Paper nest material for muzzle loaders
By Jim With the cooler months of the year coming up, this means muzzle loader season will be on us soon. One of the things I want to...
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Coastal Defense
- Aug 14
- 2 min
Remington 8 and 81 barrel jacket mysteries
By Jim The Remington model 8 and 81 series semi auto rifles have been obsolete for a long time, but there’s still a number of them out in...
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Coastal Defense
- Jul 28
- 4 min
Loading for an antique 10 gauge
By Jim I like to turkey hunt with my old Colt 10 gauge. It’s the perfect thing for Fall gobblers in Maine. But it’s truly difficult to...
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Coastal Defense
- Jul 27
- 2 min
Loading for British revolvers.
By Jim It’s no secret that I like the old antique firearms. Half the fun of having older guns is the research involved and making the...
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Coastal Defense
- Jul 22
- 3 min
Blow tubes, moose milk, and related ramblings.
by Jim Modern guns are pretty awesome. What’s not to like ? With modern smokeless powders and non corrosive primers, you can shoot your...
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Coastal Defense
- Jul 18
- 2 min
Building a 1911
By Jim This blog will NOT be anything more than hitting the highlights of building a custom Commander length 1911 on a full sized frame....
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Coastal Defense
- Jun 15
- 1 min
Lightning bolt custom rifle
by Jim A customer had an unusual request. He had seen a picture of the Lichtenberg burning process and wanted to see if it could be...
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Coastal Defense
- Jun 15
- 1 min
Lichtenberg burning.
by Jim In this short video, I’m demonstrating the Lichtenberg burning process on a piece of broken gun stock for practice. By wiring a...
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Coastal Defense
- May 22
- 2 min
Repairing a broken stock.
By Jim It happens sometimes. You have an antique rifle or shotgun that’s been a little abused, and the toe gets broken off the stock....
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Coastal Defense
- Apr 24
- 2 min
Cleaning your guns with a potato
By Jim Ok, I know what you’re thinking about here. Old Jim is off his rocker…. Maybe so but not in this case. When I have a valuable...
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Coastal Defense
- Dec 14, 2023
- 1 min
Forging an acorn shaped bolt knob
By Jim I start off with a piece of round bar stock that I keep on hand. Square bar stock is fine too. Doesn't matter because I'm...
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Coastal Defense
- Nov 25, 2023
- 2 min
Restoring a Colt #2 derringer
By Jim Colt made derringers from about 1870 to 1890, after buying out Brooklyn's National Arms Co. for their derringer designs. Sources...
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Coastal Defense
- Oct 11, 2023
- 2 min
Making .55 caliber shotgun shells
By Jim This is the process of making obsolete shotgun shells for a Frank Wesson two trigger single shot shotgun type 2. It's unusual in...
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Coastal Defense
- Oct 11, 2023
- 1 min
Repairing a model 8 part 2
By Jim Continuing with the repairs on the model 8 Remington, the normal wear on parts that are 100 years old has created some tolerance...
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Coastal Defense
- Oct 5, 2023
- 2 min
Repairing a Remington model 8
By Jim I recently had a Remington model 8 in the shop in need of some repairs. It had a broken firing pin, but I noticed some other...
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Coastal Defense
- Aug 24, 2023
- 1 min
Repairing a firing pin 1871 Rolling Block pistol
By Jim This Remington pistol came into the shop with a broken firing pin. We ordered a replacement, but the diameter of the firing pin...
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Coastal Defense
- Aug 18, 2023
- 2 min
Spencer carbine conversion
By Jim Christopher Spencer wanted to get his new gun adopted by the Army during the American Civil War. But he wanted to bypass the...
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Coastal Defense
- Aug 16, 2023
- 1 min
Test firing an 1833 Type II Hall / North carbine
By Jim Test firing the Hall carbine after minor repairs. This carbine was issued to the 2nd US Dragoons regiment in Florida during the...
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Coastal Defense
- Aug 16, 2023
- 1 min
A Hall / North carbine
By Jim This is a fairly rare carbine. It's a Hall patent made by Simeon North of Middlebury CT. It is an 1833 Type II. This particular...
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Coastal Defense
- Jul 27, 2023
- 2 min
A method of crowning a muzzle
By Jim Sometimes a barrel needs to be cut down in length to make a handier carbine out of it. Hunters especially like to have a rifle...
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