Great Kids

Medicine Hat · Post by **Medicine Hat** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 12:56 am

Today was a GREAT day.
About a week ago, I bought a Cricket .22 for my daughter's 42nd birthday.
She is disabled. She is a dwarf (3' 6" tall), has other muscle and bone/joint issues since birth. It's extremely hard for her to shoot any "normal" gun, but she is stuborn and independent (as much as possible). The old .22 I was/am building for her is in a friend's shop to have the barrel re-taped after I cut it to legal minimum. (he has a bigger lathe). So I bought a Cricket. The barrel is already 16 in. (legal), and I cut the stock off so OAL is 26 1/4 in to stay legal. THis gives her a length pf pull of 7 1/2 inches which is just barely short enough. Total weight when done is 2.00 lbs, so she can hold it up. She can't grip the bolt knob well enough to cock the gun. Back to the bench, and made a new bolt knob from a 1/4 in bolt. machined (slowly with a file and drill press) the front of the bolt for the firing pin return spring, drilled it for the cross pin to hold it in place, and bent it at a 90 degree angle for form handle for the left of the gun about 1 1/2 inches long with a knob on the end. (she can't use her right fingers individually enough to grasp well.) Anyway, it sort of looks like an extra bolt knob on left side. It works for her. (ugly but it works.) our to the range, set her upwith a low table and stool, put a rest under the forend at at 10 yds, she promptly shot a 1.5 inch 5 shot group, the a 1/4 inc. group. she said she hadn't been able to shoot at all since my divorce in 1980. She was all smiles, and giggles. We now live only j40 miles apart, so se a lot more of each other than earlier.
The icing on the cake was watching the face of my 6 year old grandson with his 1st and new Red jRyder shooting at a coffee can. Man What agreat day.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 6:56 am

Sounds like a wonderful day, wish I could have been there to watch your face. Mods to make the gun work for her, may look ugly to some, but they work for her and that is what counts. Functional is the main thing with any mods, I don't really look that food but I still get the job done.

greener · Post by **greener** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:52 am

Very nice and good work. Have any pictures of the cricket mod?

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 9:43 am

Sounds like someone had a very good day at the range.

To me the functionalty come first, looks last.

If you have any pictures to share that would be nice.

Medicine Hat · Post by **Medicine Hat** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:38 am

blue68f100 wrote:Sounds like someone had a very good day at the range.

To me the functionalty come first, looks last.

If you have any pictures to share that would be nice.

I don't know how to post pics. (I suppose I could learn though

)

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 1:35 pm

You need to use a hosting service like imageshack or photobucket. Once you upload the photo ( I normally resize to 640x480) it will provide a link for forums. You just copy and paste the link directly into your post.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 2:33 pm

Picassa through Google has a very easy to use program, better than photobucket in my opinion, have never tried imagesahck.

Medicine Hat · Post by **Medicine Hat** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 5:28 pm

Just signed up for photo bucket, don't know how to post it here. 1st try
#1 overall finishe pic
#2 finished bolt/cocking knob
#3 finished bolt with rubber covered tweezers so DeDe can pick up cartridges, and load them
#4 modified bolt on left, original cocking knob on right.
Darn this new fangles electronic stuff works!! After about 3 hours of trying to figure it out.

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 5:40 pm

Glad to see you have it figured out.

I see nothing wrong with what you did, very functional and is not a distraction to the shooter.

Medicine Hat · Post by **Medicine Hat** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 5:56 pm

Thanks. Crude, but effective. DeDe's right hand doesn't have indifidual finger movement, and minimal strength, sort of like a cat's paw in effect, so she has do do most stuff with her left hand, and it is pretty limited too, but not as much as the right. Even with this mod, she has to put the gun butt to her chest to have strength to pull it back. Anyway it works for her, and she is absolutely thrilled to have 'Her own gun" and use it. That's what it's all about. BTW, she is a life member NRA and is VERY proud of that too. This kid has accomplished so much, with so little for so long it's just amazing, and does make this old fart proud of her.

Post by **Bullseye** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:21 pm

I'm sure that she really appreciates all the things you've done to make her wishes come true. Adapting a rifle like that for a special purpose is indeed a noble endeavor. Hopefully she will enjoy using it for scores of years to come.

R,
Bullseye

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:25 pm

Crickets and Red Riders! You did have a great day

Yleefox · Post by **Yleefox** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:04 pm

FANTASTIC!!!!

greener · Post by **greener** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:22 pm

Great work. Darned innovative where most folks would have given up.

Downeaster · Post by **Downeaster** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:24 am

Darned impressive and innovative! Good on ya!