Just For Fun Project: “The Apache Pug” - NAA Homage to 19th Century Gangster Knuckleguns

[Rudukai13]

 

The shop sent me pictures of the completed grip installed on the Pug and it’s absolutely glorious everyone! It should be on the way back to me this week!

[Rudukai13]

 

That’s weird…Every time I try to post the photo it comes out all dark and grainy…

 

Final payment made, it’s shipping today

[Rudukai13]

Screw it I was going to wait until it got here and I could take more pictures but I can’t hold it any more, here are the pictures the shop sent me:
 

 

 

IT LIVES!

[Rudukai13]

Ladies and gentlemen - The Apache Pug:

 

 

 

 

 

[Rudukai13]

 

[Rudukai13]

 

For anyone wondering NAA lists the unloaded weight of the stock “The Dude” variant Pug at roughly 6.4 ounces. This is a little chunkier than that. Still will sit in a pocket in my basketball shorts very comfortably without pulling them down though!

[Rudukai13]

I forgot the best part - This build and project was funded in its entirety down to the last cent by the government! The Pug and custom knuckles were paid for using Trump and Biden stimulus bux  Thank you .gov!

[Rudukai13]

 

Aesthetics aside, the ergonomics on this thing are spot on for my hand size. The finger stalls are perfectly sized for my fingers, all the edges have been rounded and smoothed comfortably - except for the outer edges of the strike face on the knuckles, perfect for helping to tear and lacerate when used kinetically. The grip feels natural and the wood palm swell grips rest perfectly into the palm of my hand. There are no sharp corners of hot spots anywhere the metal contacts my skin.

 

After a bit of practicing with each hand as well I’ve come to the conclusion that the gun still feels most naturally when held in my right hand, which is my non-dominant side. This is the same as before the modifications when the gun just had the short two-finger grip. It feels much, MUCH better with the ability to firmly grasp the gun and hold on more tightly

[kneelingatlas]

Great work! what a cool project!

[Rudukai13]

1 hour ago, kneelingatlas said:

Great work! what a cool project!

Thank you! I’m extremely pleased with how it’s turned out!

[Rudukai13]

Well I was hoping to get it to the range today but just didn’t have time. Have a slot reserved for tomorrow afternoon though, more pics and shooting video then!

[Rudukai13]

 

Got it to the range today for a little less than an hour. Put 80 rounds/16 cylinders of CCI Maxi-Mag and Speer Gold Dot rounds I had left over from back when I first got the revolver and the Speer was all I could find. Not a light strike, failure to fire, stuck case, hitch, glitch, or hiccup of any kind the whole time. The gun barely moves when it goes off, and what little recoil there is gets comfortably absorbed by the hand through the palm brace and stalls of the knuckles. No raw or hot spots to report from shooting that many cylinders all in one go. I am exceedingly pleased with how it performs as a mini revolver.
 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cf2acqQgqwp/

 

Now how to test the knuckles…

[Modoc]

2 hours ago, Rudukai13 said:

 

Got it to the range today for a little less than an hour. Put 80 rounds/16 cylinders of CCI Maxi-Mag and Speer Gold Dot rounds I had left over from back when I first got the revolver and the Speer was all I could find. Not a light strike, failure to fire, stuck case, hitch, glitch, or hiccup of any kind the whole time. The gun barely moves when it goes off, and what little recoil there is gets comfortably absorbed by the hand through the palm brace and stalls of the knuckles. No raw or hot spots to report from shooting that many cylinders all in one go. I am exceedingly pleased with how it performs as a mini revolver.
 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cf2acqQgqwp/

 

Now how to test the knuckles…

Punch a watermelon?  Just don’t do it in the store. 

[Rudukai13]

17 minutes ago, Modoc said:

Punch a watermelon?  Just don’t do it in the store. 

“What’s that? No, I don’t need any help - just checking the ripeness!”

