On a rifle / pistol that was brought into your shop?

The famous Ruger 45 long colt Blackhawk 3 shot hump back model

After all the handgun is SO strong the can take a duplex load of powder at a 454 level.
Yes it did for a few shots before the top half of the cylinder went to the moon
Not one scratch on the guy, go figure

He was also a welder and could also not remove the Weatherby MkV barrel, so he welded the barrel to his steel welding table and then took a 24 inch crescent wrench to the receiver to unscrew the receiver from the barrel

More from other customers over the years, but will start with these 2

J Wisner

I can beat all of you!

Some had a BSA 243 Winchester.

He had no 243 ammo.

But plenty of 308!

He tried chambering a 308 round and it wouldn’t fit.

A quick trip to multi purpose workshops, and he found someone willing to open up the chamber!

Important surgery was done, and a 308 round would chamber.

Re, this a 243 barrel.

First round destroyed the action.

The bolt came back and hit him on the upper part of his shoulder.

Lost his little finger on the left hand.

Best part was they called me to ask what did I think caused the blow up.

Was it a bad conversion?

No, I told them.

The conversion was fine as far as it went.

The real cause was just simple human stupidity!

We have incredible shooters here.

They know how to pull the trigger.

But nothing functions between their ears.

Someone had skeet loads.

He wanted to make them into magnum loads.

Simple really, get a cheap shotgun press.

Open up the shells carefully.

Remove the bottom part of the wad.

Keeping only the cup that holds the shot.

Replace the cut off part of the wad space with more powder!

One shot in a semiautomatic shotgun with unmistakable results!

Guy brings in a pre-64 model 70 that had been re-chambered to a 300 Weatherby. To make it feed, he opened up the feed ramp so far he literally removed all of the lower receiver locking lug. He did leave the upper lug though!

Some brought a 300 Weatherby Magnum, on a CZ action, that had a full barrel silencer.

There were small holes in the silencer sleeve, with the holes open upwards, with sharp edges!

I tool the sleeve off.

The barrel was turned down, and holes were drilled all over it.

When fired, pieces of bullet jackets come out and make holes in the sleeve!

Never seen anything like it!

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:
Guy brings in a pre-64 model 70 that had been re-chambered to a 300 Weatherby. To make it feed, he opened up the feed ramp so far he literally removed all of the lower receiver locking lug. He did leave the upper lug though!

One lug! Turned it into a Krag.

These days it is mostly guns taken apart by "my brother" and needing to be put back together. Of course, they forget to mention why they took it apart in the first place and think you are going to fix it as well for reassembly $$. Thank God for the line item!

One guy showed up with a Savage 10 in 308 that originally had a stuck steel case. Pulled the barrel and removed the case with my fingers. Took a hell of a lot longer to remove the twisted segmented cleaning rod and TWO nut picks that "someone" dropped down the barrel and promptly wedged them in there real good.

Honorable Mention:
1) 7MM Rem Mag fired in a 6.5-300 Titanium Weatherby Mark 5 Backcountry 2.0 Ti. The 6.5 chamber neck serves as a "throat" for the shorter 7Rem Mag. Cracked and set back all 9 lug seats in the receiver. Proud owner of a $3500 paper weight.

2) 7.62X39 Bolt gun. 24.5 Grains of Accurate No 7 instead of 24.5 grains of Reloder 7. A Mini Mauser paper weight.

quote:

Originally posted by kendog:

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:
Guy brings in a pre-64 model 70 that had been re-chambered to a 300 Weatherby. To make it feed, he opened up the feed ramp so far he literally removed all of the lower receiver locking lug. He did leave the upper lug though!

One lug! Turned it into a Krag.

I told him it was junk and get it out of the shop.

And then there was the guy who brought in a Rem 700 in 22.250 that had a cleaning rod stuck in the barrel; because he shot a round with the rod in it.

I have come to the conclusion that every male born, is born a 'gunsmith'. Try to inform one of anything, and you may as well insult their manhood! Got a Dremel Tool, a hammer and a couple of screw drivers, and you're a 'gunsmith', too! The internet, the 'mis-information supper hi-way', hasn't helped. I cannot imagine what an instructor in one of the gunsmithing schools goes through these days.

I am not a gunsmith, and after setting that straight I would call myself a firearm enthusiast that tinkers with them on rare occasions. I saw a S&W model 29 that had been sold at a brick and mortar gunshop some years ago to a "handloader". The buyer returned it a couple days later and informed the proprietor that said revolver was defective, he showed this defective firearm which had the cylinder blown into many parts (condition it was in when I veiwed it). The store owner asked him what he was shooting in it and he stated the powder brand and name, when asked what charge weight was used the "reloader" said he didn't actually know the answer to that because he didn't weigh the powder. He had just dropped powder into the case and knocked enough out so he could push the bullet in to seat it. Be careful, they walk among us!

