The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Handguns => Topic started by: MikeBjerum on May 12, 2019, 09:03:46 AM
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This is probably an all guns subject, but I encounter it mostly with handguns:
Wear and Patina caused by use - How many of you have guns, many, a few, or most, that show wear and tear from use? I catch a lot of static for this. My guns are not investments, they are not safe queens, they are not worshiped, and I don't sacrifice my skin for their skin. My guns show the wear and scars of a life well lived.
I was teaching a class, and I had my two daily carry guns in use for demonstration: An LCP I carry in a leather pocket holster, and a 1911 that I carry in an IWB leather holster. For a class of students supposedly looking to learn, I was shocked at the ridicule I took (I really didn't take it, but that's another story) over scratches around take down pins, muzzle wear, corrosion spots from being carried wet, missing bluing, etc.
I don't believe I abuse my guns, but I buy quality, I maintain them, but above all, I USE THEM. I have purchased several firearms that MOM (Manufacturer's Owner's Manual) stated on the first page "To maintain collectible and investment value ...". In my opinion, this is your first sight in target paper! Tear it out, and see if you can get a shot on paper and how tight a group you can achieve out of the box.
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I agree. Wear from use is not abuse. I am not a gun collector. I buy guns that fill a need, sometimes redundantly, but never give a though to a profit on resale...though if used for "trading up" their value will be lower.
But then I don't fancy letting go of a gun that has served me well, even if it is replaced with something more fitting my current needs...when I have counted on them to save my life, if needed (which they have, thankfully, never been called upon to do) I get "attached". Sort of like dumping a loyal and faithful dog as it grows old and slow.
And the wear shows they have done there job.
Getting sentimental, I noticed after several years of wear that my weeding band was nicked and scratch and dinged a few times....and then thought that the ring had "protected" my finger from those impacts...and then though that the marriage it represents also "protects" me from the dings of life....
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All of my guns show use, Not abuse, They are maintained properly so they won't let me down in a time of need. I'm not going to worry about the loss of value because I won't be around when they get sold by my heirs, They will have served me well in the use that they were designed for, My shooting pleasure.
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My 75th Anniversary PPK is my only safe queen. I haven't gotten around to shooting my LCP yet but I imagine it will get scratched and dinged up like everything else I have. If I start carrying it I expect it to get scratched and worn but there's no bluing to wear off. That's one of the things I like about stainless steel and hard chrome plated guns. I use a magic marker to touch up my blued guns until it rubs off. That's good enough for me.
I had a couple of tire plug kits that ran out of plugs and I saved the tools. I cut off the ends, ground them down, filed and sanded them smooth. The edges of tips are rounded off and now I have 2 pin pushers of different diameters. I don't have scratches around the pin holes on my guns but I used a hammer and center punch to move some metal around the pin holes on my 40 year old 10/22 so the pins don't fall on the floor when I take the stock off. Too bad these pins with spring loaded detents weren't around 30 years sooner.
https://www.tandemkross.com/Upgraded-Receiver-KrossPins-for-Ruger%C2%AE-1022%C2%AE-2-PACK_p_535.html
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I just ran across this .
One of the things I've been doing is watching Mark Novak's Anvil video's on You Tube.
His pet peeve is "When does neglect become "patina", DO THE F#$%ING MAINTAINANCE !"
Most of his vids are about fixing things neglected, especially blueing.
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I just ran across this .
One of the things I've been doing is watching Mark Novak's Anvil video's on You Tube.
His pet peeve is "When does neglect become "patina", DO THE F#$%ING MAINTAINANCE !"
Most of his vids are about fixing things neglected, especially blueing.
My most-used 1911 gets the finish touched up when I clean it. While I don't have an issue with 'battle scars' and honest wear, I do like a my guns to look good. Just a personal preference.
If you put enough wear on a pistol, even with touch-ups, folks can tell it's been used like it should.
There was an old guy in our club years ago that always touched up the holster wear on his old Colt 1911. Even with the touching up, you could see the rounded edges from a lifetime of good use. It looked like it had one of those high-dollar carry bevel jobs done on it.
I wouldn't touch up an heirloom gun, though.
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I picked up a .380 CZ 82/83 The outside of it looks like it went though a fire and then got beat with a pipe.
But it shoots great and has several hundred rounds through it.
I may get it refinished some day .
Should have paid the extra $20 for hand select ;D
As for the peckerheads Mike was originally commenting on, I just tell them, "Mine get used, they aren't safe queens."
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My first gun was a single-shot 20 gauge that got a ding in the barrel when it was behind a truck seat. It was a small ding but I could see it on the inside too. It was in a soft case but got hit hard somehow. That went beyond fair wear and tear into something else. I lopped off the dinged part of the barrel with a hacksaw, and down to the pistol grip of the stock too. I only had to pull the spring-loaded forend off to tilt the barrel off, and it fit into a padded attache case.
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To bad you chopped it off. They can fix that on a shot gun barrel.
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I carried the same PPK/s for 20 years. It's developed a "patina" from the leather holster. Sadly, I also wore it out internally and was looking at a rebuild to get it reliably functioning. Still miss that gun.
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To bad you chopped it off. They can fix that on a shot gun barrel.
Yep.