 

Not a bad idea though

[Rudukai13]

I spoke with Billy about how to go about testing the knuckles, I’ve decided to try his standard frozen ice block test. As soon as the orange juice carton that’s in my fridge is empty, I’ll fill it up with water and freeze it and give it a go. If it can chip away at a large block of ice, it’ll certainly work for more soft-body targets

[Modoc]

@Rudukai13, I showed this to a fellow instructor and he is very impressed with this build. 

[Rudukai13]

33 minutes ago, Modoc said:

@Rudukai13, I showed this to a fellow instructor and he is very impressed with this build. 

Thank you very much! I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out. Ultimately it really is just kind of a heavy hunk of man jewelry, but I do appreciate knowing it’s still functional if it were ever to be called on for genuine use

[Rudukai13]

 

We have a successful knuckles test! Beat up on this block of ice a bit. It wasn’t my intention to go ham or wail on it, as Billy Trident would say “let the tool do the work, that’s why you have the tool”. The important take-aways here are the gun held up without a single visible scratch or mark, and more importantly my hand felt absolutely NOTHING with each impact. Switched back and forth connecting with the middle two knuckles and doing some hammerfisting with the bottom stall, and the piece stayed secure in my hand and comfortable the whole time.
 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cf7kLsFAObP/

 

Functional Revolver: check
Functional Knuckleduster: check
Badass, one-of-a-kind, Steampunk pocket jewelry: f*#king check

 

 

We’re going to call this one done everyone!

Edited July 13, 2022 by Rudukai13

[Rudukai13]

Got featured on TTAG!

 

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/obscure-object-of-desire-my-custom-apache-pug-kuckleduster-revolver/

[Rudukai13]

Well, if there was any part of this gun I wasn’t completely satisfied with it’s the aftermarket rosewood/pearl grips. The ergonomics are great, and the finish is excellent - but the fit has been slightly off from the start, leaving strange uneven gaps around the frame of the gun on either side:

 

 

 

 

I wasn’t completely happy with this and I recently decided I wanted to make the gun look more visually similar to the Schofield build, so I set off to find a pair of lighter grips to fit on the color case hardened frame. I eventually settled on Spresser Custom resin ivory grips, with a gorgeous visible grain that will create a nice appearance when combined with the CCH patterning:

 

 

You can also see the fitment of the grips on the gun are much more evenly matched. Those should be here in about a week and I’ll get them set into the tenderizer!

[Rudukai13]

Got featured on TFB!

 

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2022/07/20/apache-revolver/

[Chillywig]

After the ice broke you needed to throw in a Doug Marcaida it will keeeelllll

[Rudukai13]

3 hours ago, Chillywig said:

After the ice broke you needed to throw in a Doug Marcaida it will keeeelllll

 I figured that would be redundant

[Rudukai13]

Got notification the grips arrived at my house today. Unfortunately I’m out of town until Sunday night, so I can’t do anything about it until then…As a former smoker, knowing I have new gun parts at home without the ability to actually do anything with them is worse than a nicotine craving. Feels like my teeth are trying to reach back and gnaw on my own brain

[Rudukai13]

Well…As “welcome home” gifts go I can honestly say I’ve had better. Got home from my trip tonight to find the grips waiting on my mailbox. Got inside, got everything put away and then went about changing out the grips on the Pug. Ran into two issues. First, the new grips don’t fit the frame well enough to even sit flat like they’re supposed to, so I can’t get them installed anyway:
 

 

 

 

And second, while I was using what really would be considered fairly gentle pressure with my hands to try to get the grips to “click” flat into place…*snap*
 

 

A corner of one of the resin grips chipped off in my hand. I’ll send an email tonight to Spresser to inquire about where to go from here. Honestly what I may do is just order a set of alternate grips from the official NAA website, so at least I know those should fit.

For now I’ve replaced the original rosewood grips on the gun and you can see they lay perfectly flat and match the lines of the frame much better than the checkered rosewood/pearl inlay grips:
 

 

 

 

 

Not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, but frustrating nonetheless…