Anyone like custom or handmade shooting gear?

[Wapiti]

For all you enthusiasts, hunters or hobbyist types out there, what sort of shooting accessories do you have that are handmade, or are knocked up yourself?

I've seen range shooters with awesome home-made benchrests, slings, bags or even parts.

I completely get that not everyone is into the pleasure of having something handmade that suits their activities better than mass-produced stuff (now almost completely Chinese made), but there's some great ideas out there.

If you do any of this stuff, maybe you could show us your ideas and what we could maybe do ourselves, or even, what's available out there that's different?

[Wapiti]

I'll start.
I helped a farmer mate a few places down with how to get over his welding dramas on his end assembly construction. We all help one another and don't expect anything in return, it's just how we roll.
Anyway, he had his mate who makes saddles, knock me up a custom cartridge holder in 300WM, because he knows it's my favourite hunting cartridge. When I can do hunting that is, as opposed to shooting all the time.

The rivets are perfectly done, all stitching is hand done. The fasteners that keep it closed are magnetic and hold real hard.
I've got it pictured on my 1-1/2" Kent hobble belt, where I get all my leather goods from. Kent's is a saddler that has a showroom store at Applethorpe where I pass when travelling between places. All handmade and stitched too.

[flashman]

HI made a foldable shooting bench for range work in the back paddock ........works well...

[Wapiti]

And closed. Very neat and quiet.

[Wapiti]

HI made a foldable shooting bench for range work in the back paddock ........works well...

Any pics mate? We might get some ideas...

[bladeracer]

For all you enthusiasts, hunters or hobbyist types out there, what sort of shooting accessories do you have that are handmade, or are knocked up yourself?

I've seen range shooters with awesome home-made benchrests, slings, bags or even parts.

I completely get that not everyone is into the pleasure of having something handmade that suits their activities better than mass-produced stuff (now almost completely Chinese made), but there's some great ideas out there.

If you do any of this stuff, maybe you could show us your ideas and what we could maybe do ourselves, or even, what's available out there that's different?

I'm not averse to fabricating things, when I have the time and patience.

I wanted a bullpup rifle so I built my own.
https://enoughgun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=6365#p174948

20181002_171420 (2c).jpg (371.93 KiB) Viewed 6181 times

I wanted a 5rd magazine tube for the JW21 for Rimfire Silhouette so I bought another tube and follower and shortened them.

Right now I need to try to make a flat V spring for a Browning International .22 pistol as the disconnector spring has broken in half and seems to be unobtainable in Oz these days.

[bladeracer]

HI made a foldable shooting bench for range work in the back paddock ........works well...

Any pics mate? We might get some ideas...

Definitely!

[Wapiti]

Hey mate, great work on the bullpup! Love it.

Maybe you can get flat spring steel from ebay or temu. I've bought spring wire there bloody cheap, and made my own springs.

Have you tried cutting out and hardening a piece of steel pallet strapping? We call it band strapping.
I've made flat springs from it before.
Also, heating, flattening, reshaping and rehardening the flat steel springs in some of the larger clothes pegs can replace all sorts of things you can't buy.

[Wapiti]

This is a handmade sling, from Kents at Applethorpe.
I was down there buying a new belt and Leatherman pouch, because nothing lasts forever around here. I saw this sling and had to have it for my 300.
Handmade, beautiful buckles and rivets and made/positioned so nothing can dent or mark the rifle. The leather is so soft and it actually grips my shirt when shouldered, which isn't like other hard, mass-produced leather stuff.
They have an online store too.

[Wapiti]

Handmade Leatherman Wave pouch. Year old one, worn every day, and a newby I bought for a mate. From Kents too.
Keeps the thing in-line with your belt, and out this way, the Tactical-Terry black nylon look isn't cool. And you can tell who isn't from here!

[bladeracer]

Hey mate, great work on the bullpup! Love it.

Maybe you can get flat spring steel from ebay or temu. I've bought spring wire there bloody cheap, and made my own springs.

