Toolguy

All you have to do is change the cylinder and hand to make a 7 shooter. Maybe adjust the barrel/cylinder gap. The 686 cannot be made into an 8 shooter.

For the hammer - Brownell's or eGunparts.com.

The plywood at the Cup is 3/8 inch thick. When you set up on the barricade, use it to hold position side to side and up and down, but don't lean forward or pull back on it. Hold the front to back motion of the gun the same as shooting offhand. This will work on a solid barricade or one that is springy or one that is loose and waving around.

I got one and could never get it to work right. About every other case would come back out of the shellholder far enough to get crunched by the size die. I have 2 550s that I've loaded with for 10 or 12 years. They are a very good press. I really like Dillon products, but I couldn't get the case feeder to work.

The best gun cleaner I've ever found is Slip 2000 725 Gun Cleaner. A little of that melts lead and powder residue, then you can wipe it off with a cloth. It's water based, non solvent, non flammable, non toxic, biodegradable. Works great in ultrasonic applications too. Phone 707-585-8329 www.slip2000.com.

You have to use a 9mm crimp die because a 38 special one won't go down low enough to crimp the short case. You can still adjust the amount of crimp the same as with a normal crimp die.

Your loads would probably be more accurate if you load .357 dia. bullets. The Zero 125 .357 is very accurate out to 50 yards. Hollow points always seem to shoot tighter groups than solid point. If only shooting 25 yards or less, most bullets are good enough.

For those who want a fiber optic front on a 627 V comp, I can convert the original for you. Send a PM or call if interested.

45 Long Colt bullets in 250 or 255 grain at 850 to 900 fps work good on heavy pins.

These pins are intended to be a press fit. Sometimes they are a little loose in the hole and work their way out. The pins are .055 diameter, which is the same size as a #54 drill bit. The easy fix is to get a #54 number drill and cut the shank off with a Dremel cutoff wheel. Make it about 1/2 inch long to start with and drive it or loctite it in to the bottom of the hole. Cut off again a little above the top face of the extractor and file or grind to finish length. It is best to have a chamfer at the top to help it start into the hole on the extractor.

There seems to be a lot of C&S bashing lately. I wonder if they're really that evil or if maybe just unlucky and got a bad run of parts from a supplier.

Only leave blue parts for 1/2 hour and stainless for 1 hour. Rinse well & oil.

I like the Craftsman 9 41247 g wf. It's 3/16 wide, has a medium size handle, and fits most S&W sideplate screws except the old ones with the skinny slot. You may have to grind the width a little bit.

That one is a drop in part.

Hi Odie- Since no one else seems willing to help, I'll thin your weigand sight for you if you will pay for shipping both ways. Let me know how wide.

Maybe he's fishing for dangerous gamefish.

The BEST way is to do it with the gun assembled, as mentioned above. Bigsaxdog had tried that and was looking for alternatives. Congrats on getting a Bridgeport! You will enjoy it for many years to come.

You could make a v-block fixture for the chamber area of the barrel to nest in with a dowel pin to locate the link pin hole.Then set up the fixture on a small rotary table with the link pin centered on the rotab and a finger clamp to hold the barrel in place during machining. That way you could cut some, take the barrel off and check it, put it back on and cut some more. It would be a simple repeatable setup. Maybe your machinist friend could help you make the fixture.

You might try different thickness spacers under the spring to give it more tension.

Misfires are a mainspring tension and hammer weight issue. Breakage is a firing pin issue.

AzShooter - Do you want to sell the other one now?

I didn't think to ask him about that. I would imagine anyone who calls could find out.

The tool and die shops he talked to about it seemed to think that S-7 would be the best steel for this application.

The barrel lockup on a 1911 is 1-1/2 degrees. The mounts I've seen have the mounting holes parallel to the top edge of the dust cover with the weaver part on top angled down towards the front 1 to 1-1/2 degrees. A lot of scopes will run out of adjustment if the angle isn't there.

The best pins to use for Classic front sights and for pin-on front sights are called Spirol or coiled spring pins. They can be found at McMaster-Carr industrial supply. Phone 630-833-0300. Size-1/16 x 1/4. Part # 91598A105. Pkg. of 100 for $4.46 + shipping. You may have to drill the hole out with a 1/16 drill bit in some cases. The best way I've found to keep fiber optics on with heavy recoil is to heat both ends as normal, then put on some thin viscosity super glue and it will wick into the hole and hold very securely. Make sure to clean the metal part with solvent and let it evaporate before installing the fiber optic rod. The fibers never melt exactly right. It seems they are always off to one side or the other. Here's how I deal with that. Make a countersink in the hole on the back of the sight and pull the melted fiber into the countersink before it cools off. OR - When installing the fiber optic rod, mushroom the side that you look at first, with the rest sticking out the front. Holding the part that is hanging out, rotate the fiber in the hole back and forth until it is centered up side to side. Hold the fiber from turning as you cut it off and melt the other end.