The Rohrbaugh Forum

Miscellaneous => Other Guns => Topic started by: Richard S on March 08, 2006, 11:45:31 AM

Title: "Two BUGs on a Rug"
Post by: Richard S on March 08, 2006, 11:45:31 AM

I was talking with Kevin yesterday about casting items in gold and silver and mentioned that my jeweler friend who had previously cast a pair of silver grips for my G-380 had recently completed a pair for my G-32.  Here they are -- two BUGs on a rug.  (He's still trying to meet the zero tolerances required to cast grips for the R9.)

(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/RichardS/naaguardians.jpg)

Title: Re: "Two BUGs on a Rug"
Post by: Aglifter on March 08, 2006, 04:36:30 PM

Not that I'm familiar w. silver -- but wouldn't it be easier to get some bar stock, and have it cut/milled into spec?  More expensive, probably, but I don't think casting would ever really be able to make a tight tolerance piece -- barring some kind of MIM process.

Title: Re: "Two BUGs on a Rug"
Post by: Richard S on March 08, 2006, 07:33:39 PM

Quote

Not that I'm familiar w. silver -- but wouldn't it be easier to get some bar stock, and have it cut/milled into spec?  More expensive, probably, but I don't think casting would ever really be able to make a tight tolerance piece -- barring some kind of MIM process.

You're right, but I'm a 19th-Century man still trying to adapt to 21st-Century rules.  There's just something about the "lost-wax" process of reproducing an item in silver or gold which appeals to me.

(If your trip is still on, good hunting and stay safe!)

Title: Re: "Two BUGs on a Rug"
Post by: Aglifter on March 08, 2006, 10:17:07 PM

Unfortunately the trip was cancelled -- the guys I was going w. are specialists in brokering foreign deals in Zambia, and w. the local currency going nuts, their lives were too hectic to take time off

Title: Re: "Two BUGs on a Rug"
Post by: MountainMan on March 08, 2006, 11:36:20 PM

Richard - very unique.

Title: Re: "Two BUGs on a Rug"
Post by: Richard S on March 09, 2006, 10:57:52 AM

Quote

Unfortunately the trip was cancelled -- the guys I was going w. are specialists in brokering foreign deals in Zambia, and w. the local currency going nuts, their lives were too hectic to take time off

That's a real "bummer" -- the kind of thing I attribute to "O'Brian's Law," which holds that "Murphy's Law" is flawed by optimism.  Perhaps the economy in-country will stabilize over the coming months and you can get things arranged again.

I was in a certain African country when the bottom dropped out of the local economy.  Things got so bad for a while that you almost felt like weighing the country's paper money rather than taking the time to count it.  As a result, the local merchants began accepting any form of "hard" currency regardless of national origin.  It was a pluperfect mess made to order for corrupt officials, smugglers, and blackmarketeers.