Almost finished

Yes Glenn, it was nice to meet you in Reno and put a face with the name. Isn't it interesting how different a person is in real life compared to the Forum?

Jim, your horseshoes on the table made my display that much more attractive...thanks for the loan.

Ron, the gun really does shoot in the ten ring. I have two fitted barrels for this gun. the original is .45 ACP. The other is a custom Bar-Sto chambered as a .41 Avenger.
The .41 Avenger is a wildcat cartridge from the early 1980's by my good friend J.D. Jones of SSK Industries.
It is a .45 ACP necked down to .41 caliber, making it a bottleneck cartridge----This was out long before the SIG .357 was even thought of.
The ballistics are awesome---I can launch a 185 gr. SWC bullet at .357 Magnum velocities (1300 fps)
Pretty impressive for an automatic pistol.

gail.m ---yep too nice to hide in a safe these days. As a matter of fact, I have a vintage S&W Model 27 sitting in there right now ----looks like that'll be my next project.

Peter- No the gun is not stainless. It is chrome-moly steel and in the white right now with just a coat of wax on it. I've made several attempts at clear lacquer finish, but my surface is too smooth and it just peeled off.

Van...Sorry for the delayed reply to your question about the inlay process. I didn't mean to slight your request.
This process was taught to me by Ron Smith at Grand Masters 2005.
I'd say he is a pretty good teacher, huh?

The inlays are worked from the hardest metal first (brass) to the softest metal lastly (24k gold)

During the course of this project, I decided that I can mix gold and silver and get a color real close to brass that ain't nearly as hard to inlay. As a matter of fact, I'd rather pay extra for the gold and silver metal mix and its easier inlay properties than to spend all the time it takes to inlay brass--cause brass doesn't always inlay on the first attempt.

I worked the inlays as groups, i.e. all of the copper cavities were cut and inlaid, then all of the platinum cavities were cut and inlaid,etc.,etc.

The order of hardness was: Brass-Copper-Platinum-Rose gold, Green gold,Silver, 24k gold.
The inlays were set with a steel punch and then a brass punch was used to anchor them in the cavities.
The steel punch gives the inlay a good solid whack, but it can put a real nice dimple on the gun metal if you over do it...Brass is harder than the inlay material but softer than the gun metal. It will work your inlays into the cavities but it won't mark up the gun metal.

After all of the inlays were done, I used a Water of Ayr stone to smooth everything flush with the gun metal.


Monk...if you're ever up this way (I know you're only an hour away) I'll open up the treasure chest and show you my other .45 automatic.

Great Job on this one Brian, I've always loved 1911's, I'd love to engrave one one day when my skill level gets to that point. Thanks for posting!

Dwayne

Good day Brian,
Thanks for the reply, No need to apologies I know you guys are busy specially the ones who works for themselves. I sure hope to try this one day and I am looking forward to it.

About Ron, in my opinion he is a gentleman and a scholar plus a good ambassador for engraving; mankind and last but not the least our Creator.

Cheers

"VAN"