Hillbilly lathe

[Hookeye]

Bud lost his trigger group pin on his Mossberg 500.

Got some 3/16 rod and needed to cut two grooves in it.
Rather than run to my dads and mess with the lathe, I went redneck tech.

Popped a pin from another 500 and marked the groove spacing with a fine tip sharpie on my steel. Cut the chunk longer than the original.

Chucked it in a cordless drill and laid it on its side. Held down on bench by hand. Using other hand, fired up a Dremel with just right sized abrasive wheel.

Made two cuts, right spacing and then cut it down and ground to proper length.........well, one side from outer groove edge to end of pin is different by .005".

Tried it, it works fine. He can run it till the new factory one arrives and then have a spare

Thought it rather funny. It's a beater 500 so it's not gonna hurt the collector value or aesthetics

 

[rightwinger]

its amazing what the mind of a determined hillbilly can accomplish

 

[Hookeye]

Not perfect but usable

 

[handgun]

Sometimes you just have to improvise.. Looks good!

 

[Dargasonus]

I've seen some pretty impressive work with a bench-top drill press as well

 

[DanVoils]

Stuff like this always seem to start with an "Aw-****" as in Aw ****, I lost my pin!
Great job. Did you sharpie it to make it match?

 

[DanVoils]

Oh BTW those pins are also called Jesus pins. You've heard the expression "Jesus, did you see where that pin went?" He also has clips, nuts, springs, washers, bolts....... and lots of other things that seem to just disappear into thin air.

 

[Hillbillyblood]

Heck Fellers, that's just another example of Hillbilly Art!

 

[blamecharles]

Oh BTW those pins are also called Jesus pins. You've heard the expression "Jesus, did you see where that pin went?" He also has clips, nuts, springs, washers, bolts....... and lots of other things that seem to just disappear into thin air.

for the gifs

 

[beararms1776]

Not perfect but usable

Nice job!

 

[sloughfoot]

I have made flat springs out of feeler gauges.

 

[Fullmag]

A country boy will survive.

 

[hrearden]

Love expedient solutions that work as well as the originals. lol. I would have been lazier and used a bolt with a nut. You could use a soft washer (cut from material of course) to save the receiver as you dont really need tension on it. The rod just needs to be there.

 

[Hookeye]

Thanks for the compliments.

I almost didn't post the pic since I didn't match up the end bevels, its kinda sloppy, but learned a long time ago that when it's "good enough" you stop right there.

And it is a temp part for a Mossberg

Coloring was with old (and probably contaminated cold blue). Quick splash.

FWIW I once lost the bolt handle to my Rem 1100 and made an exact copy (borrowed a buds) from a chunk of brass, using a couple of files. Too pimp, I went to Lengels and got factory part- they asked where I bought the shiny one.

On this rig, I could have possibly used a 3/16 coarse pitch screw body and had the threads act as containment grooves. Or used a button head bolt and nut, with Delrin washers under head/nut.

I've made much better looking pins and parts, but not with opposing hand held power tools (all prev just by hand). Next one I'll video, for comedic value only

 

[SSGSAD]

Sometimes you just have to improvise.. Looks good!

Improvise, adapt and OVERCOME..... Are you sure you wern't a MARINE ?????

 

[88E30M50]

The ability to improvise like this is what will get you through the crisis over the next 10 years. Nice work.

 

[Hookeye]

Improv or laziness?

My dad has a lathe.........buried in his garage.



Now about that busted fuel filter bracket on the Jeep, where my filter is currently in a hammock of zip ties.............

I don't mind hillbilly solutions as long as they work and are safe.

Seen a lot of sloppy redneck tech on guns and other, that are of no benefit. The thread somebody else posted about that junk was pretty good

BTW, since my Gunkote hasn't come in yet, and turkey season is just around the corner, I flat blacked my 1100 bolt with wheel paint last night. I'm gonna GC the entiere receiver, bbl and bolt later so just had to knock off the shine for a day or so. Haven't checked the paint's resistance to Remoil yet.

If it comes off too easy then I'll redo and shoot it with clear, as that stuff has worked well on my stock paintjobs.

 

[wetidlerjr]

...Using other hand, fired up a Dremel with just right sized abrasive wheel...

[cop voice]Please back away from the Dremel![/cop voice]