• Getting the Blast Cabinet up and running

    Its been a while…

    Part of that is a lot of me equipment has been down.  My cheap Harbor Freight Blast Cabinet was blowing dust and aluminum oxide everywhere.  I updated it this weekend and it now works very well.

    Here it is all torn down

    20160319_151228

    I proceeded to add parts from TP Tools including a foot pedal and a par 20 light.  http://www.tptools.com

    I also got a Oneida Dust Deputy cyclone with a Bucket Head wet/dry vac and a couple of five gallon buckets from home depot all hooked up to suck the dust.

    20160320_180400

    Did a quick test run and this thing is freaking awesome!  So much better that it was.  I want to blast everything!  Next up is organizing and then updating the welding setup.  Then make stuff!

    -Rob


  • Quick review of the Stealth Arms Phantom Jig

    This is awesome! 1911 receiver completed!

    http://stealtharms.net/1911-phantom-jig/

    I grabbed a kit from Stealth arms with a tactical 80% 1911.  After a bit of learning I made a 100% 1911 frame in about 2 and half hours with only a bench mounted vise and a drill press.  Still have to get all the parts and assemble but the work on the frame is done except for some final cleanup for finish.  The frame is a beautiful machine aluminum.   I’m thinking a bit of Cerakote to finish it off.

    Stealth Arms 1911 frame after using their jigs to finish it into a 100% receiver
    Stealth Arms 1911 frame after using their jigs to finish it into a 100% receiver

     

    I used a new old-stock para slide  from Sarco to test fit.  The serration on this slide feel about right for the tactical frame.  I think this will be the slide I use with an inexpensive .45 barrel I got from Midway USA.

    Para Black Ops slide fits right on the Stealth Arms receiver
    Para Black Ops slide fits right on the Stealth Arms receiver

     

    Next is fitting a beaver tail safety.

    Things I learned:

    • You need a very sturdy work bench.  Mine wiggles a bit too much.
    • Get soft jaws for your vise.  I marred the jig a bit.
    • I suggest removing the other unused cutter while working.  One of mine slipped out and bit the jig pretty hard.
    • Monitor the Cutter allen screw tension.  If it gets loose, the cutter heads can extend out when not desired.
    • Suggest getting a Rail file to remove any chatter marks you may have.
    • Barrel seat cut was a bit rough with chatter marks.  Needed filing and sanding.   In the future I will try milling for a ramped barrel.

    I will buy a couple more frames!  And I will also try a Steel Frame I have from Tactical Machine http://www.tacticalmachining.com/80-products/80-1911.html

    If that works, I may even try an expensive stainless frame from http://1911builders.com/collections/frames

     

    More to come as this things gets finished up.

    -Rob

     


  • No Title

    I decided to replace my older Solidoodle with a FlashForge Creator Pro.

    My new 3d printer up and running,
    My new 3d printer up and running.

    After a few days with it, I’m pretty pleased.  It has a great enclosure, excellent heated bed and I really like the SD Card reader.  The quality of the prints are pretty solid so far with ABS.  I am going to try PLA this weekend.

    I must admit the software it comes with blows.  I went back to my old standards of Slic3r and now also using gpx to convert to the SD Card printing.

    Print results to come!  And I am going to resurrect the BPM11/9mm project.

    -Rob


  • Trip to Vegas complete with shooting my Fav SMG

    A fun 10 seconds!  I think the mp5k is the mostfun  FA gun I have every fired.  Expensive at this place but still fun.
    A fun 10 seconds! I think the mp5k is the most fun FA gun I have every fired. Expensive at this place but still fun.

    Went with some co-workers from work to have some fun shooting full automatic guns. Tone of fun!

    The mp5k is just so small and easy to shoot. I would have liked it better with a red dot, but it is still easy to keep most of the shots on target.

    I also shot a fairly beat-up m249 and a slightly lose mp5k but both worked flawlessly. Cant say the same for the Saiga 12 🙁 It wouldn’t shoot more than 2 in a row. So I tried my hand with a glock 18c. 🙂 The fully automatic glock machine pistol was pretty crazy. First shot of a burst was on target and all the rest high. Not the must useful gun but fun to shoot.

    I realize I haven’t posted anything in a long time. I think I want to start posting something at least once a week. Lets see how that goes!

    Peace! -Rob

    Gallery with video added

    https://www.katzbalgerarms.com/wp/?page_id=155


  • Pair of Grendels at the Range: Good News and Bad News

    I took a 2 hour drive to go to my rifle range which really is just the closest BLM land you can shoot solid projectiles on.  Shot a few of my builds.  I really like to shoot my rifle builds and I do it pretty infrequently.   This time around I took a good number of rifles that I have never fired before.  I want to mention the tale of the two grendels I brought out.  I built the Grendel pistol just recently from a Liberty 7.5″ barrel from Satern Machine.  Before that I built a Model 1 Sales kit with an 18″ fluted barrel. To be honest from the quality of the parts I expected issues with the rifle build and hoped the pistol could just require some fine tuning of spring weights.

