Arizona 2014

[M & J]

Yeah but he dint change your name I noticed.......
You must have something on him........

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

LOL - You were not here for the event.  Ask poor ben2 about what he suffered through 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Amazing overall weekend!  Might even hit the range briefly tomorrow to see how this cheap ammo fires through the new Mini 30 before buying a bunch of it.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Okay, so no range time...got too busy!

First thing Monday morning I drove down to O'Reilly's and borrowed spring compressors, then paid my friend Gabe to remove the Mor/Ryde spring boxes while I then went out and got materials and ran a whole bunch of other errands.

He had the spring boxes off by the time I came back, so I spent some time cutting stuff out and whatnot for this week's enormous catapult run.

This morning I drove down to O'Reilly's and got my deposit back on the spring compressors, then ran some more errands, including dropping off the spring boxes at a local welder/fabrication shop who is going to repair them for me this week.

The errands took me down a road I'd never been on before...

SCORE!!!  On said road I found a Truck and Van wrecking yard! I crawled through all the carcasses to look at bucket seats, and finally settled on the Eddie Bauer seats from a Ford Expedition! Tan leather, in great condition, power for every direction, and they are even heated!

200 bucks out the door! Power rails and wiring and all!

Of course, I spent the rest of the day fabricating mounts and modifying existing mounts so I could mount it flat to the flat Chevy K5 Blazer floor...the Expeditions have weird channels on the floor, so it was definitely a challenge creatively. I'll have to use spacers to get the seats level, but they are going to be SWEET!

If I get an early enough start tomorrow, I might even have time to mount them this week and wire them in!

I have to build a LOT of catapults though, so we'll see how much I can get done on them. Otherwise the install will have to wait until next Monday.

The seats are prepped and ready to install, but I still have to run the wiring, then mock fit them in place, mark where the holes get drilled, take them out, drill the holes, then install them with spacers to make them level on the flat Chevy K5 floor.

I'll take pictures when I'm done and post them soon!

Kev

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Cool, looking forward to seeing them.  Provide some details on what you did if you could also as this might also be an option for a RV too.

[HandyDan]

Just out of curiosity, how many catapults do you go through on a good weekend?  I still have the one you gave me proudly displayed on my bookshelf. 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Depends on the faire and how busy it is.  Small faire like Muskogee we might go through a hundred or so...big faire like Arizona, 300+

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I got a very early start this morning.  To keep the bolts from coming through the floor, I went with big square thick washers, and 3 of the bolts actually went through the original reenforced part where the original bolts went through, then I siliconed up the old holes:





The next picture is of one of the brackets I bent to the right angle to make the front mounts fit flat on the floor.  I was still waiting for the silicone to set up completely before trimming it.



Yep!  Eddie Bauer leather seats!  Pretty darn good condition!



I ran the wires first of course...with an inline fuse...using 10 gauge wire for both 12 volts and ground.  Got into the habit of always using 10 gauge when possible to avoid voltage drop.  The driver's seat is fully powered in all kinds of directions!  Passenger seat is only heated, but the backrest angle is at least adjustable.  Also had to take the attached seatbelt latches off the seats before install.  Lumbar support works on both seats, but I'll have to find a knob for the driver's seat, since it was missing:



And a couple more gratuitous pictures:







I finished up the install by 9:30 this morning, and then got to work with my workers on the catapults.  Took a couple of trips into town in between, and MAN are these seats comfy!  Patti loves them and can now see over the steering wheel!

I wish the seats in the RV were half as comfortable!

Kev

[Stripe]

Nice. 

[HandyDan]

Even has arm rests, cool.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

If they had 2 armrests, I'd consider getting another pair for the RV, custom fab a higher pedestal for them, and make a skirt for the bottoms...they are SO comfy!

HUGE amount of catapults built today and stained, with tons of parts and more on the way to being finished for tomorrow.  Lots more work tomorrow!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Patti took the truck out today to go grocery shopping, and loves the seats!  Which means she now loves the truck and its a keeper...lol! 

HUGE amount of catapults and ballistae done and stained today...should be an awesome weekend!

Kev

[HandyDan]

Did you get a catalog from LMC?  If not, you need one, although I think you can find everything online.  It's just having the paper one makes you want more things.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I downloaded the online LMC catalog...lots of goodies on the want list!

CRAZY busy day at faire today, and super busy sales!  Gonna be just as busy tomorrow we hope!  Not being in the Bible Belt has its advantages.  Sundays tend to be as busy as Saturdays...lol!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

AWESOME day at faire today...and holy crap were we busy!  I think this was our best weekend ever in Arizona!

