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  1. #1351
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    Quote Originally Posted by AK-Gunner View Post
    Schaftol Extra Dunkel when I want deep figured colour, or Hell when all I want is the protection and sheen like I did with my Sako 70th anniversary .30-06. Don't want to add colour to light and figured walnut.


    That is a beautiful piece of wood and staining it would be near criminal! For an absolutely neutral colour, artists linseed works well too. It's super refined boiled linseed which is fairly quick drying and colourless.

  2. #1352
    Moderator Skaaphaas's Avatar
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by AK-Gunner View Post
    The process is slow but slow...
    My heart just skipped a beat.
    Sent electronically, thus not signed.

  3. #1353
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    Quote Originally Posted by AK-Gunner View Post
    That's incredible!

  4. #1354
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    Thanks guys

    About the other things concerning yours truly: as a part of a large joint exercise a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) arrives Helsinki today for a three day visit after which it will steam west to Hanko-area to continue exercises with the Finnish Navy and the other joint operational troops.


    Photo U.S. Navy via Wikipedia Commons



    It has been interesting getting to know USMC and U.S. Navy choppers and other aircraft not seen here before at this scale. BALTOPS 22 exercise including 14 NATO nations and partner nations Sweden and Finland is a part of a larger joint operation of which the primary mission objective from our viewpoint is to develop interoperability and compatibility between Finnish and US forces. There are other objectives which are obvious to those who are or have been with the military ops planning alas are not public information (this is not rocket surgery, really), but the intentional side effect is to show Mr. Putler we are really serious and so is the US military command which is now present here continuously in one form or other.

    To those who see this development as an 'aggression towards the friendly nation of Russia' or as 'waging war' I tell you just one thing and please figure the rest out by yourselves: Si vis pacem, para bellum.


    Busy but interesting times we live in.

  5. #1355
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    It's good to have friends and is good to remember them with little or sometimes big things, but it's also nice when they remember you. A good friend of mine thought that this 1956 vintage Belgian Jungle Smock would look better on me than him and he gave it to me as a present. The same smock was used by Rhodesian SAS and naturally by soldiers of fortune back in the day. Interestingly there's quite a bit of material on this garment in the Internets.


    My merc set is ready: Belgian Jungle Smock, Type 70 Commie Killing Canvas which holds 20 round M16 magazines quite nicely, a full auto M16A1 carbine, M7 bayonet with its M8A1 scabbard tied to the harness, a beret with no insignia and naturally an era-correct pair of Polaroid shades. Now all I need is a time machine...






    About reverting my .38 Super 1911 back to the original state with its internal safety features: success! I passed the word and as it just happened a peer told he's got a Series 80's firing pin set by Cylinder & Slide he don't need anymore and he sold it to me for very reasonable pile of dineros.


    A picture of the components (sans the plunger spring) I stole from the Internets: I was so exited with the idea of completely dismantling a 1911 (first time in 15 years maybe?) I forgot to take pictures during the process... Sorry...


    The parts are coated with moly-disulfide to make them slick to reduce trigger pull weight and to prevent untimely wear which creates creep. The golden look is a bit controversial, but maybe I should go full-retard and try to find all other parts similarly coated to pimp my gun with a bits and pieces of bling... The time will tell.


    Darn, I already ordered a set of black side plate screws from Brownells Finland, maybe I should've gone golden.










    How does the trigger feel? There is noticeable creep from the extra moving parts contacting each other before the trigger breaks, but I don't care as I've been shooting so much with my Glocks which feel very much the same or a bit worse. And when shooting in haste was it competition or a bar night gone awry, you will never notice any creep while sending lead slapping away with the trigger.


    I've been talking about programming your body and the possibility to revert to previous programmes. And this just happened to me. Now only for week I was shooting this 1911 and this 1911 only. Then on Monday this week I went to a pistol range with a student and took my Glock 19 for us both to shoot with... and I struggled to find the dot on my RDS. I was always pointing the gun high first and had to figure out where to turn the pistol (barrel down!) to find the dot, aim and ultimately fire.

    The same happened on Wednesday when I got out to the range with a shooting buddy: always aiming high first, until after a few dozen of times of looking like I was waving a fishing rod I began stroking the pistol straight to the battery. Then I realised what had happened: I had reverted back to 1911 grip angle with which I have shot way more shots than with my Glocks. But the programming effect with the 1911 has been enormous compared to my Glock-era, hence the rapid reversion back to my old comfort zone.

    The moment I got back home and my safe open, I took out the 1911, shut my eyes and executed my draw stroke and when I opened my eyes there it was, a perfect sight picture three dots in line and as level as possible. This is a bad case of cognitive dissonance, I don't know should I cry or laugh since I managed to mess up years of re-programming in a week, but then again at the time I've done something right since the original programming is branded with a hot iron so deeply into my synaptic connections it turns back on even with such a tiny stimulus.

    I know I have to begin working with the Glock again, but this time in parallel with the 1911 hoping I can in the near(ish) future go between these two weapon systems I've learned to appreciate without such a radical impact on my capability to run either systems.




    P.S. a note from my instructor side which I may have said before, but it suits well with this case of mine:

    I do strongly suggest when you go training your pistol or any other weapon system that you wouldn't shoot any other weapons but those you are actually training with. I know, guys get new guns and they urge you to check'em out and shoot a couple, but doing so you may wipe clean all the accumulated programming your body gained during that training. Remember, synapses are flashing and reconnecting for hours after the actual training, just like weightlifting is 'on' for a long time after you've done your heavy lifting.

    This is also why I tell students who leave from a training session a day before their shooting test to not to handle any firearms, anything with a pistol grip like a power drill before the test. This way the programming stays 'on' all the way until the load and make ready happens the next day.

