Posted: 3/13/2005 7:08:20 AM EDT
| No custom Paras here? Just wondering. |
| I will be soon. I have several projects I'm doing that are all full house guns (a Springfield GI, two Colt Deltas, a Springfield Compact, and a Browning Hi-Power). I figure the Para will get done somewhere in there, but probably not first. Between work and my family, I get to do gunsmithing about 8 hours every other week. |
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Sounds like me, I get home on holiday and go full-out trying to comple all the projects that have been building up. Only real time I get is during X-mas, and then trying to get me out of the shop is not going to happen unless it's warm enough to shoot. The Delta's sound like fun projects, What do you have in store for them? |
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I have not figured out one of them. The other is going to get: Heinie Straight Eights, Wilson 299 hammer, Ed Brown grip safety and ambi, Briley flat mainspring housing, Morris magwell silver soldered on, Bar-Sto barrel, front strap high gripped and checkered 20 lpi, rear of slide serrated 40 lpi, front cocking serrations, French cuts on the slide, custom French walnut grips, Ed Brown hex head grip screws, Greider solid trigger, slide and frame fitted, trigger job, reliability job, carry bevel job, new Wolff springs throughout, a new guide rod and plug, and a high polish blue. I'm really debating if I'm going to do it next, or my Springfield GI. I did a very nice Para last year for my best friend. If he gets back from Iraq anytime soon, I'm going to get some pics of it and post here. |
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Take it easy on lighten up the slide on the 10mm. Stock recoil spring is 24LB, and the lighter the slide, the stronger the spring needed. A couple of slant cuts are one thing, but when you start scalping the slide (inside or out) you loose a lot of weight really quick. Myself, I would limit the cuts to charging grip points and melting for the rear sight. Going buck wild on the slide in regards to lighting cuts should be limited for 9/38 slides with comp'd barrel (13 lb recoil spring range). As for the French cut, the downfall I see to them on a Blued pistol is that it just another edge that wants to wear really fast from the holster (lose of blueing). Myself, I would limit this to a SS slide if it were going to be a Competition pistol (run the sides polished, and blast the top surface with 200 oxide to French grey it with a no sheen matt finish. www.burnscustom.com/showphoto.php?basePath=albums/burnscustom2&imageName=abr.sized.jpg&imageCap=&originType=package&originName=The+Arena&originFile=arena.php Note, this one looks like it was blasted with sand @ around 20lbs from a distance, then reblasted with 275 glass bead to lighten up the sand pitting. |
| The only thing I'm doing to the slide is cutting the cocking serrations, French cuts, and serrating the rear. There will be no lightening cuts. It should shave about 1/10th of an ounce off the slide, which amounts to nothing. I'll still run a 24lb. spring. I've done this a few times before. As for bluing wear, I don't mind. I can always reblue it later. Bluing salts last forever. |
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SWEET!!!! It may not be a SV/SVI/STI, but I would take one as a base gun to be modified into a hard use gun any day. I think Paras are under estimated when it comes to building a good custom gun. I really like what Novaks does to P14s. What beavertail do you have on there? It does not look like the factory part. Is it a Baer,or S&A, by chance? I really like the undercut on the frontstrap. Whoever did it has good taste. |
Ed Brown,I think.S&A mag well,SV hammer and sear and mr.dremal(sp) on the front strap. The best way to get a good Para is to check with the local IPSC club or at the big IPSC maches.You can find a para with all the work done and hi-cap mags for a very good price. |
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I got a good used one a couple weeks ago. I wanted a stock one. There are not too many smiths in Phoenix that do top notch work, and I want it modified a certain way. Not to mention, I've seen some pretty horrible amateur gunsmithing from the local IPSC guys here. So, after the Dremel tool, did you bead blast it? It looks very nice from the pic. |
Thanks,I did the bevertail and under the trigger guard to remove as much metal as I could then used a crytex bit to blend everthing together. After that it went to Chekmate.They polished the slide flats and bead blasted everything else,before the hard chrome. The frame on the para is too soft to take a good polish. Also had the mags polished and hard chromed. You can see yourself in them. Did you get a .40 or .45? |
