Made some headway on the gun before the cold weather set in. Here is a shot of the axle and pintle bar together at last. The rubber is the wrong size...the 11.00X20 will have to do until I can figure a way to get some 9.00X20s from Rob Morrison brought out to here.
I installed the trails as a temporary measure so I could move the carriage in and out of the shop. It will also give me a chance to work on some of the brackets and clamps over the winter.
Managed to get the top carriage sandblasted before the snow set in. I aquired the bottom bushing for it, but will have to spin the top bushing on the lathe.
On one of the last trips of the season to my favorite surplus yard, I found this chest, which was issued to the 105s (and other US howitzers) as a tool box. On the inside lid is a list of the various telescopes and equipment it contained.
To keep busy I dis-assembled the traverse mechanism. The main shaft was pretty pitted, so I turned it down a fraction of an inch and had to replace a non-standard seal and make a bushing to fit the new diameter shaft. As well, new bearings, bushings and seals were ordered for the remainder of the mechanism.
Below are the parts waiting re-assembly.
As a temporary measure to make up for the barrel, I took an old Leopard barrel (more common than Liberals in this neck of the woods) and cut it in half. I took the heavy end over to a friend's work last Friday after work, and by Saturday night, out came a C1 barrel. As well, 2-1/2 wheel barrows worth of shavings were wheeled out to the metal dumpster.
I couldn't wait to see if the barrel was going to fit into the recoil mech. With a little coaxing, in it went.
The Lord only knows what our animals must think about us doing this kind of stuff. Here, my dog Brenna (feminine version of "Bren") is looking over the morning's work.
This barrel had stayed outdoors for some 25 years or so. As a result, it does not have that shiny bore one would like to see in a barrel. I obviously have some work to do in here. Notice the set back rifling in the barrel swell. This was a design change to stop barrel cracking which was possible on the earlier version of these guns.
One will note that the Leopard breech threads were left on the barrel for now. I am still looking for a suitable breech ring for this gun, so in the meantime the extra metal will help compensate for the missing weight of the breech ring and block.
Well that's about all for this month. With the cold weather upon us, painting is out of the question now, so at best things will get a coat of primer and have to wait for the spring for painting. I guess I can use the winter months to keep an eye on ebay for any bits and pieces that might surface. I have actually bought all the bearings and seals along with some minor hardware through ebay and amazon.com. Even with shipping counted into the equation, they are still considerably cheaper than going to the jobbers downtown.