[David Cosby]

In work clothes with a friend :smile:

Here are some quick photos of a Les Baer Thunder Ranch Special that has been ministered to by Dr. Burns. My apologies for the brevity of the post, but I'm watching over my three year old grandson tonight. :grin: Feel free to step in with details if you want, Dane, otherwise I'll catch up tomorrow.

David









<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David Cosby on 2001-09-29 19:35 ]</font>

 

[A Johnston]

Nice blaster. Is the frame hard chrome?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: A Johnston on 2001-09-29 19:51 ]</font>

 

[Monty Grubbs]

Very nice!!

Where did the cutlery originate? I can't quite read the words on the blade.

You should be proud of such a nice pistol.

But also be proud of that three year old grandson!

 

[B-Squared]

David,

Could you detail the enhancements for us?

Thanks,

B-Squared

 

[David Cosby]

The original TRS came from Allan Yoast. It has always been highly accurate and utterly reliable, but the fact that I carry it regularly here in coastal South Carolina and a penchant for two tone 1911's prompted me to send it off to the Shrine of St. Rupert of the Blaster for hard chroming of the bottom end, and Dane's signature cutting and crowning of the barrel.

I have a full house BCP in the works, and Dane being Dane, he decided the two frames should be as close to identical as possible for the sake of grip consistency. So, he high cut the Les Baer frame, installed a new and reshaped grip safety, new thumb safety, and replaced the MSH with a 30 lpi unit from Ed Brown. All this at no additional charge simply because Dane felt it was the right way to do things. His comment was something like, "made a few changes to your gun, hope you like them. If you don't, you can fire me."

Fact is, I shoot the gun now better than I ever did before. Don't know why, pretty much don't care. But I sure as hell trust Dane's judgement now and in fact, I hereby issue him my warrant and appoint him 'Pistolsmith to David Cosby" :lol:

The grips are elephant ivory, selected by Dane according to my preference for lots of grain and complexity of color. Taste in ivory is highly subjective with some people liking pure white, closely grained stuff. That's always looked like white plastic to me, but to each his own. :smile:

The "work clothes" grips are from Mad Dog Labs and were made thinner than standard by Steve Morrison. I highly recommend them, and use them in place of the ivory if I know I'm headed for an intense range session, or if the weather is truly lousy.

Knife is a Mini Pug from Al Polkowski. It's a bad ass blade.

Hope you all enjoyed the pics!

 

[Dane Burns]

Thanks David, of course I am honored by the royal appointment. :grin:

I am in the process of telling the whole story of LB rebuilds but I have another gun I want to post while doing it.

The majority of what I have been doing to the LB guns is hard to notice in a picture unless pointed out.

First I redid the trigger job with tool steel parts more to my likeing, added a Vedecki solid, trimmed Brown thumb safety and a CMC grip safety trimmed and blended. Then I recut, blended and actually finished the machine checkering that LB does, so the gun wouldn't bite. I melted the entire frame while doing so and recut the mag well and high grip while I had the frame stripped.

I replaced the serrated factory main spring housing with a 30lpi Brown, and again hand blended that to the frame like it should have been done originally IMO. Steve Davis @ Mataloy added hard chrome to my metal prep.

Of course recutting and recrowning is a detail that should be done when you pay for a high priced 1911 that is a given.

This gun should be a very close duplicate of David's new BCP. That one will have scallops and Heinie Slant Pro sights though. More to come after one more trip to the range today!

Knife is a Mini Pug from Al Polkowski. It's a bad ass blade.

Oh YA!


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dane Burns on 2001-09-30 16:59 ]</font>

 

[David Cosby]

Thanks, amigo, for filling in the missing details. And thanks again for a hell of a job! :grin:

Eat your heart out, Clint. :lol:

 

[Dane Burns]

My pleasure...now I am working for the PUG and the Sub :grin:

 

[Dane Burns]

Here is another look at a LB after a mild rebuild.

[b[BEFORE[/b]

The choice of TR going to a LB production pistol had much more to do with egos than the quality of the original TR Wilson pistols. No matter, with a little work and some time the LB guns can be nice piece.

Like I mentioned about David's pistol, much of what I did is had to see, but EASY to feel while shooting.

AND AFTER

A "Clint Smith" version of a LB!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dane Burns on 2001-09-30 22:29 ]</font>

 

[EricO]

AAahhhhhh.....Beautiful work, all of them..but the blade! I love Dave Kaspar designed, Polkowski built knives! Please give us more info on a separate (so as not to distract from the great smithing) page about this mini-pug, including its sheath.

 

[Dane Burns]

Bob Kasper designed knives....
try this

http://www.ghca.org/index1.html

go to links and look for Kasper and crew.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dane Burns on 2001-10-01 18:48 ]</font>

 

[Bruce]

Dane, that is beautiful work. The "CS" model, outstanding contrast.

Kasper makes some nice stuff. Always wanted back the damascus / ivory knife I had of his that got traded, but oh well.

Thanks for the pics.