Have you tried cutting out and hardening a piece of steel pallet strapping? We call it band strapping.
I've made flat springs from it before.
Also, heating, flattening, reshaping and rehardening the flat steel springs in some of the larger clothes pegs can replace all sorts of things you can't buy.

I was going to try with a feeler gauge first. It's only .016" thick, .080" wide and .600" long on each side. The top of the V is probably around .500" across, it doesn't need a lot of power. The disconnector is the "bump" on top of the trigger bar, the slide opens and pushes the trigger bar down, disconnecting the trigger from the sear. As the slide comes back into battery the "bump" pops back up into the slide reconnecting the trigger bar to the sear. It only needs a few grams of pressure to push the trigger bar up, but the spring also pushes it backwards to reset the trigger. Under gravity the trigger bar is staying down - if you turn the pistol upside-down and pull the trigger forward after each shot the trigger bar does drop back into the sear and it will keep firing.

I also made my gunbelt and holsters for Cowboy. Because of my right arm injuries and the eight-inch barrels of the revolvers I really needed to try a rig before buying it, and that's difficult, so I made my own.

[bigpete]

Yeah I make a fair bit of stuff our of necessity

[Wapiti]

Hey mate, great work on the bullpup! Love it.

Maybe you can get flat spring steel from ebay or temu. I've bought spring wire there bloody cheap, and made my own springs.

Have you tried cutting out and hardening a piece of steel pallet strapping? We call it band strapping.
I've made flat springs from it before.
Also, heating, flattening, reshaping and rehardening the flat steel springs in some of the larger clothes pegs can replace all sorts of things you can't buy.

I was going to try with a feeler gauge first. It's only .016" thick, .080" wide and .600" long on each side. The top of the V is probably around .500" across, it doesn't need a lot of power. The disconnector is the "bump" on top of the trigger bar, the slide opens and pushes the trigger bar down, disconnecting the trigger from the sear. As the slide comes back into battery the "bump" pops back up into the slide reconnecting the trigger bar to the sear. It only needs a few grams of pressure to push the trigger bar up, but the spring also pushes it backwards to reset the trigger. Under gravity the trigger bar is staying down - if you turn the pistol upside-down and pull the trigger forward after each shot the trigger bar does drop back into the sear and it will keep firing.

I also made my gunbelt and holsters for Cowboy. Because of my right arm injuries and the eight-inch barrels of the revolvers I really needed to try a rig before buying it, and that's difficult, so I made my own.

Feeler gauge might just do it, never thought of that... at the least you could pick the perfect thickness, not sure if that is important. Only thing would be to get something in feeler gauges that is able to be hardened... But maybe that's not necessary as it's not needing too much energy in that job.
Although the feeler gauge itself, when bent, would work harden at the bend anyway and they all should be of a fairly good steel grade.
Unless they are Chinese...

Great holsters mate, the drop-type is really cool and of that period. They also present the hand of the draw arm at the right height to come onto the grips really quick. The gunslingers way back had their stuff sorted out alright.

[bladeracer]

Feeler gauge might just do it, never thought of that... at the least you could pick the perfect thickness, not sure if that is important. Only thing would be to get something in feeler gauges that is able to be hardened... But maybe that's not necessary as it's not needing too much energy in that job.
Although the feeler gauge itself, when bent, would work harden at the bend anyway and they all should be of a fairly good steel grade.
Unless they are Chinese...

Great holsters mate, the drop-type is really cool and of that period. They also present the hand of the draw arm at the right height to come onto the grips really quick. The gunslingers way back had their stuff sorted out alright.

I tried cutting a piece of 2mm-thick rubber for it today, and then fired 23 10rd-mags through it with zero issues. Not sure how reliable it'll be but it's fixed in the short term. I'll do another 300rd of testing on Wednesday morning and then shoot a 60rd match with it. If it gets through that okay I'll leave it alone for now. It's only a club gun but it's too nice to be sitting dead in the safe.

