IGX

On a more positive note, anybody using their free time to catch up on the home front? I'm working just 3 days a week because of the school shutdown, so I'm hitting long delayed stuff. New showerheads, new office ceiling lights, culling the clothes and kid toys. Got the kids a fish tank. 6 tetras and 3 snails.

Biggest project was a complete teardown and restoration of my childhood 22 rifle. Rust blued the barrel, nitre blued the barrel band and the knurled mag tube end cap. Polished the interior sliding surfaces, new coat to seal the stock.

How about you guys?

I promised myself I would get a lot of work done on my ISSA nutrition coach certification. I’ve gotten only a little done so far. But I have at least a month to go before we start normalizing here.

Took down my kids old cedar playset and used it to build a bunch of large planters for growing tomatoes and peppers etc. Trying to clean out the attic. Still teaching college classes online. Fending off demands by certain inlaws who want me to participate in home schooling their kids. Also have been painting little scenes and animals on small stones that I leave on some of my neighbors mailboxes, especially those who are shut in. Its good creative busywork for the evenings after dinner.

Metal is tough to photograph well.
This nitre finish is really a lesson in surface prep, though. It shows EVERYTHING you leave in the metal.

Schlegel, I think I have that exact same .22. My dad and I used to plink cans and other random stuff around the farm with it when I was a boy. Ours was crazy accurate. We could shoot mistletoe out of trees with it. Last time I shot it I was using shot sells to get flying squirrels out of our attic.

We also had a little over/under .410/.22 that was the first shotgun I ever had. Little break action gun my grandad got me. I remember "hunting" doves with my uncles with it that first fall.

All those are still in my dad's attic, along with our 8mm Mauser my grandad brought back from WWII and a few other shotguns my grandad had. Now I want to get them out and go through them like you're doing with your .22.

Remind him to oil the metal on the Mauser... those things are getting pricey if the condition is good.

The 22 is a version of the Marlin model 60 with microgroove rifling. They certainly have their fans. I am hoping ranges will be allowed to open soon, they're an easy business to follow social distancing at. The last time I shot this rifle I was so small I couldn't rack the bolt.

Our Mauser is a late production one that was actually unassembled in it's crate when my grandad got it. He assembled it when he got back home and it's seen a good bit of use. We actually used to hunt deer with it

Shit, I've got to get out of this city and back on some land.

Nothing wrong with using a Mauser to hunt, that design is the grandfather of darn near every great hunting bolt-action since the 1890's.

I'm looking around for more stuff to blue. Maybe I'll do the grip safety on my Colt; I've never liked that the black doesn't match the black of the gun. It's an aftermarket part.

I've been drinking a bit more.

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2020 1:02 am I've been drinking a bit more.

Oh, yeah. Can't go out. The first 3 weeks we stocked up on the good stuff. I'm making the wife 2 cocktails a night on average. She's working from home, and can indulge more as a consequence.

Started a sourdough, but have been screwing up bulk fermentation and ending up with piles of goo that are unbakeable. Still, fun to putter and I'll get the baking groove back. Gardening too. Took over a little patch of mulch outside our apartment and planted loads.

I did it. Started out matte dark grey. Not perfect, there's flaws that were invisible in the white, but pretty good.

Schlegel wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 5:05 pm I did it. Started out matte dark grey. Not perfect, there's flaws that were invisible in the white, but pretty good.

That's the grip safety?

Yes, it's a Wilson Combat part I fitted. I actually blued the trigger shoe, thumb safety, grip screws, MSH retaining pin, barrel bushing, and recoil spring plug as well.

Nice work man. Is that for a 1911? Why did you want a grip safety? Is it a requirement in your state?

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 6:47 pm Nice work man. Is that for a 1911? Why did you want a grip safety? Is it a requirement in your state?

They're standard on 1911s, part of the original design requirement. I replaced the GI style one to get a slightly larger bump where my palm presses it in. The beavertail under the trigger is really optional for me, I don't get hammer bite like some people, but I do like the aesthetics of them.

It's kinda pathetic, but I never noticed that, even after having used my friend's a fair bit at the range. Thank you for teaching me something.