What is the most ragged out handgun you've ever examined?

[Questor]

Mine was an old rusty, pitted bored, out-of-time H&R .22 revolver that had been used by a shark hunter to shoot those pesky porpoises that got in his way. That thing was a real candidate for the scrap heap.

[corbanzo]

My friend has an old black powder, blown out cylinder, coated in rust, been sitting inattended for years.  Who knows how old it is.

[Glanceblamm]

My friend was extremly peeved at the (Hot Reloads By Myself At His Expense) that would not even eject the spent brass without some hammering on the ejector rod.

Had him meet me at the range and found that the cylinders of his Italian make revolver were so badly pitted that the expanded brass would fill those pitts :eek:
He was easily convinced of this when the spent brass from my revolver would easily slip into his cylinders.
I said Doug, lets bury that thing right now before someone gets hurt. :-D

[Old Griz]

:cb2: A Chinese made Makarov. And it was new.  :eek:

[Zcarp2]

A S&W top break that had lost all sense of timing.  A nice wall hanger that they were asking a shooters price for.

A fairly new looking Rossi that the timing star was wiped off of.  Must have forgot to heat treat that one.

Then there was the olympic grade Walther that was rusty, pitted and looked like someone carried it in their trunk since WWII.  Bore was pristene and after the archeological dig to find the lock work, she shoots GREAT.  Looks worn on the outside though.

Zcarp2

[J.Solo]

Mine is an $80 Gun Show "junker".
Ruger .45 Colt with 4 5/8" barrel.
Someone had fired it with Black Powder loads, jammed one round in the bore and never cleaned it up.
The bore, front and inside of cylinder were deep with rust and corrosion.
When I pulled the cylinder pin a thick rusty liquid dripped from the cylinder and cylinder pin.
The outside of the gun looked the same.
The front sight and base were ground off.
The rear sight "ears" were ground down as if someone was trying to make a fixed sight cowboy gun. The rear sight was also missing.
I had some x-tra parts so I replaced the rear sight and fabricated a new front sight and base from a Remington rifle sight base.
I spent three (3) months of winter nights this year trying to get it back into shape.
The gun started with 6" groups on a 50 foot indoor range.
After a lot of cleaning and fireing the gun with various grades of rubbing compounds and hard cast lead bullets the gun will now hold 2.5" at the same distance. I still want to fire jacketed bullets in the gun with the same different grades of rubbing compounds to see if I can improve the accuracy a little more.
The barrel, front and inside of the cylinder are still corroded but a lot smoother now. I didn't want to smooth the front of the cylinder, though it would be easy to do, because I didn't want to increase the cylinder gap. (Most likely would not have mattered much anyway if I did).
I ground and filed off 99% of the corrosion and rust from the outside of the gun and cylinder and cold blued it with Van's Gun Blue.
I also round butted the grip frame and grips and it now looks like a small Bisley grip frame.
Because my hand sat lower on the grip after the frame modification I had to heat and bend the hammer spur down.
The gun now handles faster than the "plow handle" grip frame did and is easier to carry cross draw.
It will never match a new gun in accuracy but it now is the perfect woods bumbing/truck gun. Also a nasty looking gun.

My next work on this gun will be to replace the barrel and cylinder ..... if I can ever find a barrel and cylinder available for sale or trade.

Sorry for the long post but ..... You asked. - J.Solo

[Questor]

J. Solo:

You have brought it back from the dead!  That's an incredible story of mechanical redemption. Nice work!

[crawfish]

Mine was an old rusty, pitted bored, out-of-time H&R .22 revolver that had been used by a shark hunter to shoot those pesky porpoises that got in his way. That thing was a real candidate for the scrap heap.

A T/C Contender .45LC/.410 that I found in pieces in a coffee can at a yard sale. Gave it to a local "smith" who put a mat black finish on the whole thing. It is now a sweet little 30-30 deer killer.

[DutchV]

A buddy of mine bought a S&W model 10 out of the local paper for $80.  It had been brought back from a tour with a Brazilian police department, and had the stamps to prove it.  It shakes, shaves lead and looks like it's been painted black with a brush, but shoots well enough to ventilate cans at 25 yards.  After a little oiling, it even manages to have a decent trigger.  I told him to stay away from +P, and it's been fine.  He only had a .22 before that, so this was an upgrade for him.  

I fired some loose & rusty .32's when I was younger, but I don't think I'd do that anymore.  It's not like they actually hit where you point them.

[volshooter]

I bought a Auto-Ordnance back around 79. After a few adjustments I have fired  at least 100+ rounds a week through it. It rattles and looks rough but it will also put every round where I point it and has not had a malfunction in the last 12 years. yes it is raggedy but it will shoot.
Rick

[dubber123]

A rusty, pitted bore black powder era H&R top break .38 S&W.  This one had a barrel cylinder gap that you could read a newspaper through, (Seriously!).  I shot it with smokeless, (not recommended), very light loads, (A 148 with 2 grains of Bullseye).  Velocity ran about 450 fps. and would stick in a block of hemlock with about a half of the bullet showing.  A real powerhouse!  I ground a flat washer down to close up th cylinder gap and mig welded it in place.  (not recommended either).  I picked up 60 fps!.  Now we were making real horsepower, a little over 500 fps.  A little front sight filing, and I even used it to dispatch a few chipmunks that were cleaning out the bird feeders daily.  I eventually came to my senses and stripped it and welded the barrel from both ends.  I now have a much nicer one with a good bore that shoots about half as well as the beater. Go figure.  This was the worst junker, but also, strangely one of the more fun.

[aaronrkelly]

Mine was a Star BM.  Functioned fine but you could literally shake it and hear the parts rattle, it was that loose.  70% of the bluing was worn off, it was hideous.  That was a "very good" condition pistol from SOG.....yeah, I was impressed.


Then there was this Bulgarian Mak that I also got from SOG.  Was also supposedly "very good" condition and I payed for handcheck.  Pitted rust, in fact Ive seen rusty boat anchors in better shape.

[doncisler]

not a handgun but i bought an OLD sXs 12ga just because it was so incedibly worn. breach gap has to be close to quarter-inch. one external hammer is held on by a screw, one hasx no firing pin plug, etc, etc.
can't believe that someone actually carried and used it to that point.

[Dune]

I have and shoot regularly a Smith and Wesson Victory 38 Special, there is only about 15 % blueing left the rest is a nice brown patina the muzzle is worn, I mean almost worn through and totally screwwy crown, the hammer is worn more on the left than the right so, on first glance it looks bent. Despite its endshake and partly out of time this gun will shoot with jacketed 38 special loads will print less than 2 inches routinely at 25 yards, it doesnt like cast bullets very well.        Dune