New guy with first mini and a semi custom guardian

[akman]

First post so bear with me if i do something wrong. Have been lurking here awhile.

Picked my first mni revolver last week, .22 mag with 1 1/8" barrel and imitation stag grips. Love this little guy and plan to send it in soon for LR conversion cylinder.

[akman]

Next is my semi custom .32 ACP guardian. Have had this one for about nine years now and has ridden in back pocket quite a bit.

Purchased this from a buddy when he was hard up for money. He said he wanted a flashy little "pimp" gun so he had simulated pearl grips on it and hand polished sides of slide. After i got it i put the original grips back on, did a subtle meltdown on all the sharp edges and stipled front and back straps.

Also i threaded the barrel to 7/16 x 28 by 3/8" deep. I made an adapter that screws into barrel and is threaded on outside 1/2 x 28 for use with muzzle attachements. This thing is nice with buddy's degroat nano suppressor!

Will post pics of thread adapter later tonight when i get home.

[bud]

Nice job!   

[grayelky]

To the 23 (bud, not you) who read this prior to me, why not post and at least welcome the new guy?

akman-
First, welcome to the forum!!

Nice little mini. Did the "stag" grips come on it, or did you add them. Either way, it looks good. Anybody else notice the hammer is in a safety notch? I like the melt job on the Guardian. You do the machine work to thread the barrel? I would love to be able to do stuff like that. The stipple job is a neat touch also.

[G50AE]

Welcome to the forum.  Those mods to your pistol obviously make it more "tactical". 

[akman]

Thanks for the welcome.

Pretty sure the "stag" grips are factory imitation plastic. I like them, a bit more "square" with more texture than the wood birds head grips. Gives ya a better hold on it.

Yeah I did the thread job on the guardian. Having never seen one done I saw it as a challenge. Had to make a jig to hold it then bored and single point cut threads in lathe.

This was my first attempt at stipling, have since done other guns but you now how it is.... You always remember your first time! 

As far as tactical goes, not the point with this gun. The thread job was just to do something strange and add some fun to a carry gun.

Going to try and upload pics of thread adapter. A warning though, cel phone camera and bad lighting.

[OV-1D]

First rate job on that Guardian there Akman and welcome . Its so nice to see other ideas put to work ,thanks .

[akman]

Here is my little guardian's thread adapter. 1/2" NEF on outside with 7/16" NEF into barrel. Carved it out of 17-4 in single operation on lathe to run dead.

Neatest thing about this, I timed the wrench flats on adapter to barrel. 90 degrees apart it will accept a 1/2" or 9/16" wrench... and the 9/16" is offset to clear bottom of slide. Can still disassemble gun with adapter installed and top "flat" doesn't block front sight.

Also, a pic of it wearing an A1 flash hider for fun. 

[Uncle_Lee]

Fine Guardian and congrats on the mini.
You may now loose all hope of a normal life.

[nastruck]

Like uncle_lee said.
I have #4 on the way to FFL guy. A LR with a 1 5/8 barrel....
You just can't own one!!!!

[bud]

grayelky,

I also should have started off by saying welcome to a new guy! I was too impressed on the work he had done and overlooked the obvious. My bad.   

[TeeJay37]

Welcome! You've got 2 more NAAs than I've got and I've been hanging around here for a little while, lol.

How did you stipple the Guardian? It looks great. I've never seen anything stippled, except poly guns.

[grayelky]

To the lurkers-

TeeJay37 is a prime example of not having to owna mini or Guardian toparticipate in the forum. Come on, let us hear your comments too. I will warn you, it will not be long before you are an owner.

TJ- Keep your secret to yourself!

akman-
What effect does the flash suppressor have on the Guardian?

[akman]

The stippling I did the old fashioned way, a center punch and a hammer. I clamped frame in aluminum jaws in vise and spent a few hours pounding away. Interesting thing was after about 50 hits the punch would dull and need sharpening.

I've never fired gun with flash suppressor on so i can't say what the effects are. Had one laying around so put it on for fun just for picture.

Am thinking of making a compensator for barrel and getting an extended mag. Make it look like a mini race gun for at the range. Beauty is tha in secnds it can be converted back to the compact carry gun it is.

[TeeJay37]

akman, that would be pretty cool to see. I think the a2 wouldn't be a very good idea to shoot with it on there. Aren't they just a little bigger than the .223? I guess you could ream it out.

