Smith & Wesson model 39-2 (Guns XV)

Craftsmanship.

My dad had fairly small hands, and so got permission to purchase his own sidearm to fit them when he was in the AirForce. He chose this S&W model 39-2.

Field stripped.

When blueing (sic?) was beautiful.

The not-so-nice end.

Closer-up of the not-so-nice-end.

Mak-90 (Guns XIV)

One of only three Chinese made things I'll admit to owning.

A wok.

Some chopsticks.

A MAK-90 7.62x39mm Semi-auto

The stock is a Choate Machine "Dragunov" style. The sling was original. The magazine: 30 rds.

Perhaps I'll update with a drum magazine picture some time. 75 rds.

Guns XIII

A "teaser". A preview, so to speak, of things to come.

Remember the before?

How about the in-between? Below. Not really after, because it's only bead blasted and not yet finished.
I know that refinishing it is tantamount to sacrilege for some, but it was the hope of the man who gave it to me that I could make a nice gun out of it after all.

Brew VIII

Strapple 2007

yep, I caught me a strapple fish.

It's an acquired taste, though. Quite like a sherry- oxidized I guess. And browner than last time.

edit: may 20.

Alright, after all is said and bottled and chilled, the sherry note seems to have been a misinterpretation- I think that I used more Apple in this than last time, and that is where the difference lies. Perhaps it just needed time to "open up" and breathe, but it tastes better than I thought at the time. Perhaps a few months in the bottle will work the kinks out.

Guns XII

Gunsmith Bound.

On advice, I'll take her to a local smith to see if he can do anything for it at all, otherwise my research points me toward a Hogue overmolded stock with an aluminum bedding block. Any other opinions?

Some better couple of pictures of the damage.

While trying to get better pics, I noticed that the scope mounts are also Parker-Hale as are the rings. That's kinda cool.

Work

Ian no longer works here, but he did once and here's proof:

Apparently, he voted. Pro-gun, I hope!

Guns XI

Yet another Family Firearm:

It's my dad's Parker-Hale .270. Of course, it's mine now.

Really a beautiful rifle, but as seen below, the stock is cracked. Perhaps someone out there can point me in the direction I need to go to make it right again.

I only fired her on one outing, and the scope came loose from its mounts. I was too worried about the cracked stock to try more than just a few shots anyway.

Somewhere I have a portrait of my dad with this rifle and also some pics of him in his Jager outfit with some of the critters he got with it in Germany. I'll post them if/when I come across them.

Brew VII

This is Misty's bottle. The cherry-niagra (Welch's). I'm sure you remember.

It doesn't have a label, but it's a pretty nice color, if you ask me.

Guns X

A Tale of Two Pistols

by: Me

first: to give the reader an idea of the scale we are on, below:

At the gun show a few weeks ago, we finally found one Misty liked well enough to try carrying. It's a Kel-Tec P3AT. .380acp, 6+1 for those who know that sort of thing.
Below: the Kel-Tec beside my preferred warm-weather carry, the North American Arms Guardian .32acp.

Yep. The Kel-Tec's bigger. But it's about 2/3 the weight and fires bigger bullets. I'm not jealous, though. Still, maybe I'll get one too.

Below: an illustration of the difference between bore sizes.




By the way, I know people will wonder about that first picture. No, I don't have loads of $100 bills all about my home. The same day I took that picture, I used that money to buy a chainsaw. Then I trimmed my Live Oak. That was several days ago, and I'm still sore!

Guns IX

This would be my very first firearm. Given by my dad, about age 6 or so. I couldn't dream of counting all the rounds that have been through it. Lots of memories there. Like riding 2 miles on bikes with a friend during the summer (gradeschool-aged)... dad must have been at work... into town to the hardware store where I bought two hundred rounds of ammo for (I think) $2. Then riding back with it. Kinda silly, since he kept all the guns locked up so I had to wait for him to get home before I could even ask to shoot it. At least I was ready if he said "yes", I suppose.

Guns VIII

Below, the break-top bore after cleaning. If you look at the before, you'll be much more impressed than if you just look at the after.

Below, a selection of our household's ammunition.

left to right: .22lr, .22wmr, .25acp, .32acp Winchester Silvertip, .380acp flatnose, .380acp ball, 9mm Speer HP, 9mm Winchester Silvertip, 9mm ball, .38special full wadcutter, .357magnum personal protection, .38+P HP, .357magnum HP, 7.62x39mm Norinco (the surplus and the Wolf are sealed up right now), 20 ga shot, 12ga mystery (reload?), 12ga 00buck, 12ga super magnum 3 1/2".

Guns VII

Last night I got into the break-top S&W from earlier. I want to bring her back to life, you see.

below, inside.

below, outside.

and, finally...

It amazes me what they were capable of doing with steel over 110 years ago, without all of that equipment that makes my own work so much easier.

tree

While at MCC for the 50th anniversary celebration Saturday.

Do you like trees as much as I?

The Druids believed that rebirth as a tree was the highest form of reincarnation.