Thread: Making one little girl very happy.

My daughter likes to shoot her bow and arrow when I do, she also gets the odd turn with the 10/22 when I shoot magpies on the farm, so it was only a matter of time until she wanted her own rifle. The catch was she didn't want any old boring ''brown rifle'' - no she wanted it to be purple or pink!

So never one to discriminate or be sexist, I said yes and made her this one today.



Making a little girls happy:



1) Buy old .22lr off trademe for $80



2) Work out LOP and min legal length (762mm)



3) Cut down, reshape and sand



4) Primer and sand again, then prime last time.




5) Use a floral pattern pantyhose as a stencil...yes I did feel like a pervert buying them :-* I used clothes pegs to hold it tight on one side, then painted/let dry and did it all over again on the other side. Finally clear coat.



6) Now I cut down the barrel, end faced it in the lathe and cut a the crown using a reloading champhering tool.




7) Now for a pretty up with some bluing chemicals. This actually worked very well and gave a very nice deep finish. I'm not fooling myself into believing it will last forever...but for an $80 project it doesn't need too.





8) Final assembly




9) One very happy little girl.


All up it took about 2hrs to make, most of that time was waiting for paint to dry. Total costs were $105.00 which included paint, rifle and pantyhose. I had a can of primer and the bluing solution already so that would cost extra if you didn't have that.

kj

Disclaimer: For all those concerned about firearms safety, this will only be used under direct supervision. I feel if you teach them proper firearms handling skill young, then you'll set them up well for the future.