Gonna unwind with a little bourbon, and tomorrow, come heck or high water, I'm going to the range!  I really want to try out the Mini 30, and its pretty important to fire the LCRs to get used to their kick some more.

I'll probably wait until Muskogee to sight in the scope on the Ruger M77 30/06, and the scope on the Ruger 6" Security Six revolver...its not a policed range, so its easier to scope things in there.

Gotta hit the store before drinking anything, then I'm calling it a night!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Finally made it to the range today with my wife Patti, and we had a blast!  No pun intended!

First we fired our new Ruger LCR revolvers to get a feel for them some more.  Mine kicks like a beast in .357 Magnum, but not as much as you'd think.  Felt recoil was very similar to the snubby Police Service Six I traded in on it.  Patti's .38 LCR was fun to shoot!  Both very accurate at 10 yards.  I also tried out the silly little Cobra .38 derringer Patti bought me last year.  Kicks like crazy, but I think I could hit a man size target at 10 feet...LMAO!!!

Then we broke out the Mini 30.  What a fun gun to shoot!  Once Patti got over her nervousness about it, she loved it!  She has rheumetoid arthritis, so holding it up...its pretty heavy in the front...was hard for her.  Once I set up a bench rest for her, I could hardly get my turn...lol!

Shoots way to the left and I forgot my screwdrivers to adjust the sights, but it was fun anyways!

A note on today's adventure though:  Rugers definitely don't like berdan primers...we shot 300 rounds, and averaged 18 out of 100 FTFs (Failure to Fires).  Not enough spring behind the mini firing pin to get those primers to go boom.  Gonna have to stick with brass casings and boxer primers once I use up what I have left at the range.

And the aftermarket Promag 30 rounder magazine sucks arse!  Jammed on almost every single shot.  Not a single problem at all with any of the Ruger brand 20 rounders.

And either I didn't inspect the gun closely enough and it was way dirtier to begin with than I thought, or else that Red Army ammo powder is VERY dirty!  Took no time at all to clean up the handguns after the range.  Just cleaning up the bore on the mini took every last cleaning patch I had...a whole mountain of them...and I had to make some more from an old shirt just to get the bore clean enough!

Gonna have to order a book on complete teardown of the Mini for a better cleaning, but it looks way better than when I got it even. 

Fun was had by all!  It was a great range day, and Patti had so much fun!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Mor/Ryde spring boxes were finished today, all welded up and ubber reenforced.  Shock mounts were lowered 3" to stop this from ever happening again with the strong Monroe RV Gas Magnum shocks...super strong shock mounts.

My mechanic friend is going to install them this coming Monday.  SWEET!


Kev

[Stripe]

I use a boresnake, nicer than a rod. and I have a specific one that is all cloth and re-useable.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Been thinking about a bore snake...but then, how do you clean the bore snake?...lol!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Huge amount of catapult prep work done today...and then this afternoon I had to run out and leave my workers to it to run some errands.  Any idea how hard it is to find peat moss in Arizona?  Geesh!  Finally found a bale at an Ace hardware store.

Even managed to find time to get the right size bolts and fender washers to finally secure the topper completely on the K5.  Almost all the rattles are gone now!

Tomorrow...its more insane catapult building!

Kev

[joanfenn]

So you should be set for the year, right??

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL!  I leave a stash of peat moss at each show after bagging up what I think I need to make it to the next one.  3 weeks we've discovered is the ideal change out time for us, so I undercalculated and ran out.

Kev

[joanfenn]

We will never have to buy any more again. Our daughters fiance has a farm north of here covered in peat moss.  About 600 acres worth ranging from 6 inches to three feet deep.  He sells it to drilling companies  for spills and are gearing up to supply the landscapers.

[Stripe]

how do you clean the bore snake?...lol!

Funny you should ask..  
http://youtu.be/Y_ypgp0ArXU

Hoppes makes one, on their site they say machine washable. Don't.  On the back of the package it says hand wash.  Guy in the VID hand washes with regular Laundry Detergent.

I make my own out of 550 paracord and use patches on the brush.  Works good enough for me..

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Good to know!

Actually decided to use paracord to build up the cheek rest on the Butler Creek folding stock on the Mini and make it more comfortable and consistent. 


HUGE amount done today, and a HUGE amount of catapults already sitting ready to go on the stain rack.

Same tomorrow, with a lot of big machines...13 total!

Kev