Because my shoulder and wrist have limited movement I needed to hang the right-side holster down low enough to be able to reliably clear the eight-inch barrel, without hurting my shoulder, and especially without catching the muzzle and spinning the pistol out of my grip as I draw, that would be a very bad thing. I have some open-front competition holsters I can use with the Model 19 .357 so they're not an issue, with those you only draw the pistol an inch or two from the holster, then just thrust it forward.

[Wapiti]

Homemade knife sheath.
Made in this case from 40mm blue-stripe trough pipe offcut.
The natural bend in the pipe from the large rolls we get it in runs with the curve in the knife, and the slot is cut to spring open as the knife is pushed in. The rounded section is where it bottoms out and "clicks" into place so it doesn't fall out.

These can be thrown on the dash in the ute, in a pack, or tek-screwed (knife point down) to the tray or roll-bar of a SxS to always have the perfect knife available to deal with whatever your meat task is. Weatherproof and the knife will never fall out.

Edit: just don't leave it on the dash when going into town to get supplies. It will automatically make you a criminal.

[Wapiti]

Something else that those of you who use these great hunting rifles, no longer made because of the popularity of the AR10/SR25 rifles in the US.
The only mags available other than the excellent 4-shot Rem ones was some fairly dubious other offerings made by others.
So I thought I'd make my own, from MDT/AI metal mags. They work perfectly.

[Die Judicii]

Yeah I like making bits and pieces from time to time,
Here is a pig sticker and its scabbard that I made back around 2006.
River redgum hand grips hand rivited to the tang,
The scabbard was made using some leather from one of my own steers, and simply stitched using copper wire.

I'm currently making a custom Kydex and Fibreglass brass catcher for my night time pig rifle,, with a Kevlar fabric bag,
Pics will be posted when it's finished.

pig sticker 1.jpg (745.75 KiB) Viewed 5159 times

pig sticker 2.jpg (184.54 KiB) Viewed 5159 times

[Wapiti]

Pretty envious of that job mate. The guards as part of the blade are a great look, did you use any particular steel?

[Faedy]

Im doing a knife making course in Perth come October.
Keen to make a knife or 2 for hunting.

[jezzab]

I don't usually show people these pics (I get nervous they aren't good enough and I can pick the s**t out of every one of them) and only make some for me, family and a couple of friends. Just some general purpose/bunny knives (folders), skinners and a zombie killer (have to show technique with a fitted guard. Still not finished coz it's weeks of hand sanding), so was a bit different than what I've made before. Some pics they arnt finished (the skinner with the Sambar handle. Forgot to take a finished pic but came up ok [that s**t stinks when you grind it. Like burning hair]. I ended up making hidden pins because I knew he would be pretty hard on it vs just using epoxy and no pins. Through pins would have looked like s**t on the rough outer and no way to grind them down without damage to the horn).
Havent got into the leather yet. Always learning more and I'm getting better but I need to get back out to the shed as I've been lazy. Made more but that's enough pics :/

The titanium was the scariest and took the most thinking, it isnt magnetic to surface grind it and the sparks are insane and dangerous. It makes these cotton balls and then when a spark hits them they explode into an intense fireball, what I imagine grinding Magnesium would be like.Plus it was ripping the belts apart (go slow is the trick, which is different). I ended up putting painters blue tape on the magnetic base and the super glueing the blade to the tape, surface grind, pull off and then acetone it clean. Rinse and repeat for the other side

PXL_20240226_043115829.jpg (191.22 KiB) Viewed 4699 times

PXL_20240227_231827086.jpg (350.76 KiB) Viewed 4699 times

PXL_20240512_004714804.jpg (178.07 KiB) Viewed 4699 times

PXL_20240603_033335138 (2).jpg (223.15 KiB) Viewed 4699 times

PXL_20240603_033354545 (2).jpg (250.37 KiB) Viewed 4699 times

PXL_20250403_055502836.RAW-01.COVER.jpg (140.1 KiB) Viewed 4699 times

[deye243]

I do my own leather gear the sheath on the buck is 30 yo .

