Castle

PART 1 AIM I wanted to document how I did a refurb to a SxS a two winters ago. I know that lots of people have redone their woodwork and I drew heavily on some of their posts for advice but I struggled to find a walk-through with decent pictures of how to blue your barrels so I hope this (picture heavy) walkthrough is of use. CAVEAT I have absolutely no experience with wood or metal working prior to this. I am not suggesting I did anything the ‘right’ way and there are some real tradesmen on this site who will shudder when they see some of my techniques. Hopefully people can learn from what I did, rather than copy what I did. THE SHOTGUN I was given a 12 gauge Parkemy SA SxS for free by a friend. The reason it was free was it was not working at all. The issues were: - Broken firing pin - Split stock - Split fore-end - Rusted, worn blueing on the barrels - Dents and chips on the woodwork - It was too short. The LoP needed to increase by at least an inch before it fitted me The good news was the bores looked fine and the action locked up tight so it wasn’t a totally lost cause. I decided to try and give it a new lease of life but was not willing to spend any real money on it.

Looks great.

+5 this week: 561 Fantastic work Walker570.

I've ordered a Lanksy 4 rod/box sharpener for £20. Hope it lives up to the hype!

I also had a Spyderco Tri-Angle set. It really worked for me. I paid about £50 for it years ago but i found it quick, easy and stress-free (something that I have not found to be the case with other sharpening methods). The bloody thing is somewhere is Karachi now so all my knives are making do with a cheap (and crappy) Kitchen-Devils - you get what you pay for. That said the response for Lansky has been so strong on here that I will definitely be giving them a look!

+1 for the Beretta AL391. I have one and it is fantastic. They can be had for a great price considering they are Beretta quality - much cheaper than a second hand O/U. Just change the recoil spring when you get it (about £10 from Brownells) and you know she will run and run. I have a lot of metalwork in my jaw and if I shoot more than 100 birds in a day with a SxS or O/U then the screws holding my face together really irritate my cheek and feel 'hot.' Much less of a problem with the semi as the movement of the working parts slows down the recoil. Far more comfortable. A word of caution though. Semi-autos are much more complicated than an O/U. Even if you are new to shooting, an O/U is so simple you really shouldn't get it wrong. A semi requires a bit more thought and (dare I say it) training. Others have mentioned 'no such thing as an unsafe gun, just an unsafe shooter' which is true, so learning that you have a magazine and a chamber to check each time you finish shooting before you step away from your peg becomes really important. Just because you do not think you put three in it, does not mean you didn't put three in it. You only need to get it wrong once for your world to change. Good luck finding your gun. Ali

Fantastic work! Hope you are pleased with yourself.

This link is pretty useful for providing non-biased facts (mostly taken from Home Office reports). http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/gun-crime Some things that stand out: Gun crime of all sorts is decreasing. In England and Wales handguns were the most commonly used firearm, with the weapon accounting for 44% of non-air weapon firearm offences recorded. Imitation weapons were used in 23%, shotguns in 9% and rifles in 1% of such offences. Handguns are already illegal ergo any crime committed with a handgun was committed with an illegally held firearm. Rifles only account for 1% of gun crime. 1% of gun crime equates to 0.003% of all crime commited in England and Wales. This is what is being targeted in legislation. In England and Wales, in 2010/11, there were on average 13 non-air weapon firearms offences per 100,000 population. The rate was highest in London (35 per 1,000 population), and West Midlands (34). The lowest rate was recorded in Lincolnshire (2.4). Lincolnshire (where PW members have proved there are a LOT of legally held guns) has the lowest gun crime in the country? London (not exactly the host of many driven days) has the highest. I am not seeing the link between legally held guns and gun crime. Of course facts mean nothing in an argument that is, at its nature, subjective. You either like guns or you do not. An anti will say that '0.003% of crime is still too much'. I would say 'stop banning things you t**t'. Neither of us would convince the other. They will probably win in the end as the UK gradually becomes a nation of flat dwelling facebook reactionaries. Ali

Not necessarily specific for .22RF but as others have said you cannot beat sand for stopping rounds. 'Granular Impact' is the phenomena that stops a golf ball so quickly when it hits a bunker. It's the same thing with bullets - if they hit anything that is homogenous (sheet metal, wood etc) then all the energy is transferred to one place. When bullets hit something like sand the power is passed from grain to grain and quickly dispersed. Ceramic body armour plates work this way. There are also benefits of reducing ricochet and spall (splashes of lead) compared to a hard backstop. Sand might be overkill for .22RF - not sure - but it is the safest thing I can think of. You are lucky indeed! I would love to have a 100m range at the back of my house!

