Here ye, here ye: John Wick is neat. So is this project. That's pretty much the extent of the connection between this DIY and the world-famous assassin character. Maybe he'll use a revolver in a future film. Maybe it'll look something like this one. That'd be neat. This build is Uncle Fudd's vision of the style and features that Mr. Wick might use. It's no more connected to the character than that.
In Part I of the Build, we left off with the Impact Weapon's QD Mounts "QD" part removed and ready to clamp the ammo tubes to the Weigand's Ruger 6" Revolver Picatinny Rail.
Since I had not yet received the TruGlo laser that will be mounted on the rail, I spent many sleepless nights wondering if the top of the QD mounts was going to block the laser. This would mean I'd have to cut the top off the QD mounts, I didn't really want to do that.
I know you were at least as concerned about that as I was, so I will not drag this out. The laser shines just above the top of the QD mount. No cutting required.
As you can see in the picture above, the laser shines a bit of light on the mounts. It's not enough though to impact how the laser looks down range. So no problem-o.
Time to turn my attention to what's going to hold the carbon fiber ammo tubes themselves.
If you recall the initial design sketch, you'll remember that the plan is to have two ammo tubes running parallel to the barrel with the open end near the cylinder. The idea is that a Mr. Wick-like person could swing open the cylinder, and quickly reload by pulling two rounds at a time out of the back of the tubes. So, I needed something that could hold two ~1/2" carbon fiber tubes stacked vertically and secured to the mounts on the rail.
A pair of Barretta Lever action front bands seemed up to the task. But, I didn't need the front sight post so...... It was Dr. Dremel time.
These will be Titanium Nitride finished, so just a bit more fine sanding and they'll be ready for finishing.
It was now time for a touch up on the small side of the QD mount. The mounts had a depression in the middle where the QD attachment ball slotted in. I wanted the mount to have a consistent flat surface, so I filled it in with some JB Weld and then sanded it off to be even with the aluminum face. I think this already looks better and once painted, you won't be able to see that there was ever a divot there.
Degrease it, mix the two part JB Weld, fill in the divot, let it dry and then sand it flush.
Then I had a Fudd epiphany. I only needed one of the QD mounts. I could use the Leupold Delta Point Pro mount to anchor the rear of the ammo tubes. Genius.
One of the most enjoyable parts of these projects is improving upon the original concept in ways I didn't expect. It's one thing to design in your head, but better ideas often come once you get your hands dirty. This Fudd epiphany was a perfect example of that.
Epiphany in hand, I now needed a way to connect the 4-40 button head screws that'll hold the barrel bands to the different sized bolts on the QD mount in the front and the red dot mount in the rear. The QD mount uses 8-32 screws and the red dot mount has a single 6-48 screw. I picked up a couple 4-40 coupling nuts to make this connection.
Below you can see the layout of the connection in an expanded view. From top to bottom:
I'll JB weld ~1/4" pieces of a screw (for the QD mount screw) and an hex wrench (for the red dot mount screw) into the top of each mount bolt. These small pieces of steel will extend beyond the head of each bolt and into the coupling nut.
I'll then JB weld the mount bolts with the small steel extenders to the coupling nuts. This creates a mount bolt for both the QD mount and the red dot mount with heads that receive the 4-40 screws from the barrel bands.
One of the cool things about this setup is it'll allow Mr. Wick to take the ammo tubes on and off without having to remove the QD or red dot mount. He can just back the he 4-40 screws out of the coupling nuts.
Below is the full setup (except the carbon fiber tubes) laid out. I put the sanding block in front to show the laser clearing the front QD mount. Next up is connecting the coupling nuts to the mount bolts. Then I'll turn my attention to the ammo tube springs, caps, etc.
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