I currently have a ERA 1917 in the shop, 'sporterized' by Bubba. The scope mount holes are not on the centerline, firing pin protrusion measures .071", and the length of pull measures 15 1/4", the butt was never cut on the pre-inlet, or it belonged to the Jolly Green Giant. And yes, 'parts kits' (a firearm someone took apart and can't put back together) are common requests. I don't need or do that kind of work at any price. At 68yrs old, I have more interesting things to do.

A while back, Bubba brought me one of his 'better' mistakes. He was cleaning guns, had his .308 and his dads Rem 700 30/06 leaned against the bench. The 2 rifles fell over, and the .308 'went off' and shot dads' .30/06 right through the floor plate, wrecking the bolt and receiver. The only things left that might be usable were the guard screws and sling swivels.

M17 Eddystone. Customer had bought it at a gun show for $800 FTF. Couldn't chamber a round. Upper third of a case stuck in there. We got it out and discovered a large hump in the shoulder area of the chamber where "bubba" had apparently used a drill bit trying to free a previous stuck case. Informed the customer of the bad news. He took it to the next gun show and sold it to a guy for $900 with disclosure of the chamber issue! Fellow said he just wanted one for display. Luckiest SOB I've ever known.

quote:

Originally posted by slivers:
the length of pull measures 15 1/4".

hmm, hey now, no need to make it personal -- says an ape armed neaderthal

Had a guy bring in a rifle all proud of himself for the great job he had done drilling and tapping the action for scope bases. Even had the scope mounted. His question was why did his rifle make a tiny round hole in the fired cases. (about the size of a #6 screw.) He had drilled the forward hole on the front base through the action ring through the barrel right into the chamber.He wasnt quite as happy with his handy work when he left.

I have a orphan Marlin 80 I got from a dealer that had been modified to be a target rifle. The receiver had been threaded with a tap for a heavy barrel. The sear had been shaved to the point where it would not hold the firing pin back, and the magazine was missing.

A few new parts later, the barrel was misaligned with the receiver such that a scope mount had to be milled and shimmed to get bullets on paper.

It shoots ok now, likes expensive ammunition...

Snowman.

Years ago I had a Customer come into the gun shop with a Ruger Mini 14, with a S&K scope mount on it.
He had installed the mount and lined up the front hole and drilled it in his drill press.
He wanted me to tap the hole so the mount installation would be complete.

I took one look at it and handed the rifle back to him.
Said sorry, I will not work on that rifle as you drilled all the way thru the receiver and barrel into the chamber.
Told the customer that he would have to send it back to the factory for a new barrel

Yes they live among us and when their time to go is up, I hope not to be there to pick up the pieces

Jim Wisner

All of these unfortunate but amusing incidents illustrate man's inherent belief that he knows and can do everything and that asking for guidance would, of course, be an insult to has masculinity.

I cannot report a DIY incident that tops these but I can share a hand loading disaster. A fellow owned both a .44 Magnum and a .270 Winchester and had a friend reload his ammunition. The gun owner decided he could reload for himself. He consulted his friend's notes and saw the .270 had been loaded with about 60 grains of powder, probably H4831. This first time reloader thought that powder was powder and proceeded to fill his .270 cases with whatever powder had been used in the .44 Mag. This did not end well, but the M700's 3 rings of steel saved his eyes and his ass. Upon firing the stock was shattered. The bolt lip expanded enough to crack around its circumference and greatly enlarge the counterbore in the barrel. The bolt held--no gas escaped-- but was ruined, as was the barrel. The receiver was unfazed and completely serviceable.

Man is indeed a sophisticated creature but easy prey when it comes to pride and vanity.

Roger

The worst I ever saw was a fellow who decided to “lap” the lugs on his VZ24 action. He brought it into the shop for my advice because even after hours and hours of work he wasn’t able to get full contact on the third bolt lug. Yes, he was trying to lap the lugs enough to get the rear safety lug to make full contact! He had lapped away the receiver locking lugs so they were just ramps with no seating surfaces! I just stared at it in disbelief. I felt terrible having to explain that he’d turned an otherwise pristine VZ24 into total junk.

Oh, there also was the Yale-graduate engineer who brought in his vintage S&W .44 Special with 7 bullets lodged in the barrel, and five loaded rounds in the jammed cylinder. His reloads, of course.

I'm not a gunsmith (and have never played one on TV), but I do run across a lot of bubba-ed rifles.

I came by a nice H&R Mannlicher .308 built on a round-top Sako action. The first thing I noticed was that the two scope bases were of different heights. No problem, Bubba had made up for that by using two different heights of rings.

Next I found the trigger seemed odd in dry-firing. Took it out of the stock and found that Bubba had "adjusted" the weight of pull by loosening the trigger mounting screw so that the trigger now rocked on its mounting pin.

Then I checked the firing pin protrusion and found it to be about like one of the old needle-fire guns of the 19th century. It stuck out far enough that you could pick your teeth with it.

Despite these "excellent" adjustments, I corrected everything and made a very nice rifle out of it.