Z-TARD

I've just finished building up a longslide 1911 out of an 80% receiver made by KT ordnance http://www.ktordnance.com. All together I have about $650 into the project, most of it purchased from Ebay. I took it to the range today for function testing only, expecting at least a few glitches to show up. I need to adjust the sights slightly to the left, and thats it. It left one ragged hole about 3.5" around at 25 yards.... Not bad for a 100 round group. No FTF or FTE at all. The ejected cases only fly about a foot away, but they eject every time. For the money you could spend on the Rock Island 45 to make it just the way you want it, you could probably build up your own from a kit. The new receivers/frames KT Ordnance makes are about $100 more than the one I bought, but they have the mag well and plunger tube already built in. These would cost about $100 anyway. Heres a pic of the frame as it comes mailed to your doorstep: Just some food for thought, Mike

I would think that 1/4" or 3/8" steel plate would work just as well as 1/2" unless you are working on some seriously heavy parts. Using the 1/2" plate would make it a very sturdy platform for mounting a vise to though. 2" square tubing with 1/8" wall thickness would work pretty well for the legs. Some more square tubing cross bars somewhere along the length of the legs would make it very stout. For what it's worth, the one I use at work is 6X6 foot, made of 3" thick waffle cut steel plate. It weighs almost 6000 pounds, I know this because it makes the rear wheels on a 6K forklift bounce off the ground when lifting it. It's a nice table to have, but it's serious overkill. Hope this helps. Mike

I have a Charles Daily 1911 that was made in PI. After a little work on the feed ramp it cycles awesome with everything but hollow points. Totally reliable and accurate gun as long as you use FMJ ball ammo. It will shoot 3" groups at 25 yards, probably even tighter if someone with better eyes than mine were shooting it. Even if most of the Rock Island gun is crap, it's super easy to replace parts on the 1911. As long as it has a steel frame, your'e good to go. Mike

I never really considered shooting one off the shoulder until I looked at the test fire video on the Safety Harbor Firearms website. Theirs weighs 14 pounds, and the muzzle brake looks quite effective in the video. I can also attest to the effectivenes of the brake on the Armalite gun. After shooting several rounds through my friends, I decided to start shooting my 300 WM again. After getting used to the light recoil of the Armalite, the first round I shot in my remington sent the scrope crashing back into the bridge of my nose because I wasn't ready for the heavier recoil. The only thing I would change about the Armalite is the trigger pull. It was just a tad too heavy for my taste, but I seem to remember reading that trigger components for the AR-15 will also work in the AR-50. Match triggers are pretty easy to find for the AR-15.

I've been thinking quite a bit about this as well. Now is definitely the time to buy one if you're serious about it. There are several reasons I haven't bought one yet. First is the initial cost, it's really difficult to find one for under $2000. Ammunition is also pretty expensive, mil surp goes for about $2 and up per round, and match grade stuff is normally around $5 or $6 per round. Reloading components are also pretty expensive, making it an expensive gun to shoot no matter how you do it. The weight of the gun is also an issue. I'd never shoot a 50 BMG off hand, but I'd like the option of doing so. My freind had an Armalite AR-50 that weighed 36 pounds. There was no way you could swing it up and shoulder it. Shooting had to be from either prone position, or benched. Accuracy from the same gun was fairly dissapointing when shooting surplus ammo as well. Finding a good solid scope for the 50 can be a problem, these things chew up $40 chinese scopes like Oprah chews up Twinkies. There are also several reasons to forget about the cost, weight, and so-so accuracy of a BMG. The feeling of having a howitzer bark fire while sitting behind it is awesome (as long as it has an effective muzzle brake). Your eyes water, your nose runs and you feel slighlty disoriented after every shot. The only thing I've experienced that tops it is watching live fire exercises of a 5" gun on a destroyer from about 100 feet away. It's also really fun to have your freinds stand behind you and slightly to the side when firing. The muzzle brake directs the blast right at them, blowing off hats and sunglasses. The sound of a 50 is another selling point. The muzzle brake changes it from what is normally a large booming sound to something more metalic, like a huge gong being hit by a bus. People shooting on either side of you will normally pack up and leave after giving you dirty looks for a few minutes. Downrange performance is where the BMG really shines. I once had a friendly game of rock shooting with another friend of mine who's dad had the Barrett 1982A1. The rocks we were shooting at were determined by laser rangefinder to be 1100 yards away. We picked out a rock that was about 4 feet in diameter and started sighting in at it. My 300 win mag was raising little puffs of dust of the surface of it, up until the point when my friend finally got on target and split in half with the Barrett. Heres some links to the ones I've been thining about getting: http://www.safetyharborfirearms.com/ http://www.serbu.com/ http://ferret50.com/ http://www.watsonsweapons.com/50bolt.htm Good luck with your purchase, let us know how it shoots. Mike

Damn! It looked like that when you got it? It almost looks unissued. Nice purchase. My enfield should be in next week, 10 days after that I get to take it home and start the all weekend long process of scrubbing off cosmoline. Come to think of it, I've probably spent more time scrubbing all my enfields than actually shooting them..... Mike

The .30-378 is huge IIRC. Almost looks ridiculous, like a BB loaded into the end of a milk bottle. What kind of muzzle brake are you going to use for it? I've shot an Armalite AR-50, and the muzzle brake on it was extremely effective. It was like shooting a 308 with slow burning powder, just a long gentle shove. Anyone standing to either side when that thing goes off will tell you a different story though. :)I've been toying around with the idea of getting one of the new Remington Ultra Mag rifles to build a long range boomstick out of. Something like the Dakota T-76 Longbow http://www.geocities.com/landofsnipers/weapons/t76dakota.htm If I ever get around to it, I'll most likely end up fabricating a brake based on the Armalite design.

