Cleetus actually uses a plasma cutter for most of his gunsmithing work, or at least for the detailed stuff like this. It's one of the ways he can turn these jobs around so fast. It turns out all those marks that look like a drill bit or rotary file got away from him are just from the slag hammer. Nothing to worry about.

He tells me that stainless guns like this one are actually a bit harder, and take him a bit longer than blued guns. He has to polish up the stainless guns a bit when he is done, but not so with the blued ones. He tells me that's one of the reasons her prefers the plasma cutter - it re-blues them as he goes along.

Looks like Playa's gat....Piece of crap....

Pfft... I have an angle grinder... I will cut Cletus's price in half!

yer pulling my leg...right?

Yeah, what Dave said..

If I send you my 8" SS 357 Python could you get him to work on it?

Oh, Cleetus will work on anything. Even transmissions. As far as Colts, he does have a special tip for his plasma cutter that does a pretty good job of matching their "Royal Blue", so it's too bad yours is stainless. You'll miss out on his finest work. Never fear, though, he'll just polish up your stainless Python with the same care and attention to detail he put into my BFR.

Joke or not, that is the some of the worst work I have ever seen done on a firearm.

So honestly Jeff, just how long did it take you with your B&D drill and hand file to do that craftsmanship?

I see one in my possession is merely a .45 Colt/.410. Outgunned again.
Jim

I've mentioned already that Cleetus is quite the innovator in his chosen field. It's amazing the projects one will see in work if one is ever privileged enough to visit him in his shop. Granted, he'll endeavor to cover up much of it with dirty old shop rags, piles of sawdust, feed bags, or whatever he can find to keep prying eyes off of it, but sometimes he is willing to share.

One of his more intriguing new ideas gets right back to recoil reduction in revolvers, involving a really imaginative way to approach the venting idea. Cleetus is really thinking outside of the box with this one, and has been reluctant to share his ideas. At least until recently. He has now discovered that many budding gunsmiths have been toying with his idea (a simple internet search will reveal many examples of work resembling his). So, he has relaxed a bit and has told me it's o.k. to lift the veil of secrecy from his latest project.

His reasoning is this: Most 'smiths port the end of the barrel in an effort to reduce recoil. Cleetus believes he can do so more effectively by arresting recoil right in the beginning, before it even has a chance to get going. With this philosophy in mind, Cleetus has begun porting cylinders and back straps on revolvers. While he still has a few bugs to work out, his current focus is to beat others to market, so he has been working feverishly on this concept.

Below is an example of his work. Please excuse the somewhat rough machining, as this is, after all, and early prototype. He has told me that pressures and velocities drop sharply with this arrangement, but he feels the simple solution is just to add more powder to get them back up to snuff. Cleetus always tries the simple, obvious solution first. One of the things I like about him.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1418405425.jpg

were you wearing the hat with the chin strap when you fired that one?

Well played, Jeff.

That's the beauty of Cleetus's design - you don't need the chin strap for this one. The clever way in which he raised the top strap, but left it (relatively) intact accompishes a couple of his design objectives. First, it allows the gasses to vent out of the sides, and second, it provides a shield to keep it from lifting your hat. Cleetus thinks of everything.

You need to make a sawed off revolver.....That would be *****in.

rjp

I have a couple already - a Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 Special and a 3" Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 mag. I love them both, but the short barrels make them pretty specialized little guns. I have longer barreled sixguns as well, but there are certainly times when I brought the short one and wished I had brought the long one, and vis versa.

Enter my friend Cleetus. He's got this one covered, too. He tells me he has had some trouble finding a supplier of suitable set screws, but as soon as he does, his adjustable barrel length sixguns will be ready for market. Those will be pretty darn handy.

Cleetus may want to think about welding nipples to the gun proper and also to the proximal aspect of each length of barrel.
He could then use a castrating band on either side to hold the barrel to the gun.
This method would eliminate the need to carry a screwdriver for the set screws and would truly make it a quick change to different lengths.
Just a thought, Cleetus may see some flaws or weaknesses in my design.
He is, after all, the expert.

Matt

I'm assuming that Bulldog is vintage - 70's or so. Because I can't for the life of me picture you accepting one of the newer ones in exchange for your hard-earned valuta.

You two should try and get together.

He was initially using lock collars, like from photagraphers' tripod legs. He was dissatisfied with the return to zero between barrel length adjustments, however. I told him I thought maybe he had the front sight soldered to the wrong part of the whole arrangement, but he insisted that by soldering it to the collar itself, it gave him something to hook his thumb over and really tighten it down. I wouldn't have thought of that myself, but like you say, he's the expert.

And yes, my Bulldog dates from the early '80's. Great little gun.