ltwguns.com

Is it not time to start generating a little interest in the LTW booth at SHOT?

I can only surmise that my LTW bretheren are in the same boat as I am-- as usual-- hurrying and scurrying to get it done in time for the show!

I am not so keen on showing work in process but until this comes back from refinishing next week, I thought I'd share a little bit of the workup to the finished product.

TOX:


Frame rails welded and recut. Slide rails had to be recut. As-was, they were very out of parallel and wavy. One side was tapered to smaller in front, the other, larger in front. Width was wide in back, narrow at the front. No choice but to recut them straight, smooth, and parallel, and then make the frame match the cuts. A ton of work! But the resulting fit made is seem worthwhile. Frame has been drilled for my ESPT plunger tube.


I had to recut many, many things on this 10mm. There was a certain timeframe where it seems Colts were particularly variable, and of the several 10mm's I've worked on, they have seemed to suffer this even moreso than other calibers. I did a lot of line straightening on this one-- something I don't always bother with, but on this one they really needed it. Talking about where several cuts around the trigger guard intersect the flat sides of the frame. I recut all of these. Where the dust cover radius meets the flats, the line was radically out of parallel to everything else and had to be filed in. The slots that the mainspring housing slides up into were waaaay off center, such that a new mainspring housing could not fit. The frame wall thickness at the butt was .018 thicker on one side than on the other. All of this makes cosmetic perfection impossible until fixed; it also causes certain other mods to look radically off-center when they really are not. So-- the only option-- fix them before you can go on.

Also-- and not uncommon-- the cut inside the frame for the trigger bow was off center enough from the mag chute that the trigger bow was protruding into the mag chute, making trigger pull and function susceptible to drag on a magazine whenever one was inserted. The only solution: recut it:


While most of the gun is out for refinish, I'm doing a few final touches in some of the other areas:

I can't wait, especially once I saw the Delta logo!

_________________
Graduate:
Pat Rogers EAG Carbine Operators Course
Thunder Ranch Team Tactics Course

Dang, This will be the first year in the past 10 my wife and I cannot make it to Shot. Best to all and we are going to miss the folks at the LTW booth. That was the highlight of the show.

_________________
Be safe and keep the brass flying

Terry Peters

Do your research but you get what you pay for front end or back end
http://www.pt-partners.com
@ptpartners_tx

Stop it, Ned, just stop it. I have an unaltered 10mm in the safe. This is just cruel temptation.

Final stoning around the ejection port:


And dolling-up the safety. Fitting the mechanical part of the safety and matching the back radius to the radius of the frame's rear sweep, and perfecting the up-down detent efforts can take anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple hours. Getting those efforts perfect-- crisp, no bounce-back, not too light but not too stiff-- I'll put more into that than getting the trigger just right some times.

Then I go to a lot of trouble to reshape things into what I feel is the optimum safety lever profile. It just so happens that (to my eye and thumb), what makes it work better also makes it look better: swooping and blending the surfaces where the lever "grows" out of the safety's body; wrapping the serrations around the back, angling the top serrated surface down slightly as opposed to being perfectly perpendicular to the frame; wrapping the serrations slightly downward at the front; reshaping the lever profile as viewed from the top, to make it more compatible to the human hand (usually not done for off-planet customers); and finally, adding some kind of serrations or texture to the underside, wrapping partially up the very outside of the lever, since, after all, for ever time we take the safety off, we're probably gonna be putting it back on again. There's another 50 to 90 minutes on the safety.

If the gun is getting a Parkerized or Parkerized then Gun Kote or something similar finish, I'm done with the safety. If it's a polished blue, well, then the flats of the safety and the rear radius that matches the frame gets polished. Then the polished parts get masked so the lever can be matted by abrasive blasting (helps with traction). Then it gets unmasked and if any little flaws are evident, it's touch-up time. Maybe some masking lifted and some matting occurred in a polished area.... so-- repolish that area. If in repolishing I accidentally run onto a matted area, remask and reblast. It is tedious and painstaking work! So-- polished blue, to the safety alone, might add another 45-75 minutes.

Adding this up I have just said a safety alone might take 4.75 hours. I don't think I ever actually spent that much on one (but sometimes it sure seems like it).

We need to fix that first photo...missing some of the URL on the end - should be .jpg I believe.

_________________
I will never forget you Lou......February 21, 2009

John Ralston
5 SHOT LEATHER, LLC - Finely Crafted Custom Handgun Leather

http://www.5ShotLeather.com

Daybreak, Friday, finds Major Tox and his beautiful assistant, Dolly, in a bit of a hurry:

"Twist with all you've got Doll, they're gaining on us!"

"Jeepers, it's almost as if Chavez's henchmen didn't like us blowing up their shiny new Kalashnikov factory! I don't think they cared much for us emptying that vault, either........"

