Cowboy Campfire - January 2007

Howdy pardner and welcome to the Cowboy Campfire! For you new folks, my name is Badlands Braby and each month we serve up a parcel of ideas for us folks that follow various shooting events within the cowboy venue. Whether SASS, NCOWS, Western 3-Gun, fast draw, or any other western shooting event, we have ideas to help you participate.

Pilgrim, my wife – Sugar Creek Sal – and I often hear a request from a new shooter on what they need to partake in this fine sport. Now the answer to that is as varied as the hairs on a dogs back, but I reckon there are some good basics we can cover. As you regulars know, we often cover the subject of after-market parts and choosing an accessory to make them irons cycle faster or work longer. However, if we are talking basics, then there is no better place to begin than on the shooter’s bench. After all, with the thousands of rounds we put down range in a season, the guns need regular upkeep to maintain their reliability. Here is an inventory of items I consider essential at my bench and on my gun cart, to keep the firearms operating as intended.

First off, I want a good bench mat to cover the surface I am working on. It needs to be soft, flexible, and have a non-slip backing. Too, it needs to absorb a variety of solvents, oils, and other cleaners without breaking down, and, it needs to be washable with mild detergent and water. The Brownells Bench/Field Mat comes in three sizes and is perfect for this duty. The #3 Roll-Up Mat (#084-280-003) is my favorite and is sized 18” by 48”. This is a perfect length for my long guns and works great on the gun bench or a pick-up truck tail gate. Another place I would like to see this mat used is on the loading and unloading tables at matches. Too often, clubs either have bare wood table tops at these benches, or, they have carpet samples laid in place. Both of these options is a poor one – the gun finish suffers and the carpet especially holds rain water as well as grit and grime from each passing firearm. If the local clubs would invest in a few of these mats, they could be placed on the tables at the start of the event and retrieved when the shoot ends, I think a lot of participants would really appreciate the change. Okay – back down off my soapbox! The second mat I really use a lot is the #1 (#084-280-001) sized at 12” X 24” – really handy for weekend shoots where I carry it in the gun cart for quick repair jobs or cleaning duties, and, can use in the motel room at night for more thorough work. Size #2 (#084-280-002) is 24” X 36” and for some of you pards this will be just the ticket. A good bench mat is an investment and you can’t go wrong with any of these.

Next of my list of ‘essentials’, in no particular order, comes the need for a quality nylon/brass hammer. This is an absolute essential and no, that dang nail driver you have with the claw on the opposite end is not what you want. For driving out various pins or other light hammer needs around the firearm, Brownells 1” Nylon/Brass Hammer (#818-600-100) is perfect. The 11.5” hickory handle and 6 ounce weight is just perfect for work on handguns, rifles, and shotguns. This item is well made, very reasonably priced, and will last you for years.

To go with that hammer, I recommend Brownells Gunsmith Professional Punch Set (#080-553-000). This 10-punch set includes 4 starter and pin punches and six other punches to perform various duties. They come housed in a durable pocketed roll kit for secure storage and easy toting from bench to gun cart.

When I was changing springs in my Stevens 311 SXS the first time, I really wish I had this next item – Brownells Alignment & Push Punches (#080-000-034 in steel, or, #080-000-028 in brass) – these have my highest endorsement. If you even did a spring kit replacement in a Stevens, you know exactly what I mean. The first time, it took me and Sal over 45 minutes to reassemble the gun with the new springs (I lost count of how many cuts, banged knuckles, and cuss words were involved – all mine though!). Some of you folks may recall the story I did on this with photos some months back. Well, darn if I didn’t have to take that beast apart again as the right hammer was striking too light on about one in 20 rounds – ain’t much fun when you pull the trigger and expect to hear a bang and see the knock-down fall, but all you get is a click! Being the cowboy I am, I kinda sweet-talked Sal a spell before I dropped the news that we had to do this all over again – just proved once more that my career was not intended to be spent in sales! Well this time I had the alignment punches on hand and it only took us 3 minutes – honest – to do the exchange. It took far longer to disassembly the stock from the receiver than to replace the springs – these alignment punches really work. They come in four sizes and are also available individually as well as the sets I noted. Their tapered ends and plastic handles make a normally tough job much easier.

Another ‘basic’ all folks who work on their guns need are a set of screwdrivers actually made for the screws used in firearms. We have all been to gun shows and seen the results of amateur gunsmiths – buggered screw heads with the slot chewed away and marring along the screw edge from screwdrivers slipping. Sorry folks, but those tapered blade 10-for-$5 bargain-bin hummers you see at Bugger Boys Tool Expo are just accidents waiting to happen. I bought my first set of gunsmith screwdrivers off Brownells back in 1967 and 40-years later; I still consider it one of the finest tool purchases I ever made. And, I recommend you purchase the set with the most options in blades – this is the 58 bit Master Super Set Plus (#080-112-081). Yep, it costs some bucks, but it is guaranteed for life – no questions, no hassle, and no disappointment. And yes, you will eventually break a blade if you do enough gunsmith work, and yes, it will be replaced for free, exactly as I stated. No matter the screw head over my past 4 decades, if it was worth looking good, I used my gunsmith set. For you new comers, the hollow grinding used in manufacturing these blades keeps the blade sides perfect parallel. When you select a size that matches the screw you are working on, you get full engagement of the blade into the screw slot. Not only do you preserve the screw head, you get superior torque on the screw. And, as you eventually wear down the face of the blade, there is plenty of length to dress a new flat surface – these blades will give you excellent long-term performance.

Yes Sir, I am long-winded on screwdrivers, but again, I feel this could be your most important investment for that gun bench. Why do I recommend the Master Super Set Plus – just because it’s more dollars and a bigger sale for Brownells? No friend, just because it will only be a matter of time until you need the blade you didn’t get the first time around, so my recommendation is to do it right and get the full set. Badland’s only goal here is to point you in the right direction. This set also comes with two handles of your choice – a long one, and, a short one for close work – and you will likely use each an equal amount of the time.

I will end this session of the Campfire with another bench essential for gunsmith work, and that is the vise you need – and you will need one. A good vise is another of those ‘lifetime investments’, since if you purchase a quality vise designed to handle the tasks you need, it truly will last a lifetime. The Brownells Multi-Vise (#080-000-019) will adjust in every direction the job at hand can take you. It adjusts horizontally, vertically, and you can rotate it 360 degrees in the horizontal plane. This is a USA-made product and like all products offered at Brownells, it has an unconditional guarantee. There are so many features on this vise that it would take another page of copy to go over, but I invite you to check it out on page 171 in the big book or have a gander on our website (www.brownells.com).

When using your vise, there is a wide array of jaw pads to consider and these rascals protect your gun finish from marring, as well as hold the part being worked on in a particular position. One set I have been partial to for a long time is Brownells Rubber-Faced Vise Jaws (#080-827-000). Durable, nylon-reinforced rubber is bonded to lightweight aluminum. There is a nitrile magnet built into the underside of the wide lips and the jaws measure 4” long with a 1.25” wide face.

While there are many other options we could discuss with the vise, I claimed when I started this article that we would keep to the basics – I best follow that rule. Whether new to this sport or just itchin’ to tinker on your own irons, the products discussed are sure to please you and make your job easier. Next time in Part II we will discuss other basic items, so until then:

Keep your aim straight and your belly full!