The Gunsmith Thread

I had a customer drop off two identical guns for service. They both had live rounds jammed in them. Both were chambered in .380 Auto and both were loaded with 9mm. That's stupid time two. DA Tax of $80 assessed. :)
 
I had a customer drop off two identical guns for service. They both had live rounds jammed in them. Both were chambered in .380 Auto and both were loaded with 9mm. That's stupid time two. DA Tax of $80 assessed. :)
"...they live among us..."
 
Any of you cast your own bullets? I've casted pure lead for my muzzleloaders for years, but want to cast some alloys, mainly for my .45 ACP and .300 BLK. I've accumulated 1000+ lbs of pure lead over the years, and there is no way I am going to shoot that many rounds in my lifetime out of a firearm that I need to load with a ramrod. I might as well put a lot of that lead towards my semi-auto firearms.

I am curious about what hardness I need for these calibers. The 300 blk will be subsonic. I'm planning on coating with either powercoat or Hi-Tek. I'm not sure what hardness I should aim for using these coatings vs traditional lube, which I would like to avoid. The consensus is that the bullet can be slightly softer if using a coating, but I am looking for an actual Brinell range. I just can't find a definitive answer on the interweb. Thanks.
 
1,000 pounds of lead these days is a gold mine. The price has gone up so much lately.
I have a friend who casts his own, but it's sort of a dangerous proposition. You have to be outdoors and even so, you should probably be wearing a respirator while you're doing it. Breathing in those fumes will build up lead levels in your blood over time that will cause some serious health issues.

With that said, for .45 ACP, all you need is a Brinell hardness of about 8 to 10. (For the test method, look up ASTM E10-15). They are only traveling at 900 - 950 FPS, so they don't need to be that hard at all. I stopped shooting lead bullets out of my .45s years ago because of all the smoke. It's just awful. I keep some at the store in my gunsmith room though, just to shoot when they're doing HVAC testing after a filter change. :)

.300 BLK could be much the same, depending on what you're planning to do with it. If you want to shoot suppressed and subsonic (950 FPS), then
a Brinell hardness of about 12-15 will do it because it will cut down a little on leading of the bore. But if you're planning on coating them, that should help cut down on leading and smoke, too. I don't shoot that caliber or anything that heavy, but am very familiar with that .308 diameter.

Anything around 17 is considered "hard cast" and would be fine for any velocities up to and including 2,400 FPS.
 
1,000 pounds of lead these days is a gold mine. The price has gone up so much lately.
I have a friend who casts his own, but it's sort of a dangerous proposition. You have to be outdoors and even so, you should probably be wearing a respirator while you're doing it. Breathing in those fumes will build up lead levels in your blood over time that will cause some serious health issues.

With that said, for .45 ACP, all you need is a Brinell hardness of about 8 to 10. (For the test method, look up ASTM E10-15). They are only traveling at 900 - 950 FPS, so they don't need to be that hard at all. I stopped shooting lead bullets out of my .45s years ago because of all the smoke. It's just awful. I keep some at the store in my gunsmith room though, just to shoot when they're doing HVAC testing after a filter change. :)

.300 BLK could be much the same, depending on what you're planning to do with it. If you want to shoot suppressed and subsonic (950 FPS), then
a Brinell hardness of about 12-15 will do it because it will cut down a little on leading of the bore. But if you're planning on coating them, that should help cut down on leading and smoke, too. I don't shoot that caliber or anything that heavy, but am very familiar with that .308 diameter.

Anything around 17 is considered "hard cast" and would be fine for any velocities up to and including 2,400 FPS.
Thanks. I have all the equipment. I've been casting round balls and sinkers for years, and have made many ingots. I want to make my alloy and cast a bunch of ingots while the weather is still nice so I'll be able to have plenty of reloading sessions this winter.
 
Ooh! I forgot to post this one!

A guy brought in an Uzi pistol and the work ticket said that the "customer can't operate the bolt" and "bolt is stuck".
I looked at it and diagnosed the issue in seconds. You see, there really isn't much to an Uzi. You open the door on top and take out the bolt. Once the bolt is out, everything is empty and easy to clean. It really is a marvel of simplicity. It's impossible to put it together wrong.