"Well, I think what really put 'em over the top was the laxative you put in the water. That was just plain mean!"

"Maybe, but it might just be what saves our bacon so we can drop this cash off at the orphanage before we swim back out to the mini-sub-- look, they've stopped and they're all running for the weeds!"



This Delta Elite has been tested with a pretty wide variety of ammo, from 200 grain Hornday XTP's on down to 46 grain, yes that's 46 grain, Mag Safes. Also shown, a couple of the bits-- Tungsten DLC'd Series 80 levers, trigger with lightened bow and shoe, permanently locked OT screw.

I am SOOOoooo going to smudge this piece with my fingerprints ALL over it.....

_________________
CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Note to self, bring mini-straight jackets for C.T.'s fingers.

Or make him wash the PB&J off first.

Ned, I've crawled out from under my rock and I'm coming to SHOT specifically to drool on that pistol!

Seriously, I can't wait to see my "old" friends. You know, I don't yet own anything in 10mm...

Come on Ned, more pics!
Now you're just being a tease

_________________
www.universal-outfitters.com

Well, Major Tox had the gun out for a shake-down, but he brought it back in tonight for a little cleaning. He looked like hell, as if he hadn't slept for days.... didn't say much but when I griped about how dusty the gun was he said something about an impromptu motorcycle tour of a capital city in the Middle East.

I'll have some all-together pics tomorrow, but I snapped this one as I reassembled the slide: The Series 80 safety parts. The levers are polished and T-DLC'd, and the plunger has a Number One diamond finish on the working surface and then was hard chromed..... all in the interest if minimizing the Series 80 system's influence on the trigger pull.

Left side overall view. thanks to Glenrock Blue for the flawless bluing on this one!


MSH and grip safety FRAG'd, with a little roundiness at the bottom.


Top side-- Shield Driver sight, Kart barrel... hammer is lightened and the face stoned nice and flat & smooth, then chromed.


The mag well..... FLH style.


Fronstrap FRAG, had some little FRAGs left over so I put them on the mag catch....


I like this part..... bet the Major will too. Barrel bushing, recoil spring plug, hammer, hammer strut, and barrel were chromed by a good friend of mine who wishes to remain anonymous.


BTW.... that awesome piece of granite under TOX ws a mighty fine gift from ltwtcmdr years ago. I don't know how it is I never thought about using it for photos before, but rest assured it has always had a prominent place of honor in the shop!

Wow, that is a beauty! The frag treatment looks awesome and really grows on me each time I see it. As usual, a work of art!

_________________
Graduate:
Pat Rogers EAG Carbine Operators Course
Thunder Ranch Team Tactics Course

Love the Grip Safety and Backstrap! Looks awesome.

_________________
I will never forget you Lou......February 21, 2009

John Ralston
5 SHOT LEATHER, LLC - Finely Crafted Custom Handgun Leather

http://www.5ShotLeather.com

Fragin awesome! Major TOX needs a promotion maybe ltcol? or ltwtcol?

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www.derrprecision.com

Wish I'd said that. Cool Delta Mr. Christiansen.

_________________
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
Thunder Ranch THG & UR(x2), Gunsite 250C,
Yavapai Firearms Acad HG1(x2), HG2, & SG,
Shootrite Prvt Inst HG, NRA Life Member

Kewl!

_________________
Aubrey<><

Absolutely stunning piece of steel....

The frags never get old. I like that they are starting to spread to the beavertail. Really amazing work Ned.

WOW!!! Amazing

Just mean looking. Makes me want to go hog hunting with it.

Nice, stuff!

_________________
Thanks in advance,

Chris

http://www.combatprecision.com
info@combatprecision.com
Facebook/CombatPrecision

Only 2 days until I get to fondle this!


BTW - Just noticed how you aligned the Frags on the Front Strap with the Frags on the Grips - VERY NICE!

_________________
I will never forget you Lou......February 21, 2009

John Ralston
5 SHOT LEATHER, LLC - Finely Crafted Custom Handgun Leather

http://www.5ShotLeather.com

Should have snuck over to Glenrock.... Could have had it returned with finger smudges, need to bribe Phil with more whiskey I guess. I'll just have to see it in a day or two. Ned you never cease to amaze.

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https://www.graffcustom.com/

They really are contagious!

Got a chance to check this out at LTW booth, beautiful!!

+1 the 10mm is amazing in person... no Ned at the booth... but the 10mm is incredible.

Jeffvn

Gaw blimey, that's the absolute bollocks !

I noticed the aligning of the Frag on the grips and frontstrap/msh too, guessing that doesn't happen by accident.
Saw this at the booth, looked beautiful (as did all the other work), but these detail shots really story the craftsmanship and care that go otherwise unnoticed from the outside

Nice work fella !

This was one of the neatest pieces I saw at the show! I really like the frag treatment!

Sorry about the drool spots!