Hey Folks,
Happy Easter! Here’s a little something I put together yesterday.
More later.
Latest
Revisiting Afghanistan: A Photoblog
Hey Folks,
In lieu of any real new content – which I haven’t really put much time into generating – here’s some of my favorite pictures from Afghanistan in 2009.
Sunset in Kandahar.
Back At It
Hey Folks,
After a long, two month break from writing, it looks like I’m gonna pick it back up again.
In the mean time, here’s a video of me dumping a 30 round magazine out of a CSA vz.58 assault carbine:
More later!
Eagles, Fish and Rifle Stocks, Oh My!
Hey Folks,
Here’s an arrangement of pictures I’ve taken (or had taken of me) while fishing lately. While on the Potomac, I had the privilege recently to watch a bald eagle hunt for and actually catch a fish! I also finished refinishing my SKS’ rifle stock, and it’s simply beautiful. Check it out!
Swooping in for the catch...(at full zoom on the camera)
A Guitar From Scratch: The Ibanez RG Build
This is a step by step guide I made for rebuilding my old Ibanez guitar. It was in pretty bad shape, the tuners were slightly rusted and starting to bind, the bridge was missing a saddle, the paint had several large scratches and chips, some going all the way through to the wood. But the neck was straight and the body itself was fine. so i decided to replace the hardware and electronics, and to repaint it. I’m by no means a skilled painter, nor do i possess the expensive equipment required to do a proper paint job. I am also not a carpenter and don’t have woodworking tools. So this is all meant to be a way to do this on the cheap with a minimum investment in supplies and tools. Also, this was done to an Ibanez RG series, rear routed, with dual humbuckers, 1 volume, 1 tone, and a 3-way switch. Other guitars will be different, but many of these same procedures and principals will still work.
The Best Day of Fishing I've Ever Had, Ever (PhotoBlog)
Hey Folks,
The bait is secret and the location is secret. Words can’t do today’s success justice, so here’s just a few of around 20 HUGE catfish my roommate and I caught out of the Potomac river.
The smallest and first catch of the day.
A Redneck Sunday
Hey Folks,
A great weekend here in Virginia! Done some shootin’, done some fishin’. See for yourself!
Shooting the SKS as intended - with open sights.
Gratuitous Amounts of SKS Pictures
Hey Folks,
I’m taking a pause from the Mosin Nagant project to show you my newest aquisition: A Yugoslavian SKS in excellent condition. I’ve mounted a 4x scope and a butt-pad with a minimal amount of effort. OK, maybe that’s a lie. It was a huge pain in the arse to modify the receiver cover scope mount to get it to fit…a total of 4 hours of very careful and gradual dremeling and test-fitting to ensure I didn’t take too much metal off. It took roughly half that time to strip and clean the rest of the weapon.
Mosin Nagant M91/30 Refinishing Project – Part 2
Hey Folks,
I spent all my free time today cleaning up the round-receiver Mosin Nagant. The task’s left me pretty tired, so I’ll be straight-forward on this post.
This one’s a followup of the previous, where I’ll show you what I did to clean the rifle up. This particular rifle was absolutely caked in cosmoline and has seen some wartime use, so the end result isn’t quite as nice as the hex-receiver rifle. Enough rambling though. Here’s pics.
1. Get all the supplies you'll need: a turkey pan full of 1:5 Simple Green to Water, a plate (for small parts), your .30 cleaning kit, the weapon (broken down, all metal components except the receiver dropped into the water), a tool kit, Q-tips, cotton towels and any other necessary personal items.
2.Let the components soak for 10 to 15 minutes. Take a plastic cleaning brush and scrub all the nooks and crannies of your bolt assembly. As you scrub, you'll see cosmoline chunk off and make the cleaning solution murky.
3.Give your bolt components (spring not pictured, don't forget it!) a quick wipe down with a towel to get excess water off, then take a Q-tip and clean all the nooks and crannies the brush couldn't reach. Allow the bolt components to completely air-dry, then wipe each piece in a light layer of lubricating oil and reassemble the bolt.