I have had this problem a lot with ballistic eye protection. The anti-fogging wipes and fairy liquid trick do help but I always still got mist on the inside. In mitigation I found the following helped: Make sure the glasses are spotlessly clean before you go out. Wash in soapy water and dry with a glasses cloth. This helps any mist that does form to dry faster. Wear a cap to protect the front of the lenses from falling rain. Try to keep a little air-gap between your face and the glasses. A little air circulating will make a quick job of clearing the mist. Stay cool. Warm, moist air coming from the top of your jacket really speeds up the misting. Keep your glasses on all the time! It sounds stupid but once they mist up the worst thing you can do is take them off to ineffectively wipe them on a wet sleeve. Instead pull them a bit down your nose and let the air clear them. Also the change in temperatures of putting them on in a cold environment creates condensation. If the glases are already close to your body temp then you get less mist. If none of this works then move further south and retry until you get no rain on your glasses. I hear Spain is nice. Ali

Ok, I'll bite... I took an Air Arms S200 apart and gave it an overhaul. Once it was set I put the thing back together and tried to zero it. No matter how much I dialled down the elevation I was still 5cm high at 30m - I just couldn't get rounds on target. I shimmed the scope up in the mounts with layers of electrical tape but then struggled to get the mount tightened properly. I was terrified that I had somehow upped the power by dismantling it. I lamented my problems on an internet forum and some kind soul pointed out I had the mounts on the wrong way (turns out one is higher than the other) and I was fighting gravity. Two minutes with an hex key sorted the problem. Every day is a school day and all that.

I used Blackley & Sons Slow Blue Solution from their website (linked HERE). Came with good instructions and there was more than enough in a bottle to do a set of SxS. I spilt most of it by mistake or else it would have been sufficient to do two sets of barrels.

The reason that we as shooters should do everything we can to avoid a ban is hidden in gazere's post. If there was an amnesty followed by licensing the following things would happen: Most people would hand in their air rifles in order to comply, as they are not going to be willing to jump the hurdles. The people we have most cause to worry about would not hand in their air rifles, not caring if they comply or not. With a huge drop in the number of careful air rifle owners, how many children are not going to be introduced to the joys of shooting and responsible gun handling (which is how I bet most of us got started) instead of staying inside doing a 'safe' activity like getting diabetes while playing on an Xbox? With a strong and consistent revenue stream no longer available to them, how many local shooting shops would go under? They are having a hard enough time as it is. So with licensing in effect what has been achieved? The worst people still have air rifles and still cause trouble (making a total ban more likely as the govt scrabbles to find an effective policy), fewer people are getting into shooting (making our sports even more niche and less survivable) and many small gun shops have closed down (making life harder for all of us). Tell me, who benefits from this scenario? We must avoid further legislation. Ali

What I should have said in answer to Team Tractor's original question is that spray paint only peels when the surface is poorly prepared (oily, dusty, too smooth etc) but chips depending on handling. I did a few coats of clear, matte varnish on the rifle above and that has certainly helped but nothing is perfect. Ali

I did the stock and metalwork of an Air Arms S200. I used a combination of Krylon and Halfords own brand camo spray paint. No discernible difference between them (except the price), the key is always in the prep. Spray paint will always chip and rub, so if you want a really good finish, mortgage your house and get a cerakote. Failing that, accept that the chips just add character and enjoy having the extra money in your pocket!

Thanks, I keep meaning to write it up with some photos but never get round to doing it. I will do it in full and link it here eventually, but in short: Strip the old blue Apply bluing solution Let it rust for 24hrs Boil it in water Wire wool the rust off Repeat x 7 Took a while to get it finished but even for a muppet like me it wasn't hard. Ali

To this...

I can't knock the suggestions already given but have you considered doing it yourself? Slow Rust Bluing give a great finish (not the same as 'cold blue' from a bottle). While it is indeed slow, it is suprisingly easy to do and very cost effective. Especially as this is a spare barrel, you seem to have little to lose except some time in the evenings. If you do not like it when it is done then you can always give it to a professional afterwards? I had a go on a set of barrels and got from this...

I have the .410 Mossberg Hushpower pump. It is an absolute gem. I use it exclusively for grey squirrels in close country; overgrown woodland where you cannot hope to ambush a squirrel with an air rifle or rimfire but can stroll through and zap them on the branches above head height. Because of the lack of noise I can do this in areas of my old permission where I would not want to fire an unmoderated shotgun. As an added bonus, the lack of ear defence means you can hear their little claws scratching on the tree bark before you round the next corner. I did not like losing sight of the target under the width of the moderator so in the quickest and dirtiest way possible I used JB Weld to attach a length of rail to the top of the receiver and then mounted a micro red dot sight. While the height of this setup means I cannot keep the same cheek weld as I would with a 12g, I can keep both eyes open and simply place the dot on the little grey ****** and squeeze, even on the move. The low .410 recoil lets me get away with the poor mount without smacking my cheek. I have found this to be most effective! Hope you enjoy your Hushpower as much as I have. Ali

Afternoon all, A much belated introduction post - I have been a member for months soaking up Welsh Warrior and Demon Wolf's DIY knowledge, finally got round to introducing myself. I am in Camberley, Surrey and shoot clays recreationally and occasionally rough shoot with shotguns or air rifles. Ali