I was thinking either a center punch or a fine point stone on a rotary tool. That came out really well.

grayelky, I am currently expecting! I ordered a semi-custom BW in September. I spoke with them yesterday and was told that it should ship out either late this week or early next. I can barely stand to wait any longer.

[TwoGunJayne]

Here is my little guardian's thread adapter. 1/2" NEF on outside with 7/16" NEF into barrel. Carved it out of 17-4 in single operation on lathe to run dead.

Neatest thing about this, I timed the wrench flats on adapter to barrel. 90 degrees apart it will accept a 1/2" or 9/16" wrench... and the 9/16" is offset to clear bottom of slide. Can still disassemble gun with adapter installed and top "flat" doesn't block front sight.

Also, a pic of it wearing an A1 flash hider for fun. 

WHOA! That's awesome!

[RogueTS1]

Welcome to the forum Akman. Lovely looking Guardian. I love the internally threaded barrel and adaptor as well as the sharp looking thread protector.

How about some photos of the pistol with the thread protector mounted for a quick look see?

Have you fired the pistol with suppressor mounted? I assume you made the threaded barrel adaptor's diameter to match the barrel's diameter when mounted? Aka no bullet shaving going on. Looks like something I may have to have done to my .380 Guardian. I do love a suppressed pistol.

[Dinadan]

akman - welcome to the forum. Nice work on the Guardian - you seem to know your way around a machine shop.

[akman]

TeeJay37, I don't recall inside diameter of AR flash hider but I know it's big enough for .308 bullet to pass through. An A2 hider would be cool but requires a crush washer to time cutouts. I like to be able to take muzzle attachment off by hand.

roguets1, yes i have shot this with suppressor mounted. I used the formula of 10% of bullet diameter bigger to clear it so no shaving of bullet. This is pretty much standard for suppresor baffle clearance.

To ensure I cut threads in barrel straight I turned a piece of brass round stock to press fit in barrel. Then used a test indicator to dial both ends of rod true while gun was in jig.

[G50AE]

I stand by my previous comment that the mods to the guardian make it more "tactical", even if that was not the intent.

[TwoGunJayne]

I stand by my previous comment that the mods to the guardian make it more "tactical", even if that was not the intent.

A Guardian like that would be better than Christmas. It would go well in the pic I've posted on Christmas morning.

I hate Christmas commercialization; they even started before Halloween this year.

[MR_22]

Awesome. I must have tactical stocking!

http://soldiersystems.net/2011/12/15/tactical-christmas-stockings

[RogueTS1]

Awesome machine work. I really like it. Now I have to add a few new items to the wishlist for my custom NAA Guardian.

[akman]

I'm glad you guys appreciate the work that went into this gun. I found another guardian online that had a threaded extension permanently istalled but nothing like this barrel. The stippling is my favorite touch though, makes a huge difference on how the gun shoots. Allows a firmer grip so it doesn't "whip" as much in your hand.

Looking for some customization ideas for the mini.

[G50AE]

I stand by my previous comment that the mods to the guardian make it more "tactical", even if that was not the intent.

A Guardian like that would be better than Christmas. It would go well in the pic I've posted on Christmas morning.

I hate Christmas commercialization; they even started before Halloween this year.

I hear what you say.  People see Thanksgiving as the beginning of the Christmas season and Hanukkah as Jewish Christmas.  And both perceptions are completely WRONG!  Thanksgiving is its own holiday, to celebrate our great nation.  Hanukkah is a holiday celebrating religious freedom.  To simply lump them into "the holiday season" cheapens them and Christmas as well.  BTW, this year Thanksgiving falls during Hanukkah for only the second time since Thanksgiving was made a federal holiday.

[TwoGunJayne]

Where I'm from, we go hunting to do this.

You buy something for Thanksgiving, for Christmas. The hunting makes the others happen. Venison tenderloin is fantastic, particularly with the best gravy. If your "daily driver" is a Cadillac, then you rent a Rolls Royce for special occasions.

It makes it worse when you grew up (among other places) on a farm that raised cattle, geese, and other such.

"Goose for Christmas dinner AGAIN?!?!?" (says the idiot 14 year old.)

Better than government cheese and obama EBT stealing! We earned it and anyone that wanted to take it could have a little of our extra lead that we had laying around, unless they were invited... of course. Got some family coming over for the holidays? Count yourself blessed. I'm running shy of such these days.