3. Scrub down each component thoroughly and set them aside to air-dry. Pay special attention to areas hard to reach with a brush. Once the parts have reasonably air-dried, coat them lightly with lubricating oil to prevent rust.
4. (Not pictured...sorry, the task takes two hands;) While the parts are air-drying, dunk the chamber-end of the receiver/barrel assembly into the water. Scrub vigorously, paying special attention to the inside of the chamber. Once the receiver is reasonably clean, scrub the barrel, sights, stock loops and muzzle with the brush and wipe it down immediately to prevent rust. Dry the entire receiver and barrel assembly off with a cotton towel, and clean the chamber out thoroughly with Q-tips until very little cosmoline remains. Get all the hard-to-reach areas with Q-tips. Once you've finished, your cleaning solution will look something like this.
5. (Not pictured…again, takes two hands:) Run 10 or so dry patches through the barrel, until the amount of cosmoline coming out is mark-ably reduced. Coat a patch with bore solvent, and run the patch through. Let it sit for a few minutes, then take a bore-brush and run it through a dozen times. Follow up with 10 or so dry patches. (Note: you’ll likely never get a clean patch, and the Hoppes solvent turned the cosmoline in the barrel from brown to green for me…weird.) Finish with a few runs of lubricated patches.
6.To get a lot (not all or most) of cosmoline out of the stock, start by filling a small pan about 3/4 with water and turning the heat up to high. Allow the water to reach a strong boil.
7a.Hold the bottom of the stock over the water, allowing it to be engulfed in steam but being careful not to touch the water or the pan. Allow it to sit until condensation has built up, and parts of the stock streak in a light yellow color. Wipe the condensation off, and you'll notice quite a bit of cosmoline comes off with it. Areas will appear on the stock as if they've been stripped of varnish, but as the stock cools off more cosmoline will seep to the surface of the wood, filling the color in. Continue to steam the stock, working your way up until the entire stock is satisfactorily smooth to the touch and a great deal of cosmoline has come off. You may have to fill the pan several times - this rifle took 4 fills, because of how dirty it was.
7b.A reasonable distance from the water.
7c.These cotton towels are this dirty on front and back from the cosmoline which came off the stock. Keep in mind that you should try to wipe them down every day until very little cosmoline seeps out. Several runs of this process will likely remove all the cosmoline out of the wood's pores.
Here are both rifles after completion of the round-receiver.
Here is a flash-shot of the receivers. Notice that they're clean enough that I have no problem putting them on my couch.
That’s all, folks. The whole procedure took about 4 hours per rifle, but the finished product is much better than what I started with. I hope you can put this method to work for you!
More later.
Mosin Nagant M91/30 Refinishing Project – Part 1
Hey Folks,
I know I didn’t post anything all summer. Sorry about that. Between fishing, working, shooting and going out with friends, I just really haven’t had (made?) the time. Just one of those things, you know.
To make a long story short, I was able to get a couple Mosin Nagant M91/30′s for a real great price – $98 each, all said and done. My intent was to refinish the stocks, sporterize them, mount a scope and accurize the weapons. What I didn’t count on is the particular weapons I got being in great shape! And one of them was manufactured in 1933, and features a hexagonal receiver – which makes it particularly collectable. So instead of ruining the historical value of the weapons, I’m just going to have the stocks uniquely refinished and clean them up as best as I can.
Cleaning all the cosmoline (a thick, preservative oil) took me about two hours longer to clean off the first rifle than I thought it would, so I’m only halfway done. But enough rambling, here’s some pics:
(With Cosmoline)
Both rifles, in a box with all accessories
Close-up of the receivers - Round (1943) on top, Hex (1933) on bottom
(Without cosmoline)
Side view of Hex rifle, all cleaned up
Down the hex rifle's right side
Hex rifle with bolt open
That’s it for now. Next post, I’ll show-case the round-receiver rifle and detail the methods I used to clean the rifles up.
More later.
