ltwguns.com

Gentlemen;

I need your help. I am trying to find any information available about Brian Bilby's 10mm "Pocket Rocket". I am especially interested in barrel length, how he did the lock up and what springs he used. Pictures would be fantastic! I have done a search here and on every other major gun board I can find, but information is pretty sparse. I can only hope that someone here might own one. If you do, and if it isn't too much of an intrusion, please feel free to contact me with info on these fine pistols. Thank you for your time.

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Wayne Miller

Here is a link I found with pics. Interesting...

http://marina.fortunecity.com/harbour/347/acppr.html

Hope that helps.

-pete

Thank you!

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Wayne Miller

I have some pictures I could post but I can't get it to work by posting my imagestation account pics.

Here is a 10mm Pocket Rocket done by Brian Bilby



Here is another one:



This is a 10mm by Bilby but it is a 5" gun:



I have some more "Pocket Rocket" pictures but they are "Gladiators." Brian called the .45ACP version a Gladiator, the same as a Colt CCO basically.

Thanks. Interesting...so the Pocket Rocket was a 10mm CCO. I was always under the impression they were 10mm OACPs. And idea what spring weights we used?

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Wayne Miller

I'm not sure what weights Brian used but I have all of the parts together to do a 10mm Pocket Rocket build myself and I will be using a 22lb Commander recoil spring, 25lb Officer Mainspring and a squared EGW firing pin stop. Of course after built I will play with it but I think often times with 10mm guns people overspring. I may go to a 24lb spring depending on ejection but I don't want to beat the gun to death on the forward stroke.

The link from the above page to "Brent's 10mm Site" is dead, which is unfortunate as there were several Bilby guns on those pages. I have all of the pictures saved, there was even a 9x23 Winchester SVI 2011 that Bilby built.

I had talked to one of the guys by email that had an original Bilby 10mm Pocket Rocket. I will see if I still have the correspondence. IIRC, he did not know all of the spring weights.

Josh,

Thanks for the information. I had a 10mm CCO speced out with a parts list made out for both carbon and stainless steel, ready to push the button on the project. Then I stumbled across a NIB Kimber Stainless Compact in .40 S&W. My plan at this point is to shelf the CCO project and convert this Kimber Compact to 10mm using the techniques that have been developed over the years to keep from beating it to death. The EGW firing pin stop is a must, as is a 25 pound mainspring. The recoil spring is what is going to take some experimentation. I'll get started on it as soon as the Compact shows up from the seller and I can get the barrel rechambered from .40 to 10mm. When all is said and done, it should work out to be about $1,000 cheaper than a ground-up 10mm CCO built. Time will tell if this will be money well-saved.

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Wayne Miller

Is the Kimber Compact an Officer size gun? Thoroughbred Custom built a 10mm Officer that was in "On Target" magazine. I think I passed over the issue with that article over the weekend in the basement. I will check to see if it has spring weights listed. I would think that for an Officer I would try a 23lb or 24lb and adjust from there. I believe that the article was by Bob Rodgers who posts here, maybe you can PM him for info. I checked on the internet but the old website for Thoroughbred Custom is no longer active and the domain is for sale.

The Kimber Compact is based on the slightly longer 4" barrel similar to the Springfield Champion....basically between the OACP and the Commander. It uses a bull barrel without a bushing, adding mass and weight up front. At least one Kimber Pro-Carry (same top end, alloy Commander lower) has been converted to 10mm by someone over on the 1911 Forum. At least a benchmark exists that proves it is possible. After I get the mechanics figured out, I will probably have it prettied up and will post photos here. No photos? Well, you can assume the project didn't go quite as well as I had hoped.....

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Wayne Miller

I looked through my emails and Harold (owner of a Bilby Pocket Rocket 10mm) said it uses a 26lb recoil spring and he said the hammer spring feels lighter than the 23lb one in his Delta Elite. He also uses a Heitt (sp) Shok Buff.

Like I said, I plan to use a 22lb spring for mine and possibly move up to a 24lb if needed, but I will also be using a heavier 25lb hammer spring (mainspring).

He said he has over 9000 rounds through his and it is still as tight as day one.

So the Kimber Compact is basically a Commander less a 1/4" of slide and barrel? Coincidentally I have all but about $200 worth of parts to build a stainless steel 10mm Commander.

We can trade pics when we're done building LOL.

Does anyone here know Brian only made one Pocket Rocket in .45 (there is a second pocket rocket in .45 BUT Dane Burns completed it as it was mid build when Brian left us)

I bet whoever has that one is real happy!!!

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Kentucky Colonel, Tennessee Squire & Combat Leprechaun
"You won't rise to the occasion - you'll default to your level of training." Barrett Tillman

Real happy except for the Dane Burns part.

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"Semper Fi"

No I meant the guy who has the only one that was done 100% by Brian must be happy...

Now, what is it about Dane that upsets people?
I have a friend who met Dane years ago and had a gun done by him which my buddy loves. I really know nothing about him other than seeing his website.

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Kentucky Colonel, Tennessee Squire & Combat Leprechaun
"You won't rise to the occasion - you'll default to your level of training." Barrett Tillman

Sorry guys, this is a VERY old thread. Dane Burns is not here to present his side of any discussion, so let's leave him out of it.

Feel free to discuss the Pocket Rocket in a new topic.

--Mark