My dad bent the barrel on my Ithaca .410 single shot while using it to shoot squirrels. He was riding on his golf cart and was pulling under his garage and the barrel was sticking through the arm rest and got hung on the support post of the garage opening and bent around in a sweeping 30° left turn.
I looked online for a replacement barrel and the ones I found were upwards of $200 or more because the gun was years out of production.
We took it a mile down the road to a family friend who was a gunsmith to see if anything could be done, or if he had a line on a cheaper barrel. He said to leave it with him and he'd see what he could do. A few days later he called and said come get it so my dad went down and got it.
He brought it over and I saw it and thought he'd replaced the barrel, so I asked what it cost and dad said $40. I said that was too cheap for a new barrel and dad said that was the old barrel and he straightened it in a jig he had.
I was amazed that a bend like that could be straightened out but he did it.
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What a freaking job !
I spent a holiday weekend at TCA straightening barrels for a rush order.
They were a degree or 2 and fussy as hell.
Can't imagine the PITA he had.
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Yeah.
That shotgun was the first 'real' gun I ever shot, and I hunted a lot with it before my uncle stepped me up to his 1100 16ga. I was sick when I first saw the bend because I knew the age of the gun meant hard-to-find parts. I was happy as a pig in slop when I saw it straight.
I think I posted about it in a thread on here years ago, but heck, it's been nearly ten years.
I didn't get any before pics but it was bad. The muzzle end was at least 10" of center-line.
These are the after pics.
The second pic looks wonky, but it is camera angle and not the barrel. I can attest that the barrel is straight and shoots as true as before.
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Nice work
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To bad you chopped it off. They can fix that on a shot gun barrel.
I know that now but may not have back then. Not that it was worth fixing an old Spesco 151 made by CBC. It looked just like this CBC 12 gauge that sold at auction for $59. I just checked Williams Gun Sight's price list and found this --> Raise dent in barrel (price per dent) $40. Um, no thanks. I wouldn't spend $40 just to end up with a gun worth $59. I think I drilled a hole, maybe only halfway through to mount my front sight after I cut the barrel down. Anyway, I epoxied a BB onto it for a front sight because that's how much I thought it was worth spending on it, and I painted it fluorescent yellow. I didn't cut the stock off right away, but when I did I filed a rear sight notch in the top of the frame so I could aim it like a pistol. It was too heavy for me to one-hand it very much but the recoil wasn't too bad. I might have a picture somewhere of the gun in a Samsonite attache I bought for it, but I think I got rid of the pictures after I got rid of the gun.
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Probably a good thing.
internet posts can be used as evidence. ;D
You don't want to end up like Randy Weaver.
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I don't want to end up like Randy Weaver's family either. My shotgun had an 18 1/2" barrel. It was more than 26" long overall, but after a lot of filing and sanding it was so close you needed a micrometer to tell. :D Not really, but it was only 26 1/4" IIRC. To your average cop it would look like a SBS and I was worried about getting arrested while transporting it. When the city had a gun "buyback" I got rid of that, my Crosman pellet gun that looked like a .357 Mag., and a single shot black powder pistol I made from a kit. It was hard not to laugh out loud when the cop was standing in front of the bullet-trap barrel trying to figure out how to clear the pellet gun. ;D I can't remember if it still worked okay or not. It probably did but I never used it anymore. The black powder pistol had a hair trigger and I was afraid to even load it. I was glad to get some cash for that dangerous POS, even thought I didn't get much for any of them. Like most gun "buybacks" it was a good opportunity for gun owners to get rid of some junk they didn't want anymore.
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That's multiple felonies, No paper work, no NICS, etc, etc.
But it's OK when Bloomberg shills do it.
"It's for the children" ::)
I liked the guy in Ca who set up outside offering $25 more for GOOD guns . ;D
They threw him in jail .
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I liked the guy in Ca who set up outside offering $25 more for GOOD guns . ;D
They threw him in jail .
What were the charges? I know it is California, and they don't need a reason, but what law did he actually break?
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No background checks and no waiting period.
The same laws the Anti's were breaking.
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I heard of someone setting up a block or two away doing that and I don't think it was in Commiefornia with it's oh so very useful ::) waiting period.
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WARNING: Drift ahead!
I know I am preaching to the choir and rehashing past rants, but why are waiting periods, ID, and background checks must have first steps when it comes to firearms purchase and possession, but unconstitutional when it comes to voting or immigration?
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Thread drift is what we do best here. ;D ;D
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Because the scumbag America hating Democrats say so and no one has balls enough to tell them NO.
The democrats are better politicians than republicans will ever be because Republicans are a bunch of inherently meek pussies.
The mentality that leads them to resist change robs them of the initiative to stand up like MEN, and stop a change they oppose.
You think BLM give a f$ck about their mortgage, or pension when they shoot a cop ?
Hell no. They see something that needs doing and they do it.
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No background checks and no waiting period.
The same laws the Anti's were breaking.
Yeah, if .gov was an actual individual human being, it would be guilty of more felonies than any other criminal in history. Years ago one of my few liberal friends was railing about how the gubmint is there for the good of the people....... I said one name and walked away: Lon Horiuchi.
Sad thing is how many sheeple are A-OK with it.
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I was in an improv troupe called "Wear, Use and Patina" back in the '90s. I was Patina. We had to break up when Wear got burned out and Use was arrested for drugs...and the guy in the rear...