound! For me this is less function and more looks. Its a flattop now and the rear sight looks a bit strange when elevated above half way on its hinge.

Spent some time on the falling plates and the fine Nickle Buffler is easy to pick up and centers easily in the wide rear notch. Accuracy is good and pointability is almost as good as the Lightning. Recovery in counter recoil is more like the plowshare than the Lightning.....but I am able to take a solid two handed grip on the big panels without having to squeeze the juice out of the gun.....Overall, I'm happy. Almost done!

 

[Sharps40]

Ruger Blackhawk trigger on the left, stainless Bisley on the right. Like the Bisley hammer, the Bisley trigger will require some metal removal (at the red line) to fit up in the RP grip frame.

Stainless button head cylinder pin finally arrived to replace the tired old blue one that was in there.

Ruger Super Blackhawk 7.5" Hunter rear sight on top.....see how much taller the rear blade is than the original? This will most likely get me nicely regulated with the entire rear sight exhibiting less pivot. Better look. When regulating sights, keep this in mind and you don't have to buy the entire sight (I needed a new/pretty one though), just the rear blade....there are several heights. Gives ya lots of options on selection of fronts, loads, bullet weights, velocities, etc.

The Super Blackhawk Hunter 7.5" rear sight installed. Neatly, it sits a bit above the line of the flat top. A neat look. And I think it'll be the berries for regulation and use. Plus, it adds the ruger squashed chicken back to the gun. The original sight base doesn't have it and since I changed to Bloodwood grips, its missing there too. Good to have the squashed chicken back on this one again.

And finally, the source of drag with some of the factory ammo....a sharp transition on the left side of the recoil shield and the firing pin bushing was a hangnail higher than the shield. Initial smoothing with swiss files to blend the transition from bottom to top and to flush down the firing pin bushing. I'll finish it up with stones later and test again.

 

[Sharps40]

Buncha work on the Bisley Trigger. Sacraficed it to see if it could be made to work rather than fit the frame to it. (had to remove rather more metal than I'd have liked to fit the trigger to the RP Frame.....) The trigger at under $15 is the cheep part to experiment on. I like the feel and will press forward with final finish and bluing but go ahead and fit the RP frame to a new Bisley Trigger later. The feel is worth a bit of final work opening up the trigger slot in the RP frame. BTW, Polishing up the engagement surfaces of that test Bisley trigger reduced pull from 4.4 lbs to 3.8 lbs. So, probably clean up the blue trigger for now and get this gun closer to done and come back to Bisleyfication later.....

Stock Trigger on top/Modified Bisley on the bottom.....Hammers Down.

Stock trigger on tip/Modified Bisley on the bottom....Hammers Back.

 

[Sharps40]

Well, I've pretty well decided. The Gentleman's Workhorse has enough changes to it to make it a good Workhorse. Form and function, I'm happy with the changes. Time to final fit the grips and grip frame and get started makin rust.

The parts I'll be bluing.....shaped and then wire brushed to remove the old blue and produce a matted final finish. No gloss needed on this one. Barrel and flattened top strap are hand sanded 120g for a nonreflective finish.

Clean the metal before bluing however you desire. Boil in brownells cleaner, swarf it with brake cleaner or other solvent or what I do....simple wipe down with alcohol saturated lens cleaners. I typically have them pretty clean before starting all the work so grease doesn't get pushed into the pores anyway. Maybe not what a pro would do but it works for me and the finishes come out pretty fine.

10 minutes in and the humidity is coming up along with the temperature and rust. As always the first coat of pilkingtons is very wet and the first rust is one hour. (No boil....at one hour a second dry wipe of pilkingtons and back into the damp box for 2 or so more hours of rusting....then the first boil.)

Final shaping of the high quality Ron Power two piece grip frame is completed.....love it! Two pieces make a new model so easy to assemble. Makes me wonder if a ruger alloy grip frame could be modded to a two piece configuration. But, fitted, shaped, sanded then polished bright and finally, knocked back to satin by hand with 220g aluminum oxide paper. The grips were also final sanded and awaiting the drying of about the umpteenth coat of urethane.

The muzzle was straightened and the crown received its final wipe with the 11 degree cutter on a pilot that barely slip fit into the bore so they should be dead square. Couple three days and this one should be ready to zero with 230g Hydra Shoks and start riding and bumping around in that nifty cross draw De Santis holster.

I'm anxious. It'll be wonderful to have a 45 caliber daily rig that I can carry and never worry if the safety is on or off or the grip thingie is stuck up or down or the mag is clicked in or out or the ...... well, ya get the ider.

 

[Sharps40]

Second rust. A 12 hour sit in the Under Bar damp box....looking good and I think it'll be done sooner than later. Summertime is nicer though. In the garage and in the heat/humidity you can get to a boil every 3 to 6 hours, several iterations per day. At the lower temps and humidity in my makeshift damp box, subsequent rustings take longer and longer as the color builds up....not so in a warm humid garage. Perhaps I'll have to build me a real damp box with controls for heat and humidity.