Hey Aux, was it you that had the problem with racoons fornicating outside your window a few months back? If so, seems like you found a possible solution......

Sweet! Looks like a very compact package. My favorite bullpup design is the Walther WA-2000: Nice way to get a long barrel into a short rifle. The only drawback I've noticed when shooting a bullpup design is that they tend to make my eyes water from the gases coming out along with the spent cases. My brother had a M-17 Bushmaster bullpup in .223 that was fun to shoot for the first 20 rounds or so, after that I could barely see. My next rifle will most likely be yet another Enfield. Probably a junk one from Big 5 Sporting Goods if I can find it. I found a cool conversion from Rhineland Arms http://www.rhinelandarms.com/ that converts to a .45 ACP. A lot cheaper to shoot, and a lot easier on the shoulder as well.

Thats the cool thing about talking guns on a car forum: The guys in black helicopters will never look here

Just ordered another No.4 Mk1 Enfield 303 yesterday. This one will be my fourth. These things are like potato chips, you can't have just one. With decent ammo and a little bedding work on the stock, these will routinely group around an inch at 100 yards. Mike

Awesome rifle Aux. I'm sure it will need some clean up, like any surplus rifle. I hope it turns out as nice as your Mauser and Nagant did. You still need to go get an Enfield No4 while they are still available. Military Gun Supply has them for $109 http://www.militarygunsupply.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=CRBR4 Probably the best bolt action military rifle ever made, IMHO. For anyone interested in getting a C&R FFL, you can order the form on this website: http://www.atf.gov/dcof/index.htm Fill it out, turn it in along with a $30.00 fee, and upon approval you can have C&R eligible firearms shipped directly to your front door for 3 years. It pays for itself the first time you buy a gun without having to pay the transfer fee to a regular FFL holder. I'm just waiting until I have a more permanent address to turn mine in. Mike

Check out the video link on this page http://www.gofastvideo.com/gallery/item/predownload/332/1/free-racing-videos/goped-versus-firechicken.html And all this time, I thought my Z was the ultimate light weight- high horsepower death machine..... Mike

How many project cars do you have now anyway? There are 12 step programs available....... Mike

In the picture on his site, it sure looks like the rotor is on the outside of the hub. With only 1mm difference between the 240 hub and the trailer hub, I'm pretty sure this would work I'm not positive, but I think the picture of the 5 lug hub on the MM site is actually one of his Z-31 hubs, which do mount the rotor on the backside. I think the Modern Motorsport kit is absolutely awesome, the only thing that keeps me from getting it is the cost of the aluminum hubs. I don't plan on doing any auto-x or serious racing with my car, so the weight savings is not really an issue. It looks like these might work as a cost effective alternative to the aluminum hubs, and would still be able to use the rest of the components of Ross's excellent kit. I have a set of Cobra rotors if you need any measurements. Mike

Looks like he it just ramped itself up there using the garage door. Probably couldn't duplicate that stunt even if you wanted too. Either that, or an entire football team hand carried it into the garage and gently placed it on the 360, then broke the tail light on the way out to make it look like an accident.

I'll trade you 12 pairs of random shoes from my girlfriends side of the closet for them. Final offer. I also have an 11 year old siamese mix cat (Also the chicks) that I'm willing to trade for any other cool stuff you have. Please email me...... Mike

If these are the same offset as the original 240 hubs, then there is a good possibility that they might work with the 13" Mustang Cobra rotors and PBR calipers with the brackets from Modern Motorsports. The aluminum 5 lug hubs Ross sells for those brakes are the same offset as the original 240 hubs, IIRC. Heres a link for the MM Cobra hubs: http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=60 Yup, zero offset. This is getting interesting. Heres the brake kit with the adapters: http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=61 Might be worth comparing against the stock hub just to see how close the offset really is. Mike

The rear bumper/s on that are pretty cool. Dana 44 rear? Might have a Jag rear end, as I seem to remember some of them using a dana diff. Your'e right though, kinda pricey. It's unfortunate that the V-8 conversion detracts so much from the value of our cars. I'm sure that guy has at least that much tied up in the project, but a realistic value for that car is probably quite a bit less than asking price. I'd definitely grab it if I won the Powerball lotto though. Mike

Better yet, keep going to work, but just stop WORKING at work. See how long it takes before you get fired. I did this for a few weeks at my job, but it seems that the Navy just doesn't care if I work or not. I din't get fired . Let us know if you decide to go this route, should make for some interesting reading.... Mike

Looks like one good engine rev would send it tumbling sideways. I'll take two please.

Did he check his dilithium crystals for proper magnetic flux readings? That should fix it right up..... Mike

I had this same problem with mine a few years back. Since I lacked the motivation at the time to properly troubleshoot and fix the problem, I went with the extreme solution: Installation of SBC with T-56 tranny. Started on that about 4 years ago and the car hasn't moved under it's own power since... Wish I would have known about this site back then. Good luck with the slave cylinder, it sounds like you're headed in the right direction. Mike

The fronts are 9" with 245/45-17", rears are 10.5" with 275/40-17". I'm using the front hubs from the 300zx, which add about .75" to the track width on each side. My front wheels barely tuck into the fender at a fairly high ride height, lowering would make them rub quite a bit I'd imagine. Once I get the fenders cut out from under the flares, I'll adjust my coilovers as low as I can to see how much drop you can get away with. The rear is another story, the 275's stick out about 1.5" past the stock fender lip. No way these would work without flares, although the 9" wheels with 245's probably would. Again, once I get the stock fender lip removed, I'll drop my coilovers in the back and check just how low it can go without rubbing. Both front and rear tires have about one finger width (think tiny midget fingers) of clearance before hitting the spring perch on the coils. Hope this helps, Mike