Thinking about buckling down and digging into my late uncle's Winchester 1907 Self-Loading rifle (circa 1911) and fabricating a buffer out of some Delrin stock. I have about 100 old factory rounds (as best as I can tell they're factory), and just shy of 50 reloads made from 357 MAX brass. Already picked up a set of dies for this obsolete .351 caliber round.
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I had a bunch of emails back and forth with the author of a monograph about this rifle, and he imparted some wisdom to go along with his personally inscribed book.
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The Delrin idea came from a long search for any new old production buffers, but
Numrich is fresh out, and many forums I trolled through had people asking for the same throughout the years. I even stumbled upon one forum where someone was asking for one just a week prior, and an old-timer offered up an extra he had in storage. He had to wait for his 50-year-old son to come by his house to retrieve it from a shelf with a ladder. He only had the one, however. So anyways, the Delrin came from emailing and then calling a gunsmith in California that loves working on these rifles (Winchester '05, '07, and '10). Apparently he gets them shipped in from all over the country. We had a great talk, and he not only sent me the dimensions to create my own, but also shipped me enough material to make at least a dozen of them, free of charge! I introduced him to the above author, so they can talk shop and compare notes on the intricacies of taking apart these guns. You need a lot of customized tooling, of which I've slowly been amassing and making.
TL;DR
All you gun guys are a great bunch, and I'm happy to be part of the pack, if only as a mostly silent observer. (Pictured below, this is as far as I can take the receiver apart without finishing up the rest of the tooling. Note the new buffer spring from
Wolff Gunsprings.)
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