I just replaced a crappy mag catch assembly with new parts, and fitted and tuned them to my liking. I took it to the range for testing and I'm pretty happy with the results. I'm not sure a good gunsmith would have done a better job. Based on other successes I've had with home rojects, I'm pretty pleased with myself. When I get in over my head or need quality on the first try, I can go to my favorite local gunsmith, who is a skilled full time smith with fancy milling and turning skills and equipment. I have another project that I could do, but I'm gonna pass on that one and give it to him instead, which is a nice Model 70 heavy game rifle, to be assured it's done right the first time, and better than I could do myself.

What kind of home gunsmithing do you guys do yourself, and where or when do you draw the line and give it to a professional ?

I'll do almost any armorer's work, trigger jobs (1911's especially), swap parts, drift sights, build an AR. I did a 1911 beavertail frame mod once - filed by hand with guide jig.

I don't do machining (milling, turning, drilling for pins on AR gas blocks).

Having the right tools helps - especially for 1911 and AR work.

My daughter’s 10/22 had a horrible trigger “out of the box”, but instead of spending money on an upgrade, I figured I would try my hand at a do-it-yourself trigger job. Using only a set of Arkansas oil stones and my calibrated naked eye, I changed the angle on the sear and polished the sear and mating trigger surfaces to a fine finish.

Just got to finally shoot it live-fire this past weekend, and the original crappy trigger with a 6+ LB pull is now light and crisp with zero creep, and about 3 - 3.5 LBS. As soon as I can get a trigger guage on it I’ll know for sure! What I do know is my cousin and I both agreed it’s one of the best triggers we have shot in a long time!

quote:

Originally posted by bronicabill:
My daughter’s 10/22 had a horrible trigger “out of the box”, but instead of spending money on an upgrade, I figured I would try my hand at a do-it-yourself trigger job. Using only a set of Arkansas oil stones and my calibrated naked eye, I changed the angle on the sear and polished the sear and mating trigger surfaces to a fine finish.

"calibrated naked eye"

^^^^^^
Saw what you did.

Built this, does it count? I like it better with the original furniture, but the sights are a pain. So I got the "tacticool" setup and my buddy has a spare red dot I'm gonna try when it spring hits.




Got 2 others to make when it's warm enough to work in the garage.

Aside from that, refinishing a P230SL by blasting it and wet sanding the slide for the brushed stainless look. Tweaking a No4 Mk1* to feed right. Adding SRTs. Dunno if I really consider those smithing though, maybe armorer. A former coworker got himself a CNC machine, at some point I hope to make a 1911 from scratch.

 
If I cannot do it with a file or dremel, off to the smith it goes.
 
Seriously, though, I do tackle some things minutely more complicated, like installing sights, stoning off burrs, any drilling I can get into my mill/drill machine. For the most part, though, I'd rather have a smith take care of things as part of, or together with, one of his "packages" of work.
 

I do a few things myself at the house like swapping out sights, springs and triggers. I'll also do a little polishing on the action work on the guns I know well. Other than that, I'll send the gun off to a good gunsmith (as I haven't been impressed with any I've used locally).

some guns (mostly anything military) I was taught how to do just about anything to,
rebarrel, ream chambers, triggers etc,

helped to have a father that was in the service and did that stuff as a civilian for the Reserves,,


commercial stuff, I usually won't touch it unless it is minor stuff,
I know a local guy I refer that stuff too

Fitting my own thumb safety on a 1911 is about the most I've done.

Things that are direct swap like sights and triggers are no problem and don't see a need to take it to someone unless it requires equipment that I do not have.

Caliber conversions, changing spring rates, etc... I can do that.

Scratch building a trigger bar for a bullpup that is out of production? Sent it to the 'smith.

I don't have much space or many tools, machines. I'm literally a kitchen table home 'smith. So, my line is when it takes a good tool or machinery I don't have to do it right (and I won't touch sear/hammer engagement surfaces on a serious use firearm).

I got a pin stuck in a P6 slide, so stuck I broke off a punch trying to drift it out. Took it to a guy who does Cerekote on the side and some smithing. He said it literally took him less than a minute, popped right out. He just had a much better punch for the job!

He didn't charge me anything, I brought the ugly beat up surplus slide back later for him to install Trijicon HD's and refinish, it is now my main carry gun and looks great. I did a spring swap to it and basic action job greatly improving the trigger.

I once tightened the loose buttstock on a Ruger Red Label. That is the extent of my gunsmithing level.

PC

Anything I don't need a mill, lathe or really good drill press for. And several things I should have had one for.

I started working on guns as a teen (pre-teen).
I've done lots of things people have said "oh... I wouldn't have don that"
I customize/modify most of my guns to some degree.



But I also worked on other people's revolver cylinders, throating and chamfering for 11 years. I hand reamed somewhere between 4-5k chambers.



Some things I have handy pics of...

The last 8 inches of this Krag were wiped out, so I shortened it, recrowned, added a sight.




Round butted a few revolvers... made these grips.



Added a second set of sights to this Savage 24 because someone told me it couldn't be done. Had to solder on a thicker strip, then dovetail both.



I browned this cylinder. I browned a few things, things that shouldn't be browned, a single shot .22, an SKS and the receiver of the AK I built.



Posting this pic I realized not only did I build and brown the AK, I shortened the barrels and stock of this shotgun as well.



Undercuts and stippling



Done some hydrographics



Bobbed lots of hammers (race bob)



Chamfering



Dr. Dremel trying to make my Single Stack gun make weight.



Recently fit a mag well to a Les Baer, anyone who knows Baer's will know what a giant PITA that was.



