Here in the Evergreen State we are forced once again to defend our god given and Constitutionally protected Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
A group of ne'er-do-wells has decided that we need to add one more restriction on the rights of free men and women.
For those of you on the left, you probably wont read this or even think twice about restricting the freedoms of your fellow Americans, after all you have been told to do so by the leaders of your party.
Think about this for a moment: A true liberal, one who believes in the rights of the individual, would support the right of free citizens to own guns, They would cherish and protect the right to choose the school for their child, They would fight to maintain their property rights and demand the right to choose where they work and what groups they join. If you don't fight to keep these rights, you are not a liberal at all.
Those on the right understand what I am talking about......it is those who are undereducated/undecided on the issue I would like to reach.
Initiative 594 would outlaw the private sale or transfer of firearms. Also loaning your child, father, mother or friend a firearm without going to a dealer for a transfer would be illegal (although "gifting" a gun would be acceptable??). It would outlaw the renting of a firearm, it would end the amateur gunsmiths like myself.
This of course would come with a price tag, taxes to be collected on every transfer....taxes on the exercise of a Constitutionally Protected Right!
It would also create a registry of all gun sales that the state would be able to track all owners of guns.....think about this for a moment: What if we required all Jewish people to register with the government and name their synagogue? What do you think the ADL would have to say about that?
How about we make everyone get a permit before publishing a newspaper or magazine article (or blog post?) , what would the ACLU do in regards to that law?
It is already against the law for a convicted felon, domestic violence convict or someone who has been committed to a mental health facility from owning guns. It also illegal for someone to knowingly give or sell a gun to such a person.
I'll say that again, the "stated" purpose of this law is to prevent those who should not have guns from getting.
It is already against the law for these people to posses guns!
Studies have shown time and time again that criminals do not buy their guns, they steal them! (don't believe me, look it up)
Besides we already know who those people are! We have their names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, pictures and fingerprints....but instead these leftist Hoplophobes want to know if you or I exercise our rights. It is none of their damn business!
Nationally we have had a law that regulates the interstate transfer of guns (which I believe is an illegal expansion of the Constitution's commerce clause). This law came about after the Kennedy Assassination in 1963. It was the assumption of the law makers that Lee Harvey Oswald would have been unable to find himself a rifle in Dallas Texas in 1963 and was thus forced to order one by mail from Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago. If you know anything about Texas, you know finding a suitable rifle would not have been a problem for Mr. Oswald.
Gun Control measures are not about tracking criminals, they are about tracking the others....you and me, the political enemies of the left. They want to know who their enemies are and what they own......
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of
chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course
others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" - Patrick Henry
One last thing, consider the following:
The Hoplophobes promised us that if we strictly regulated fully automatic weapons, short barreled rifles and shotguns along with silencers, that crime would end and they would leave the rest of our rights alone (NFA 1934)....they lied, they came back for more
The Hoplophobes promised us that if we forced gun dealers to be licensed and keep records of gun sales, crime would end.(FFA
1938)....they lied, crime did not end and they came back for more
The Hoplophobes then asked for Federal regulation of gun sales (no interstate sales) and restrictions on the importation of small handguns...that was all they needed...just this one more restriction (GCA 1968)....they lied, they came back for more.
The Hoplophobes promised us that if we ended the importation of semi-automatic rifles, that our rights would no longer be under attack. (CCA
1990)....they lied, they came back for more
The Hoplophobes then promised that if we instituted a 5 day waiting period on buying a handgun, they would stop their anti-freedom attacks (Brady Bill 1994)...they did not stop, not even for a year.
Again the Hoplophobes go on the attack, this time banning the sale of new Semi-automatic rifles and magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds (VCC & LEA 1994)....again crime did not end and they came back for more.
Since The Clinton Administration the Hoplophobes have continually tried to get new gun control bills passed. You can see from their history that the Hoplophobes will not quit until all guns, ammunition and anything resembling a firearm is outlawed......but that still wont stop crime...after our guns are gone, what right will they take next?
Links:
WAC
NRA
WA Gunrights
No on I-594 Facebook
CCRKBA
About.com
This is the 5th and "final" post on the refinishing of my sporterized Arisaka rifle. Here are the links to the previous posts:
Introduction: Latest Gun Show Find
Part One: Dis-assembly/Assessment
Part Two: Trigger Guard/Magazine Mods
Part Three: The Stock
Part Four: Bluing
The final touches include some additional nitre blued parts and the jeweling of the bolt. Followed by the re-assembly of the gun.
I had to delay the jeweling of the bolt as I will need to build or buy a jig to complete that process. I also am delaying the checkering as I have yet to get familiar with the tools and do some practicing.
