1911's

Shot of the shelf at the range with three of my favorite handguns!

 

Best Of....CMP Advanced Maintenance Class. Day One.

One of my most popular blog posts.  From three years ago:
 
So the trip looked like this from the car:

Yes my friend ML, I did run the thing faster than 38 MPH!

I wind up at the CMP facility in Anniston AL. I'm here to assemble a Special Grade M-1 Garand for a three day class. 

Twenty students get started. First, we pick out the heart of one of these. A receiver, gas cylinder, stripped bolt and a new Criterion barrel. The three armorers guided us as we picked through bins of parts even after we were given a lecture and power point on what to look for and what to get. 

First was bolt lapping. 

This is the method of using a mild abrasive compound to insure that the bolt meets the receiver with maximum surface area. You apply the compound and rotate the bolt in and out of battery to achieve this. You can see that I have removed most of the finish on the lugs here (shiny parts on the back). Almost 85% there. That's good enough!    

Then we go on a tour of the facility. 

Lots of rifles! They are awaiting inspection and grading.

This case denotes 50 Springfield Armory M-1's. Rack grade and ready for further processing.

 Same deal here. 

Need any ammo? They have it, but these pallet loads are to support the mission of CMP.  Training. 

Sigh, Look at this:

This is where the rifles get sorted. Some go to auction, some are stripped, and everything in between.

 Then we go to the air rifle range. There are only two of these in the US. The Olympic shooters train here. 

Scoring is electronic and in real time. 

Looks like you can spend some money on a tricked out air rifle just as much as any other one.

    












Then after lunch, we get to it. We are going to install the new barrel into a HRA receiver. Barrel timing is discussed. We want the barrel to be "crushed" into the receiver, yet have enough play to time the barrel.  

Timing the barrel means that you achieved the crush, yet have enough play to get the front sight mount in the proper alignment. 

Here is the BHW. This is a receiver wrench.  The barrel is placed into a vice and then we go to it. 

A simple yet effective method of aligning the front sight with the receiver is taught. Using two steel rods, one on the front sight pad and one on the receiver we get this. 

This is close, but needs a slight tweak. 


Random people doing the same thing.

Then the barrel reaming. This is a BIG deal! It took two passes with the reamer to insure bolt lockup and good head space. We used "NO-GO"and "GO" gauges to watch the progress of our efforts.

Here is my first pass attempt on that! 

That was the first day. More later! 


  

I'm Back!

Sorta.  After a phone conversation tonight when my friend said I needed to dust off the Blog, I was humbled.  Who on the planet would ever want to hear my ramblings?  'We do.'

Very well Sir.  Challenge accepted. Let me see if I can turn the knob up a bit.  And thank you for challenging me!  

Knob.  Turning.

 

Oh, no.

The person behind the Weaponsman Blog has passed.  I will truly miss his knowledge and art with the written word.  He linked to some of my posts back in the day and said next time he was in this state we should get together. 

Sadly that is not to be.  

Rest in Peach Sir and think you for your service to this Country.     

From the Bench!

A long time friend asks if I can "clean up" his fathers and then his shotgun.  It was my friends first one and says it has sit for several decades.  I say of course.  

He brings me a Remington Model 58 in 16 gauge.  This is the first gas operated model offered by Remington.  I get to it. 

  

Disassembly quickly showed that everything needed a bath.

 Everything that could fit got stuffed into a ultrasonic cleaner.  Springs were replaced and attention was given to the gas selector knob.  You controlled the amount of gas to the action of the shotty by selecting "H" or "L" denoting high or low brass.   I used sight paint to bring that back. 

  

































Then the shell latches came out.  Supposedly you CAN reassemble the gun without staking them back in but that seems to require about 4 hands, a third eye, and a dead chickens fresh blood arrayed in a replica of the Remington logo.  I got the tool to put them back in. 

Then attention to the metal.  Look at the engraving! 

Finally get it all back together. 

 























Now the best part.  Function check!  It shot fantastic.
Although only made from 1956 to 1963, this shotgun and the lessons learned from it morphed into the venerable Model 1100 that is still made today.  

I am very proud to give this shotty back to my friend so that he can pass it down to his grandson when the time comes.  What a great piece of history.  Thanks for dropping it off my friend!