And I ground the living shit out of my Benelli M2. lmao

I have tried my hand at several projects. Glock stuff barely counts, trigger jobs and light polishing is easy there. I used to buy cheap guns, like Kel-Tecs and Tauruses just to see what I could make of them, with moderate success.

I can take a sig apart and put it back together with my eyes closed, but its mainly for deep cleaning purposes. I have swapped out parts (SRT kits and springs).

I have used duracoat products with mixed success and done a good bit of cold-bluing. I have gotten good at cold bluing.

Tinkering is half the fun for me, as I suspect it is with a lot of you on this forum. One thing I have figured out is to know your limits and if there is any risk of compromising safety, its not worth it.

While I haven't yet attempted a trigger job or fitting a barrel, the absence of local gunsmiths combined with my affinity for out of print pistols for daily us, has forced my to learn to do some gunsmithing to keep my guns up and running.

I am still trying to obtain a copy of the S&W 3rd gen semi autos armorers manual. In the meantime I am fortunate to have access to two retired S&W armorers who have answered all my questions and taught me much.

Sad that you have to do things yourself these days, but gunsmithing is a vanishing art. Regards 18DAI

quote:

Originally posted by PCWyoming:
I once tightened the loose buttstock on a Ruger Red Label. That is the extent of my gunsmithing level.

PC

That's the spirit ! Now we're talkin.

Overall I'm impressed with what you guys have shared so far. Very nice. One thing I think, you gotta want to do it, to save money, quality of work, or for the sheer joy of it. I do it for the joy of it and sometimes to save money, because sometimes I use it as an excuse to buy a quality hand tool for that project and future gun projects. Inevitably because of the types of work I like to do myself, I always need to use those same tools again. A small bench vice so far is the most important bench tool I've used, besides the bench itself. Good quality punches and drivers, bench block, etc. Someday I'd like to try Rust Bluing, which is 1) easier and cheaper than Hot Bluing, and 2) deeper and more durable (I think but not sure). I think the Rust Blue method really looks good, better than good hot blueing. I also really enjoy refinishing a gun stock, because I used to do some nice wood finishing, which is really rewarding.

Wile E. would be proud!

I stripped this frame down and did a thorough clean, swapped in a D-spring, did an action tune and put it on all factory gold parts. Last was a stainless Vertec slide which had the rails stoned and polished, the feed strip filed smooth and polished to a mirror shine. Some nice Lucas Oil grease on the rails and their oil on all rotating parts plus fitted some Turkish walnut grips. Feels amazing.

Only thing I didn't do myself was cut/crown the factory stainless barrel

I'll try just about anything. I am a Mechanical Engineer so I am full of false confidence! I am lucky enough to have friends with small shops for more complex work. I have built ARs, 1911s (including a bobtail), 2011s, Glocks, M&Ps and a couple of 10/22s. Also done mods on dozens of other guns. There is a real sense of satisfaction when you do things yourself.
Here is what I have learned ... modify the CHEAPER part not the more expensive one!
Lots of trial and error but I really enjoy it. Have a friend who is a "real" 'smith to get me out of trouble when I need it. I rarely leave anything stock ... so I'm always looking for a new project!

Back in the days when professional gunsmiths were really masters of their craft and art, and enjoyed the work ethic of the Greatest Generation, I had several experiences with different ones extending over several years. Although most of the details of those experiences have, thankfully, dimmed with the passage of time, I still remember them well enough to feel an intense sense of gratitude toward those men.

It was one botched job after another and their general indifferent attitude toward their failings that led me to develop my own gunsmithing skills.

Once I realized that I couldn’t do worse than the professionals, I developed the knowledge and skills to do things better than most of them could, and when I screwed up I didn’t have to listen to their excuses that blamed everything except their own incompetence—and pay for the privilege on top of it.*

Most of my real “gunsmithing” involved Smith and Wesson revolvers which were my favorite guns when I started. The S&W company also deserves some of the credit because of the poor quality control it exercised over the production of its guns for a time. In time I acquired more general knowledge, and most important, the tools and materials that have allowed me to work on other guns as necessary. The Internet has been a tremendous boon to people like me, as has the apparent recognition by gun manufacturers that shooters will be more receptive to their products when they make them easier to work on.

At one time, for example, it was virtually unknown for companies to reveal things like recommended screw torque values; the guidance for mounting scope rings was usually along the lines of, “Tighten them enough so they won’t come loose, but not too tight so you strip something.”

Modern firearms design also makes them far easier to work on than the “classics”: Replacement parts are usually drop-in with no staking, filing, fiddling, fitting, or forcing to make them work. Disassembly is usually simpler, and reassembly these days seldom requires three hands and sacrificing a chicken while holding one’s mouth just right.

Most of my work these days is at the armorer level and limited to using factory-approved parts and methods, but not all of it. It took me a while to get the Magpul B.A.D. lever and similar Phase 5 device to work properly on my ARs, but as I recall that was just a matter of switching buffers, something hardly requiring a high level of technical skill.

I recommend that all gun owners learn how to do things like detail strip their modern firearms and diagnose and fix simple problems. There’s a whole industry that supports being prepared for catastrophes, and there are countless discussions about the topic. The one thing I very seldom see mentioned, however, is being able to maintain and repair all those guns we’ll be relying on to defend us from the desperate hordes during the End Days. Learn how to do it: It’s usually not that difficult.

* The one great exceptional experience I’ve had with professional gunsmiths was with Grayguns. Shortly before the DAK trigger system was developed and announced by SIG, I purchased a stainless steel frame P226. I was smitten by the DAK trigger, and GG was able to modify the pistol for that system; I’ve always been highly grateful for that. It’s obvious from posts here that their other work is also of exceptional skill and quality. It’s just as well, though, that I didn’t encounter anyone like them 50 years ago, or I’d probably never have learned to do the simple jobs myself.