I'm not sure if I should post here or the "Craftsman" section, but here goes. Ever since I saw a picture of an original Colt percussion revolver altered to a bird head grip, I have wanted to have one. Evidently this was done fairly commonly in the day. I purchased a '51 Navy revolver kit from a good forum member on the Classified Ads and after thinking long and hard, decided to take the plunge.
This is what I started with:
Then came the moment of truth....the hacksaw to the barrel
I tried to bend the grip frame and didn't succeed too well and it eventually broke. OK, so now I am committed to the bird head shape. I sawed out a 6" strip of 1/8" brass, (heaviest I had on hand), filed the edges smooth and bent it to shape; then soldered the broken parts together using the strap brass.
So far so good, then comes the making of grips as the ones that came on the kit are too small and the wrong size/shape.
In between times I have been polishing parts and pieces as the only finished parts in the kit are the cylinder and barrel. All the other pieces are rough cast. Not too hard, just time consuming. Anyway, here is the nearly finished product; am still putting TruOil on the grips and then will need to learn how to time the thing.
I am kinda liking the look of the gun, an early hide-out gun. I made the grip screw and escutcheons, and that turned out pretty good too. I have fairly large hands so made the grip frame a little "fatter" toward the bottom. Also have to decide how to finish the in-white frame. So, any suggestions, comments? Thanks for looking. Emery
This is what I started with:
Then came the moment of truth....the hacksaw to the barrel
I tried to bend the grip frame and didn't succeed too well and it eventually broke. OK, so now I am committed to the bird head shape. I sawed out a 6" strip of 1/8" brass, (heaviest I had on hand), filed the edges smooth and bent it to shape; then soldered the broken parts together using the strap brass.
So far so good, then comes the making of grips as the ones that came on the kit are too small and the wrong size/shape.
In between times I have been polishing parts and pieces as the only finished parts in the kit are the cylinder and barrel. All the other pieces are rough cast. Not too hard, just time consuming. Anyway, here is the nearly finished product; am still putting TruOil on the grips and then will need to learn how to time the thing.
I am kinda liking the look of the gun, an early hide-out gun. I made the grip screw and escutcheons, and that turned out pretty good too. I have fairly large hands so made the grip frame a little "fatter" toward the bottom. Also have to decide how to finish the in-white frame. So, any suggestions, comments? Thanks for looking. Emery