Gunsmithing abrasive blasting with sand examples

[Nocalphoenix]

A couple of weeks ago various abrasive blasting stuff was being discussed and I just wanted to share what I did with a $20 sprayer from Harbor Freight and $5 of play sand. Apartment life meant the blasting cabinet went down the road so the use of play sand allows me to take care of it in my Dads side yard without having to worrry about cleaning up. Made for a great Father's day project as well. The best part of the project was the sand was a bit wet and did not want to flow through the sprayer so we put it in a big stainless steel tub and threw it on the BBQ to dry it out after the meat was done, got some puzzled looks from more than a couple of the people there.

. Pressure was kept at about 80lbs to get the cutting I needed, barrel and receiver both tested out at about 20 Rockwell. I will let someone else chime in if the sand would be a bad prep before a painted on finish but for what I wanted it worked out great.

Rifle is a Rossi 92 stainless in .45lc. It came with a pretty bright finish, not mirrored but pretty damn bright. I was looking for something to just take the shin off and left a couple of parts original for a little contrast. Very happy with the way it turned out and its quite a little package, 10 rounds of 325gr flat points at 1800fps went into 2" at 75 yards with a ghost ring rear. Also the stocks were stripped of that black crap they come with and refinished with a couple coats of tru-oil.

Original finish out of the box.

Finished receiver.

Left half of buttplate original, right as blasted.

Came free with oxidization lines where the wood was against the stainless.

But it cleaned up nice.

Shot of the barrel in progress.

 

[m1k3]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

Interesting. How uniform was the sand you used? The last time I looked at Play Sand it was terribly random sized. Some pieces the size of small pebbles to just powder. I didn't try it but it looks like you a got a decent finish with it. Are you going to paint it or just leave it dull?

Mike

 

[Nocalphoenix]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

The play sand was extremely uniform and marked 50 grit, no pebbles and once dried it never jammed up the blaster. Just going to leave it as it. Waiting for a couple parts and will get a full size shot of it. Paver sand is usually the most uniform and labeled at 80grit but of course they were out so I decided to see what else will work.

 

[Top Cat]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

Make sure to wear a very good respirator when blasting sand, silica dust is toxic to the lungs.

TC

 

[Casey Simpson]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

Show the wood. The stocks, I mean.

 

[customshooter]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

awesome work!

 

[Nocalphoenix]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Casey Simpson</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Show the wood. The stocks, I mean. </div></div>

First time I have been asked to show my wood. hahaha. Now I need to do the magazine tube that some moron left on the bench when he blasted the rest of the gun.

Much better than that black crap on them to start with.

Also here are some before and after firelapping, same load at 75 yards after 40 fire lapping loads. Followed the Beartooth bullet manual for those interested. After lapping the velocity with the 325 flat point went from 1650 to 1780fps and leading is non-existant. Lotta thump for a light rifle.

 

[Casey Simpson]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

Maybe the tube adds some contrast and connects with the hammer??
I like the wood....stock. We're sick.
The wood looks like something one might see on an original....not too fancy. ??

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

a very nice east Texas assault rifle........

 

[Shooter21]

Re: abrasive blasting with sand examples

is your pocket knife dull from cutting out that ejection port?