Almost there

I'm not quite into the program at MSC, due to a missed phone call/voicemail sometime in March. However, I'm the first alternate. While I don't wish anyone ill, I hope someone in the top 20 gets a better offer somewhere else.

On pins and needles

According to the admissions person at MSC, they'll start letting candidates know by phone and mail tomorrow if they were excepted or not.

My stomach is in huge knots. I haven't been this scared since Twelfth Night opened.

Fingers crossed, I hope I hope I hope, please please please!

Why guns are civilized

Munchkin Wrangler says it so much better than I can.

Holster Update #3

"I'll be a blue-nosed gopher..."


I finished the holsters up last night. They're pretty good, for a first try. I have a shoot coming up this weekend, so I'll let you know how it goes next week. Preliminary test draws were smooth, and re-holstering was sweet. They look like shit though.

Holster Project Update #2

Mexican Loop

Well, two things are going on here. I finished fabricating the brass plates for keeping the holsters open, and put together the tools for the copper rivets.

On the other hand, I plastic wrapped my guns and wet-molded the holsters last night. This morning I pulled the Vaqueros out and the leather was very stiff and hard in the shape I wanted.

One side note, if you're going to wet-mold cheap leather you can not give a crap about the appearance. I ruined the finish, but fortunately I'm going for a beat-up look.

Soooooo... I'm going to let the holsters dry completely and give them a try. The problem I'm seeing is that these are mexican loop holsters, which means the buckets get crushed between two layers of leather. So, I'm going to convert these holsters to my version of a Hollywood holster; the bucket of the holster is riveted to the backflap, so the bucket doesn't get crushed. This isn't a problem with holsters that slide onto your belt, you just feed the belt through. On my drop slides though, it's a permanent installation. I could install snaps instead of rivets, but, well, that's not period. 

However, I've set aside the brass plates and I'm keeping those in reserve, just in case the wet molding idea doesn't work.

As I get further down this project, I'm beginning to see myself shelling out money for new holsters. But that's OK, these crappy holsters will get mounted inside my bucket.

Holster Project Update

"Skin that smokewagon and go to work!"
~Fictitious Wyatt

Holster Collapse

I think I'll go ahead and wet mold the holsters. I read up the trick of wrapping your guns in plastic wrap to protect them.  I'll do that tonight.

I strolled down to the hardware store and picked up a couple brass plates, a scratch awl, tin snips, and a leather punch. Cost: $30.

If I had purchased new holsters, the cost would have been $300 and would have taken 3 to 6 weeks for delivery. So I'm already $270 ahead, plus I'll have unique holsters. Victory is mine!

I had no idea how easy it was to shape brass plates with tin snips. This project is going a lot easier than I thought. The snips also made short work on the holster leather that needed trimming.

All I'm waiting on now are some copper rivets and a riveting tool from Tandy leather. There are no leather crafting stores in the South Bay, so I had to order them online. This raises the cost to $46, but I'm still $254 ahead. I also will have yet another tool, and about 50 extra rivets for other projects.

I also installed a panel in my bucket that lets me separate out the empty cases and hulls from the rest of the bucket. I used the zenith of the civilized world, shoebox cardboard and duct tape. Cost: Negligible.

Cowboy Gun Carts

"Circle the wagons and load your guns!"
~Wagon Masters, circa 1870

When I first started visiting SASS matches I was struck that everybody has a gun cart. It's a wheeled cart that holds your long guns, plus your ammo, supplies, tools, drinks, and usually has a place to sit down. At the time I thought that was kind of silly, but I was wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrongity, wrong wrong! I'm just using a six gallon bucket with a seat lid on it, and carrying my rifle and shotgun by hand. However, the rules state that long guns must always be pointed up. That means I have to make two trips every time we move from one stage to another. I missed the description of the shooting instructions on my second stage because I had to go back for my bucket! The folks with the carts just drop their long guns into their racks and wheel to the next stage.

A lot of these carts have built in work trays, so you don't have to wander off and find a place to sort things out. I was always looking for a horizontal surface to put my task on. I've decided that a gun cart is a necessity for a serious shooter.

There is a company that makes gun carts, but most of the carts I've seen were either built by the owner, or built as part of a cottage industry. There are also many plans available for sale on the Internet. Usually they're either made of wood, or welded up with angle iron. This makes them pretty heavy and bulky, but very sturdy.

I'm really looking forward to getting to the Ranchito (and all my tools) and making my own cart. I have some ideas for my own version. I'm really liking my bucket seat too, so I'll be making something that looks more rustic but incorporates a place for my bucket. I've got tons of cedar on my land, so I'm going to rough it out using limbs and branches, and only buy some wheels. Ideally, it would also work as a cart for hauling out deer carcasses, or maybe even on a pheasant hunt with Pop.

Check us out at hydegunsmithing.com.

Tar isteach agus a chur orthu!