Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: Josh B on September 22, 2014, 02:20:22 pm
-
You may or may not have noticed that I haven't been around much the last few months. The reason for that is that I have been trying to get caught up on firearm projects. Some are for friends and some are for my family and myself. I have repaired a half a dozen or so for hunting season, restored a 1949 model Belgian Browning A-5 12 guage for my daughter's first shotgun. I still need to carve and checker the stock, but I got it reblued, New stock and forearm made and fitted, action tuned and polished and cut a longer forcing cone in the barrel. Wow! What a shooter that turned out to be. I have also been working on a 1938 Turkish mauser. It was an 8 mm but i have rebarrelled it an chambered it for .458 SOCOM. I'm also converting it to accept ar15 magazines instead of the standard box feed system. I might have to make a few of these. Here's a few quick pics of my daughter's new / old shotgun. Josh
-
Thats a sweet one right there!.... Brian
-
That A5 is absolutely gorgeous sir, what kind of carving are gonna do to compliment the hand-cut checkering? Might know a guy who'd like to get in on that project, eh 8) Beautiful Doc.
rich
-
Here's a project I just started for myself. It's a Romanian AK47 parts kit that I bought years ago. You can't hardly find em like this anymore and if you do, they are EXPENSIVE! This one was originally outfitted with the standard laminated wood fixed butt stock. I've been wanting an underfolder AK since the 90's so I decided that I would make this into one. The way this works is you buy a parts kit that includes everything except the sheet metal receiver. The parts kit still has chunks of the torch cut receiver riveted to the parts so you have to carefully remove that and the old rivets. You then make a new sheet metal receiver and rivet it all back together. However, the parts kit is an actual select fire/full auto rifle. You have to make certain changes to render it semi-auto only in order to avoid some serious unpleasantness. I will explain that in more detail as I continue the build if anyone is interested. But here are some pics of what I got accomplished in about 3 hours today. First off, here is the parts kit and the receiver flat. Josh
-
Here's the folding stock, the receiver flat, my receiver die and the mostly formed and shaped receiver. At this stage the receiver only needs some fine detail work and heat treating and it will be ready to rivet together. Thanks for looking and I'll post more as i get it done. Josh
-
Thanks Brian!
Thanks Rich! I'm just doing some light scroll border for the checkering. Nothing too serious. Josh
-
The A5 is one sweet shotgun.. A true treasure... It'll serve her well..
Thanks leroy
-
Nice work Josh.i have an old model 37 ithica that needs restored if ya ever get time and want to do some trading.
-
Bigger pictures are better trucker. I can see it clearly now. Nice work on a nice gun my friend.
-
Those are some cool projects. I'll enjoy watching your progress on the AK.
-
Damn, you're good, Josh! That is a sweet A5. I'm watching the AK build, for sure.
-
Thanks fellas! The A-5 isn't quite finished and my daughter already managed to bag 6 doves with it last night.
Steve, I wish I could fix up your 37 for you. Unfortunately I don't have time for it right now. The only reason I got as much done this month is because I spent the last week at home with double pneumonia. Remind me next April before the classic and we'll see where I'm at. Thanks again fellas! Josh
-
Hope you got over being sick, Josh.
-
Well I guess that gun doc is not just a purdy name >:D keep the picks coming driver ;)
-
Wondered where you have been,looks like you been busy doing some mighty fine work.
Pappy
-
That shotgun is sweet, Josh. I can't wait to see what you get done with the AK.
-
Very Nice Josh.... Your a man of many talents :)
-
Thanks fellas! I'll try not to drag out the builds too long. My time at home is pretty limited though.
Eddie, I'm not firing on all 8 cylinders yet, but I'm getting there. I cut some hickory and rock elm today and found out that was a little too much exercise right now. Hopefully I'll be at full strength in the next few days.
thanks again fellas Josh
-
Josh the only thing I like better than bows are guns. I would love to see the Mauser to .458 conversion. That seriously peaks my interest.
-
That's awesome doc.
Doing that with cars is easy compared
to a weapon that has to be perfect.
Congrats to your daughter. Don't get better than that.
Zuma
-
Very cool Sir! Love the A5.
-
Thanks fellas! When I get back to the builds, I'll be sure to take lots of pics along the way. Josh
-
My grandpa got a late 40s Belgian A5 just after WWII. Later, in the late 70s, I grew up hunting with him and he always toted the A5 no matter what we were after. He hunted everything with that shotgun. It was his squirrel gun, dove and quail gun, rabbit gun, and his weapon of choice for deer hunting. Every deer he killed his entire life was with that one gun. After his passing, a younger cousin ended up with it :'( and now its in pretty rough shape. The bluing is near gone and the stock is riddled with scuffs and dings. There was also some pitting on the exterior of the barrel. Sad, sad. Now, every time I see an old A5, it takes me back to the days of my youth, hunting with my papaw Otto. Thanks for posting those pics Gun Doc. It was a good trip down memory lane this morning. ;)
-
Well....I had a few days here and there to finally get back on some projects after a two year hiatus. I had been tinkering with the .458 mauser when i had time, but that got put on the back burner for awhile. So I started back in on the AK build. I kinda got caught up in the process and neglected to take pics of the process like I had planned. Here is where I'm at with it as of Sunday. Receiver is formed, drilled, heat treated and everything is riveted together. It still needs finally sanding, polishing and then I will finish the metal with lauer duracoat. Then make some nice furniture for it. Here it is all assembled for function/firing testing. 200 rnds and never missed a lick. It seems to be a little more accurate than your typical AK with consistent 2 MOA groups with surplus ammo. That's not due to anything I did, I just got lucky with the parts kit. Thanks for looking! Josh
-
that is awesome!!!!!
-
That shotgun really looks nice I like the AR also.
-
Thanks Mitch!
Thanks Rob!
-
That is awesome!
Wow... a mauser that takes AR15 mags? I've never even heard of such a thing until now. Would definitely want to see it
-
It took a while but looks like you done a fine job on that one, I see why you nick name is Gun Doc. ;) :)
Pappy
-
Really interesting stuff, Josh! Double pneumonia, ugh. That's serious business. Pneumonia is nothing to take lightly, for sure.
Hope it clears out fast now and things continue to go your way, buddy.
-
Even fuglier than an AR.
-
The fugly ones do alright at closing time😉
-
Even fuglier than an AR.
Lol! Yes it is! They weren't made for beauty. It's all straight lines, sharp edges and crude machine work. The AK 47 is the epitome of the Soviet approach to ergonomics. Which is basically screw you end user. On the plus side, it is the most reliable battle rifle made since bolt actions were left behind. When I was in the sandbox, we torture tested crates of them before they got demilled. It's unreal how much you could abuse them and they still functioned.
Parnell-the pneumonia was a couple years ago. Hopefully I don't get it again cause that sucked!
Pappy-I shoulda explained this along time ago, but the gun doc title comes from my marine corps days. I was an artillery mechanic. The howitzer's were called guns and those of us that fixed em were known as gun doc's.
Thanks for the comments fellas! Josh