3 new stable residents

[r3dn3ck]

Just started the 10 day on 3 items.

Springfield Armory PI9132LP stainless full size loaded adjustable sights.
Remington 770 7mm Rem Mag
Stevens 350 pump 12ga

Less than 2K spent including taxes and dros.

My last 12ga broke and needed a backup so a 250 dollar stevens seemed like a decent enough deal and adds 3" capability to the arsenal. The remington 770 comes with a garbage scope but it's just another backup rifle and a loaner for my buddy that can take that sort of abuse. The Springfield replaces one that was stolen some years back. All in all, very happy with the purchases. Nothing exceedingly top of the line but all fine serviceable guns.

The 12ga looks a helluva lot like an Ithaca 37 but doesn't have the super neat feature that I recall from those. Bummer.

[r3dn3ck]

Representative pics. Mine are still in jail.

Has the crossed cannon grips just like mine. I already ordered replacement grips though... Burled mesquite to match my hunting knife (which wears amboyna burl scales).


The 770 will probably be fired 3-4 times for zero-ing and then never again. It's a backup or I'd have gotten a 700. In any case, other than needing the bolt raceway shined up a tad and feeling a tiny bit cheap, it's a good little rifle. I'm considering putting a custom wood stock on it though.

[r3dn3ck]

Got my new grips in:

Burled mesquite. They're going to be sanded down and refinished with Boiled linseed oil (I hate poly-urethane) which will help bring out the swirls and inclusions. I like wood with character especially with inclusions. Gives the wood a really rustic look.



They're to make the gun match the knife:


I built the knife but I'm just upgrading the gun a tad.

[r3dn3ck]

And with the updated grips to match the knife:



Gun grips are burled mesquite with hand rubbed boiled linseed oil finish. Knife scales are burled amboyna (from the Narra tree) carved to make it comfy in my hand. The knife steel is damascus 15N20 & 1095. The pistol is PI9132LP fresh out of jail. Picked up the remington rifle and the shotgun today. The shotguns barrel lug is silver soldered on and the one on my spare 18" barrel already popped off. I'm fixin'a epoxy that bad boy since the epoxy will probably last longer than the steel.




the artifacts in the grips were a desired feature, not a defect. The scales were rubbed with steel wool to bring the grain into relief. The dark lines are harder wood and don't wear down as fast. It gives a great grip without feeling rough. Linseed oil finish is selected because it's really easy to touch up and all my guns are working guns, even the ones that are part of collections.

[ckprax]

Im really liking the springfield. The grips look great! Cingrats

[Mickey D]

Looks real nice.
Enjoy and thanks for sharing.

[bsg]

very nice.

[wjc]

nice stuff! Thanks for posting the pics.

btw, who made the knife? That blade shape is kinda interesting.

[r3dn3ck]

Two Finger Knife is a forge in idaho that made the blade steel, their only sales outlet is ebay. I made the final shape. I had to modify the blade blank pretty substantially in the handle area and at the tip to get the profile I wanted.

[r3dn3ck]

range report:

springfield: digests ball like there's no tomorrow. No troubles with SWC feeding but JHP's had 2 hiccups on the first few mags. After 50 rounds it smoothed out and was 100%. Groups were 2.25" at 25 yards offhand. I was the reason for such poor groups. Not used to such a heavy gun.

Remington: 7mm rem mag kicks hard. Tossed 35 rounds out of it. Cold bore groups were 4 shots into < .8" with my handloads. Fire 4 more rounds right away and the group grows to 3.5". DOES NOT deal with barrel heat well at all. It was on paper first shot from the box and the scope was loosely mounted so I tightened it and dialed in some dope. The scope does not shoot the box well at all but I did manage to get it dialed in. The recoil pad doesn't absorb jack.

Savage 350 pump 12ga. Operates smoothly. The 18" barrel needed the lug jb welded right out of the box.

Ruger Mk III Target: flawless as expected. No problems whatsoever. The BSA 30mm red dot is just a little worse than nothing at all. Gunna take that off and go back to iron sights. Makes little tiny groups at 25yrds. I screwed around and was able to keep all 10rds on the paper at 100yrds with it which was pretty impressive.