So I assembled the gun as is and took some final "finished" photos.
The bolt retainer side plate was nitre blued, sometimes you get rainbow or spots when quenching in the water
Before and after shots
Here you can see the trigger guard was tapered from front to rear, polished and then the screws were nitre blued
This picture shows the transformation of the cheek weld and comb. I made the cheek weld smaller, added flutes to the front of the comb, installed a modern recoil pad and refinished the walnut.
You can see the difference in the 1950's finish to what we do today. I much prefer a satin finish over high gloss, and lighter tones to the darker ones.
There is no doubt that one of the contributing factors to the North winning the Civil War was its ability to produce weapons. Most of the guns made in America, prior to secession, were made in the North or more specifically New England.
The states of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Connecticut made up the majority of gun manufacturing in the United States. What a difference a century and a half makes......
It is really a shame to see what has happened to the cradle of gun making. New York, New Jersey & Connecticut and the surrounding areas were once booming gun towns (some called the area "Gun Valley"). Companies like Colt, Marlin, Winchester, Ithaca, Ruger and others once supplied thousands of jobs to dedicated American craftsmen.
Thanks to gun control legislation in the northern states, those companies are relocating to greener pastures.
Les Baer Customs: One of the 1st gun manufactures to relocate due to anti-gun laws was Les Baer. They moved their operations from the anti-freedom state of Illinois to LeClaire, Iowa.
Lewis Machine & Tool: Five years on the heals of Les Baer's move, LMT is also making plans to relocate to Iowa. They are leaving Milan, Illinois for Davenport, Iowa.
Magpul: They officially announced that their headquarters and some manufacturing are moving to Texas, additional manufacturing will be performed in Cheyenne, Wyoming (not too far from their old Boulder address).
Remington: Remington has been manufacturing guns in Ilion, New York since 1816. While they are not closing the Ilion plant, They did relocate their headquarters to Madison, North Carolina.
They have also chosen a location outside the State of New York for their expansion facility. Mayfield, Kentucky will be the new home of some of Remington's products.
Remington's Ammunition is no longer made in the old UMC Bridgeport, Connecticut plant, those operations moved to Lonoke, Arkansas.
In addition Remington's "Techinical Center" has been moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Ruger: While Ruger is still headquarted in Southport, Connecticut; they no longer make anything there.
Their casting and manufacturing has been moved to Newport, New Hampshire and Prescott, Arizona. Ruger recently acquired a 220,000 sq ft production facility in Mayodan, North Carolina and have begun operations this year.
Beretta USA: Beretta made their US headquarters in Accokeek, Maryland in 1977. The welcome has worn out and due to anti-gun politicians in Maryland, Beretta will be relocating to a new state of the art, $45 Million facility in Gallatin, Tennessee.
Gun Parts Corp/Numrich Arms: Started in selling surplus guns and parts in the 1950's, they currently have over 1 Million cubic feet of stored merchandise in 7 warehouses in West Hurley, New York.
There are rumors that thanks to the New York S.A.F.E. Act Gun Parts Corp will be relocating to Pennsylvania.
Sarco Inc.: Another dealer in surplus guns and parts moved their operation from New Jersey to Easton, Pennsylvania.
American Tactical Imports: An importer of guns, including the GSG line, is moving its operations from Rochester, New York to Summerville, South Carolina.
Henry Repeating Arms: Has moved more of its rifle production from their Bayonne, New Jersey facility, to one in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. This was prompted by Hurricane Sandy, but I would venture to guess that future expansions will not take place in New Jersey.
PTR Industries: Makers of roller locked sporting rifles (FN-FAL copies) is moving its manufacturing and company headquarters to Anyer, South Carolina from the anti-gun Bristol, Connecticut.
O.F. Mossberg: Based in North Haven, Connecticut (former home of Marlin) has decided to expand its plant in Texas, rather than invest further in Connecticut. No announcement of moving the company headquarters, just yet.
Stag Arms: The AR rifle maker, famous for their left handed AR, cancelled plans to expand their New Britain, Connecticut facility and is now looking in other states. Rumor has it that Texas and South Carolina representatives have been courting Stag Arms. Stag Arms CEO Mark Malkowski has reportedly received over 100 offers to relocate his business.
Kahr Arms: The Pearl River, New York pistol manufacturer has plans underway to move it's entire operation to Pike County, Pennsylvania.
Ithaca Gun Company: Is no longer making guns in the upstate New York city from which they take their name. The company, under new ownership, and their production facility are now located in Sandusky Ohio.