Screenshot_20250915_192527_Gallery_copy_432x926.jpg (121.12 KiB) Viewed 4661 times

Screenshot_20250915_192127_Gallery_copy_926x432.jpg (91.36 KiB) Viewed 4661 times

Screenshot_20250915_192559_Gallery_copy_432x926.jpg (53.32 KiB) Viewed 4661 times

[Wapiti]

Great knife metal work Jezzab. Looks bloody professional.
As does Dyes leather work. Talented people out there.

[Die Judicii]

Im doing a knife making course in Perth come October.
Keen to make a knife or 2 for hunting.

Haven't they banned knives over there yet ?

[Die Judicii]

Hey Jezzab,
They look they look ok to me,,,, NAH,, bloody fantastic Mate.
Especially the last one in the line up. I'm a sucker for handles like that.

[Wapiti]

On the "custom" side, here's a few Howa bolts I fitted with extended bolt knobs.
They are the excellent products made here in Aus by Atlasworx's Colin Bowler. Really great service too.
He also makes excellent DBM floorplates that take AICS pattern magazines for many factory stocks, with or without inletting required. Choose your model. Saves buying those awful aluminium tactical stock things so you can take detachable mags.

Small one is for a Howa Mini varmint 223, where I turned down the original bolt knob to the correct dimensions for the 5/16" UNF thread which id the US standard for bolt knobs.
Long one is for a 308 Howa varmint used for night spotlighting - this bolt knob was hollow and so couldn't be threaded. So instead I cut off the knob and tig welded a stainless 5/16 UNF bolt section. Garnet blasting afterwards makes the finish dark grey and it holds oil well which is handy because the stainless grade Howa uses rusts very easily.

[Die Judicii]

Ok, the Brass Catcher for my dedicated night time pig rifle is all finished except for the bag itself, and as promised, here are some pics.

I had previously purchased some Kevlar cloth to make the bag, but decided not to use that for several reasons.
Instead,, I have ordered and paid for some Hi Temp gauntlets (sleeves) which will be much better and easier to use.
The bag (when ready) will be zip tied to the outer end. I've made a ridge around it which is left rough to aid holding the bag in place.

The main body is formed/folded with 2mm thick Kydex sheet, and then the whole unit is encased in fibre glass.

I purchased the pic rail quick release clamp which is screwed onto the upper section,, making it a simple flick of the lever to be able to remove, turn upside down, and empty the bag, and then simply click it back onto the rifle.

The bag itself will easily hold 15 cases.

IMG_0367 catcher.jpg (289.12 KiB) Viewed 4021 times

IMG_0365 catcher.jpg (413.51 KiB) Viewed 4021 times

IMG_0364 catcher.jpg (343.56 KiB) Viewed 4021 times

IMG_0363 catcher.jpg (277.22 KiB) Viewed 4021 times

IMG_0370 catcher and rifle (birds eye).jpg (311.72 KiB) Viewed 4021 times

IMG_0368 catcher on rifle.jpg (264.46 KiB) Viewed 4021 times

[Faedy]

Im doing a knife making course in Perth come October.
Keen to make a knife or 2 for hunting.

Haven't they banned knives over there yet ?

HAA - We just need written authority, and log onto a portal every time we need to use it...FML.

[Wapiti]

Hey awesome job DJ...
You've been bloody busy.

[fussy]

Wapiti, How much are the leatherman sheaths of actual leather?
My nylon one is getting a bit tatty after more than 12 years of every day use...

[Wapiti]

Mate, solid leather.
Probably best I put up a link to the pouch here, it will tell you it better than I can. There are a few different styles you can look at too. Don't forget to pick your favourite buckle style, which you can also get the same style (except bigger!) on your belt and other items as a matched kit.
But I'll put up a pic of my latest well-worn pouch, with my Wave in it.
It's worn every single day of the year, rain or dust, and I also use their horizontal knife pouches which you can get for any size knife, even a Swibo boning knife.
Along with their excellent Hobble belts, I never go anywhere without one.
And I gladly support these locals because they are genuine people.

https://kentsaddlery.com.au/products/po ... th-buckle/