So what was the issue?

I moved the safety selector from "SAFE" to "FIRE".

Tada!

Yes. When an Uzi is on "SAFE" you cannot operate the bolt. That's the idea of the safety in a nutshell, you see. :D
 
I was in today and worked on an AR-10 for some clownshoe. The work ticket said to: "Make safety selector work more positively, as it just flops around right now" and "tighten free-float hand-guard".

I usually grab these off the shelf (sometimes ahead of others) because they're really easy and I can fix them quickly and go on to the next one. Even though gunsmithing is my "fun job", I like to maximize my hourly wage while I'm there and you know, it's Sunday and I have to get home to watch the hockey game. I have my priorities, you know.

Anyway...

I take the grip off (because that's what contains the springs and detents for both the safety selector and the takedown pin) and lo and behold what do I see? The wrong detent and the wrong spring for the safety selector. I think to myself "what an idiot", I put in the proper parts and reattach the grip. Check that box. The first fix is done.

THEN, I get to the loose free-float hand-guard. It would seem that the hand-guard screws are properly tightened, but the barrel nut (into which the hand-guard screws attach) is the culprit. Aha! The plot thickens!

I take off the hand-guard and find that the gas block and associated gas tube are not even tightened down. This assembly is now like the slide-whistle of my youth:
1666554935347.png

But I digress, as I often do.

In order to slide this gas block and gas tube assembly off, I need to first take off the flash hider and associated crush washer. That turns out to be really easy, because I can just unscrew it with my fingers and take it off. How accommodating, the crush washer is not even crushed!

So now I get to the barrel nut - which just like the flash hider - comes off easily with just a turn with my fingers. Wow, an entire rifle assembled without any tools! Who knew you could do this?

The punch line isn't all that great. I put it all together like it should have been and test-fired it. All was as it should be and I assessed this DA a DA tax of $75 and called him to say that his rifle was ready for pick up.
 
A bit surprised that with all those finger-tight adjustments, he didn't make the local news...
 
I believe that what he wanted me to do was be the first to shoot it. I had to put my own iron sights on it just to test fire it.

That's another story altogether. You wouldn't believe the sheer quantity of microcephalics who come in with rifles that don't have sights on them, wanting to shoot on the range. What choo mean I need sights? I jes look where ima hitting and make adjustments, man!
 
@THParent - Out of curiosity do you see any PSA (Palmetto State Armory) AR-15s or their Dagger pistols in to repair/ fix? Anyone else have any familiarity with their products?
 
I see PSA AR-15s all the time. That doesn't mean they are crappy, though. That just means that there are a lot of them out there.
The dagger pistol is just a Glock 19 clone, right? I have yet to see one of those in the wild, as it were. They are QUITE inexpensive, I see.
 
I see PSA AR-15s all the time. That doesn't mean they are crappy, though. That just means that there are a lot of them out there.
The dagger pistol is just a Glock 19 clone, right? I have yet to see one of those in the wild, as it were. They are QUITE inexpensive, I see.
Yes, it's a Glock clone. They have a decent bundle deal available for an AR and a Dagger- $749.99 total to get both. I was thinking it's a budget friendly way to complete my 3 gun combo. In a few years after I am out of college I can upgrade to a better combo.
 
My son bought one of their 10.5" 5.56 pistols. Thing is awesome, works flawlessly.
I've been watching their daily deals or bundles to get one also.
 
I've seen a few gun-tubers with positive things to say about PSA ARs. They are not to the level of manufacturing and quality control of Daniel Defense or BCM, but they seem to be a good baseline. The dagger seems to be a little hit or miss (but I've also had Berettas break parts prior to 500rds...)
 
I just have to chime in here and give my opinion of AR-15 style rifles. It's a $500 rifle. I don't care what name is on it or whether or not it has fancy doo-dahs or a match barrel and retails for $3,500.

It's still a $500 rifle.
 
Sigh. Got a new can (.308), and my 6.5 is striking the end cap. Muzzle device checks good with a bore rod. So, back to the manufacturer for inspection/service it goes. So glad I waited a year for the ATF to let me find this!
 
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