Lowering The Bridge By Hand?

[berkbw]

I need to lower the bridge on a new, oversized, stainless 5" frame. It is higher than those on my older guns, and is high enough to keep a round from trying to chamber.

Any pointers to how to lower this by hand would be appreciated.

Thanks,
b-

[niemi24s]

Here's a pic of the setup I used:
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p232/niemi24s/PB110006b.jpg
It was in this thread titled "Lowering Frame Bed" .... http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=21563&highlight=lowering+frame ...which contains a lot of other good info.

Cheers

[berkbw]

OK, I got he general idea. I'll fashion a drum to wrap and do it by hand/eye. In doing something like this, I normally score the surface with a coarse paper, than make the marks go away.

Thanks, Sir.

b-

[niemi24s]

For me, the little block of wood and the drill (as a roller atop the dust hood) to positively locate the non-working end of the tubing was the secret. By fixing that end all I had to concentrate on was keeping the working end of the tube centered in the bed.

With only one end of the tube to worry about, it sped up the job. It still took several hours, as I had a lot of lowering to do.

Make yourself a big pot of coffee! :D

Cheers

[niemi24s]

And here's a side view which may better show the setup:
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p232/niemi24s/P06B110007d.jpg
Without it, I just knew I'd have ended up with an hourglass-shaped bed. Never had the knack for doing something like that free-handed without messing it up!

Cheers

[Hill]

Neimi,

Your wooden jigs make my mill and .750" ball cutter seem positively old fashioned. :)

The pictures remind me of visits to my uncle Hank's home shop when I was a kid. He was the most inventive person I've ever known and he had several patents for gizmos he came up with to make somthing better or easier for people. The family line on him was that he'd built a working rotary engine before Herr Wankel 'invented' it, but was denied a patent in the late 1920's because of some detail of similarity to another patent. I guess he couldn't afford to have a patent search done to be sure he was clear of anyone else. By the time I was old enough to ask about it he wouldn't talk about it.
Everybody who's caught fish likely has used one of Hank's ideas though, and he'd joke about that.

[niemi24s]

Your wooden jigs make my mill and .750" ball cutter seem positively old fashioned.:)
Pretty high-tech stuff for an amateur, shade-tree gun plumber, huh? :D

What's the connection between Uncle Hank and fishing?

[Hill]

Are you fishing for a story about Hank, or a story about fishing? :)

Hank invented the "snap swivel" a little thingy that allows a setup to be attached to a line or a rig to be changed without cutting line and having to tie knots in a tossing environment. He probably made about one cent for every one that was sold during the seventeen year life of his patent.

[niemi24s]

Hank invented the "snap swivel" . . .
Well I'll be dipped in.....(ahem). A real boon to the angler, they are. Probably put no more than 50¢ in your Uncle's account myself, but they sure made changing from a Hula Popper to a Jitterbug a lot easier at 2 a.m. on a dark moonless night! My hat's off to him!!

Cheers