    May sound dubious, but if it works, it works. There are a multitude of neurological studies which support my view if you wish to dig in into the neurological basis of this phenomenon.

  6. #1356
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    Just a quickie for the late Saturday evening... I was looking for another leather holster for my 1911's when I happened to find a holster which is a left over from a order for the Finnish Police Force plainclothes detectives years ago. Made by Hellweg from Australia, one of my favourite leather holster makers in the whole world. Too bad they don't make these anymore from real leather, but it's all plastic which is quite OK depending on the application.

    I do prefer sturdy leather holsters over plastic ones when carrying my gun concealed, because they are quiet when drawing or holstering the pistol plus if you happen to knock your holster on something hard like a door frame, being made of natural material they conceal well and who wouldn't find the sensation of leather touching your skin rather pleasing.


    The holster is originally meant for Beretta 92, but it accepts a cocked and locked 1911 nicely and keeps it positively at place. The Finnish Police Force logo is a cool detail, methinks...

  7. #1357
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    The Finnish Police Force logo is a cool detail, methinks...
    It is indeed. Enjoy the leather deal.

  8. #1358
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    Quote Originally Posted by AK-Gunner View Post
    Just a quickie for the late Saturday evening...

    and who wouldn't find the sensation of leather touching your skin rather pleasing.
    Gunsite has something everyone ;-)

  9. #1359
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    what can I say...


    But to the issue of Mark 1 eyeball. I got my eyes laser-operated back in 2000 and got rid of my glasses, but there is two things the surgery couldn't help with: the inevitable presbyopia and astigmatism. The previous caused me to lose my focus on the pistol front sight in my early 40's and the latter caused some peculiarities like inability to see the dot in certain short tubed dot sights as a sphere, but rather like an exploding star or some kind of kidney-like blob. One of the oddities has been my need to adjust my pistol rear sight way to the right regardless of the pistol, but back to this a bit later.

    I did fight back the ageing eyesight problem with a Leupold RDS on top of both of my Glocks, but then I re-invented my affection with 1911-family of pistols, actually I'm blaming my good friend who made me buy his .38 Super. What a jerk! This said, there's no way I'd install an RDS on either my .45 or .38 Super, hence I needed another solution...


    The Leupold is an OK product, but having extra bells and whistles on my pistol is a bit against my KISS-way of thinking...



    I had already thought about it, but never really made it happen but now I did it: bought myself shooting glass inserts with my prescription. The optician told me to bring my guns with me, so I took the .38 Super and the Glock 19 which represent the most used distance variation from my dominant eye to the front sight. So now the left eye the astigmatism correction and the right eye the same plus it has been focused on the front sight. What this does, now I can see both the target and the front sight sharp at the same time. Sounds like cheating, but as Clint says, 'Always cheat, always win'.

    I already had this so called 20/20 vision on my both eyes, but with the astigmatism correction the sharpness of my left eye is something phenomenal:

    'Can you see the letters on the middle row?"
    'I can tell you the bottom one: W, R, T , S, Q, X'
    'Showoff, that's the smallest test slide I've got, you don't need to see that well.'

    Took a week to have the lenses made and attached to the eyeglass insert, top quality crystal clear Hoya lenses with all them coatings, plus they are safety glasses by themselves.


    Look, no RDS... The package contained Wiley-X Saber safety glasses with three lenses and the eyeglass insert.


    ...and so I was 420 euros / R7000 poorer, but boy is shooting with irons easy. You can't miss! ...OK, I did at first: let's get back to my need to adjust the rear sight all the way to the right.


    So, I put back my iron sight on the Glock 19, all the way right as it previously was, stood 17 meters from a plate, took aim ('BOY! This is easy now!'), with all the confidence vested in me took a perfect textbook shot BOOM!

    Miss.

    'Wait, what...'

    BOOM!

    Miss.

    'OK, I know my shit...'

    BOOM!

    Miss.

    'This is getting awkward, think before the next shot.'

    And I did. I aimed at the left side of the plate and it was a hit... Immediately thereafter I adjusted the rear sight to the dead centre and the subsequent shots went BOOM - CLANG!


    A sigh of relief was in order...




    After 53 shots fired, three misses, alas not 50 clean hits after the adjustment: I had my 'did I leave the kettle on' moment and missed two shots at 17 meters. No glasses can fix poor concentration.



    Now I have to go through my stash of pistols and re-zero all of them. I'm also considering getting similar glasses for everyday use, but more about that project later...

  10. #1360
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    Default Re: Meanwhile back in Finland...

    Finally, the P54 project is finished Ran into some little bumps along the way, like because I reshaped the front part of the stock, the original sling swivel screw was way too long and because of its design, impossible to customise. And I also wanted to be able to use more modern quick attach swivels, so I had to come up with a plan.

    And I did. When you never throw anything away, you quite often have what you need if you use a bit of imagination.


    That screw-in bushing just happened to be exactly the correct diameter and even the thread was the same as with the original swivel screw...



    There it is, shortened to the correct length and I filed those slots so I could use a flat head screwdriver to drive it in.



    There it is, fastened with some Loctite...



    Sorry for the low quality of these working photos.





    But here she is. I was looking for classic Mauser aesthetics and I think I did manage to catch at least some of the old vibe.




    The traditional satin bluing is flawless.



    Now that I was at it, I made the barrel free floating...




    The new sling swivel studs...









    The front peep sight for lightweight barrel version uses the original front sight base.



    The near mint condition rear peep sight I bought from another Sako aficionado in Finland was a bolt-on solution, no refurbishing needed...



    All metal parts have been refinished.



    Palm cut for the guitar player's hand...



    And it still is more accurate than I am, mission: success.



    Well... What next?

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