    By two Grendels
    My two Grendels

    I started with the pistol.  I brought 200 rd of Hornady SST ammo for this trip.  I usual put 2 rounds in a gun the first time just to see what it does and it was perfect.  Ejected nicely dropping the brass up to 10 feet to my 2 o’ clock  position. No signs of bulged cases.  All looked great.  It then devoured the first 10 round mag with no issues shooting offhand at as 100yd 8″ steel plate.  I wasn’t trying to be a marksman but I did hit the plate a few times.  I found the Magnifier I had on it to be a pain with the eye relief and very narrow “Sweet Spot” my eye had to be to see through it well.  Just went to the red dot only and the second mag waspure heaven.  At this point I was thinking to myself this is the greatest weapon I have ever built.  Short and Handy,  easy to aim, packs a punch and has light recoil.  Thanks the the krinkov flash hider the muzzle blast was very mild as well, far less then an AK pistol I had shot before.

    Mag 3 had a full battery lock, fail to extract.  After some serious tugging I got the bolt back and the shell popped out.  No obvious deformations on the case.   Got another right after that.  At that piont I field stripped the pistol and lubed it up nice and wet.  Tried a few more, but they all failed to extract.  🙁

    So I went to the Grendel Rifle.  Model 1 sales calls these “6.5 Sporter” and that is what it says on the barrel.  These have a mixed reputation on the forums, some pretty bad.  I expected this guy to have issues.  But it did exactly what it was supposed to do, go bang every time!  The Leupold scope was near dead on and I nailed the 8″ plate every time I tried.  It was fun in rapid fire, but had a bit more reciol than a 5.56 in quick shots.  The only thing I didn’t like about my setup was the cheesy plastic magwell grip was interfering with reloading my puny 10rd mags and the muzzle break loosened.  Still a thoroughly fun rifle that seems pretty darn accurate!

    Now I need to take a good look at the pistol and try to figure out what the issue is.  I was reading that on some Grendel barrels the throat may not be long enough causing the brass to hit the rifling.  Or is could be something as simple as the gas block moved.

    Last thing I wanted to mention was I was shooting at an Action Target ar550 steel plate.  In the past 5.56  is a small smudge and .308 have left nice fat marks on it, but the grendel actually made small craters.  In the future I will not use steel targets for these guys.  Besides, I really mangled my targets legs when trying to shoot quickly.  I should grab a pic of some of the damage.

    None the less, the 6.5 Grendel in the AR package seems like the coolest option out there.

    -Rob


  • Grendel AR Pistol slap together

    I like 6.5 Grendel.  It seems like a great replacement for the anemic 5.56 while still fitting in the standard AR.  I already have a 6.5 AR with an 18″ barrel but I was thinking another.  I never shoot long range so was thinking a short range toy with a harder hitting bullet than the old 5.55.

    I decided to make the craziest all out cool AR pistol based on a Liberty 7.5″ Grendel barrel I got from Satern.  I spent a few weeks collecting parts from all over to make my ultimate pistol.  Caveat: I went for cheap ultimate here, bought a lot of Chinese stuff like UTG rails and mounts and Primary Arms red dot and 3x Magnifier, but then added some high-end bits like a JP Silent Captured Spring and slipped in a 2 stage trigger form Rock River.  For the tail end I picked up the very controversial SB15 from SigArms known as an arm brace.  Sure it looks like a stock, but I assure you it is a pistol arm brace and therefore can be legally placed on a pistol.  Top it off I picked up a Krinkov style flashhider to kill the fire-breathing dragon effect that short barrels ARs get.  To make it easy I started off with an assembled Spikes tactical Pistol lower in 5.56.  I admit I hate trying to do the mag release pin in a bare lower so this time I didn’t have to.

    Thrash_GrendelPistolParts
    All the parts ready for assembly of my new 6.5 Grendel

    Dropped it all on my dining room table and began to slap it together.  The over-sized milled upper I got on gunbroker caused a few issues with parts not fitting well, but after a few scratches here got it all together before dinner.

    Thrash_GrendelPistol
    6.5 Grendel Pistol All together about an hour and a half later

    Oh and I like it!  May need to fine tune the buffer springs at the range, but I am blown away with how cool this completely legal pistol is.  Its a bit heavy but very handy and feels great to hold.   It is very short!  Hard to see here but I even got a 6.5 Grendel marked Ejection Port Cover off of Ebay.  I really like the MOE Plus grip.  The UTG Quad rail was a pain but seems to work.  I had to juggle the assembly a bit and the flashhider barrel fits somewhat poorly inside it.  I may grind a bit off it and add a few extra holes to allow getting to the gas block easier.  So other than the rail this thing was a super easy assembly.  Even with that minor headache the new pistol just makes me giddy like a schoolboy on his first date.

    Over all a very satisfying Saturday afternoon.

    -Rob


  • BPM-11/9mm project gets going again

    I decided to restart the BMP-11/9mm build.  The new scope is to just finish it for myself, and not to try to make a selling product.  I added it to the weaponsguild build challenge here:

    http://www.weaponsguild.com/forum/index.php?topic=47025.0

    (may need to make account for link)

    All Warped...
    This is version 8…  All Warped.

    This is a bit ugly.  The large ABS parts always seem to warp during printing.  Even from this crude shape, I think I have some finally design tweaks I’m going to make and start printing a newer version 9.  It will have a lowered ejection port, Fatter shell in general for thicker sides, wider foregrip, and a smoothed magwell.

    -Rob