Colt: is moving manufacturing of their Competition Series to Brekenridge, Texas from the old West Hartford, Connecticut location.
Downrange TV: While not a manufacture of guns, they are in the gun business. DR TV makes gun shows that air on the Outdoor Channel and have written letters expressing their displeasure with the new Colorado gun laws. Owner Michael Bane has suggested that he may move his production studio and operations to a more gun friendly state.
Although not for political reasons, Winchester's New Haven, Connecticut plant closed after 140 years of production. The rifles are now being produced, under license by Browning Arms (a subsidiary of FN Herstal), but not in Connecticut, rather from locations in Japan (Miroku), Belgium and Columbia, South Carolina.
Just when you think that is the end of the story, we hear word that there is a growing list of manufactures that refuse to sell guns to the State of New York or any municipality residing in New York.
This policy was started years ago by Ronnie Barret, when he refused orders for his .50 Cal rifles from the State of California, because his rifles were not legal for private ownership there.
The New York boycott list now numbers 144 and continues to grow, read about it here
The final word on this is that we now have law enforcement officers in New York, Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado and other states that have put down on paper their refusal to enforce unconstitutional gun laws. The CSPOA website has a list of 17 County Sheriffs who have committed to not enforcing unconstitutional gun laws.
References
Guns and Ammo
Wikipedia
Ruger
Fox Business
Constitutional Sheriff & Peace Officer's Association
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
A few years back I purchased this stock Ruger "old model" Vaquero at the gun show for $400, it was in like new condition and came with the original box. This was the start of my addiction to cowboy guns......
This Vaquero is chambered in .45 Colt and has a 4.62" (4 5/8") barrel. Blued barrel, cylinder and grip frame with the color case style finish on the frame.
As with most handguns the easiest and quickest upgrade is a set of stocks or grip panels. Here are three options from Ajax that I have collected over the years. Since this is an old model Vaquero, it uses the same grip frame that the New Model Blackhawks & New Model Single Sixes use. From left to right: Checkered rosewood with Fluer de lis & diamonds, Faux Ivory, and Faux Mother of Pearl. The flash really makes these grips look cheesy, they look much nicer in person.
Another great upgrade for these cowboy guns is the ejector rod. My gun came with the original button head style ejector, like the Blackhawks.
The new Vaqueros come with a "Colt-esque" crescent head ejector. The ad below shows some of the changes from the "old" Vaquero to the New Vaquero.
Swapping out the ejector rod is also an easy upgrade. I sourced an aftermarket one from MK Technologies (via Brownells) and a factory New Vaquero one from Ruger, here they are for comparison:
I chose to use the larger MK Technologies one on my full size Vaquero and the more diminutive new Vaquero one on my Vaquerito Single Six.
In addition I ordered an extra set of trigger/hammer pins and the cylinder release pin. I will Nitre Blue these and save the originals "just in case".
I wasn't going to nitre blue the cylinder base pin, but I won an auction on ebay for 14 base pins, and thought why not?
Here are the parts prepped for nitre bluing
In the pot they go, 590 degrees is the target temp.
Here are the old parts, next to the replacement nitre blued ones. The Nitre Bluing is extremely difficult to photograph
While performing the re-assembly and doing function checks I ran into a snag. The gun did not want to lock up or advance the cylinder.
I discovered that the spring and plunger that puts pressure on the cylinder lock was damaged.
A quick call to Ruger and a replacement spring and plunger were on their way.
Just a side note, Ruger has the best customer service a customer could wish for (although I would like to order the parts online instead of calling on the phone). Ruger would never let a few dollars in parts separate a Ruger owner from satisfaction.
Anyway, here is the old plunger next to the new replacement one:
The issue was not just with the plunger being cracked/broken, the hole was too tight for the new one to fit in as well.
A little work with a drill bit and some 220 grit paper wrapped around a punch and it fits like a glove.
Remember to put some oil down the hole and on the plunger.
The issue with the advancing of the cylinder was caused by incorrect installation. There is a small lip on the inside of the frame, if you do not seat the plunger all the way past the lip the plunger will not put pressure on the pawl.
So to wrap it up here is what we did:
- installed a new crescent shaped ejector
- Installed new Ajax Rosewood "Fleur de Lis" grip panels
- Corrected a factory defect with the cylinder lock mechanism
- Nitre blued:
- Cylinder base pin
- Trigger pin
- Hammer pin
- Cylinder base pin latch
The fit of the Ajax grips is not perfect, about what you should expect from mass produced panels.
Sources:
Ruger Vaquero parts
MK Technologies Ejector from Brownells
