Replacing 0561 stabilizer?

Alchemy1

Alchemy1

Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Messages
948
I see that you can buy a .45 caliber version, but in my opinion it is too expensive (I know this is coming from a guy who just spent $260 on ONE knife). Besides I do not shoot .45 so I don't see the point in buying one of those. I do have some .40 and .357 sig casings that I could try to mod. How hard is this/does anyone have instructions on how to do this? I would prefer to use a .357 sig casing.
 
well its not that hard if you have the proper tools to do the job. Basically if its a spent shell and of proper dia. you simply hack off the butt of the round at the rim and sand it smooth. Then you drill a hole through the primer that is now spent. If you have a spent shell you could send me I could take a stab at making one for you free of charge. I like challenges like this. I do knife modifications in my spare time and this seems to be a neat project.
 
.45 has a rim diameter of 12.19mm and is way too large. .357 SIG is 10.77mm and will need to be turned down too far. 9mm is 9.96mm and needs to be turned down slightly. The .380 ACP at 9.5mm rim diameter (Ruger LCP seems to be the most common in .380) should be able to be fit with only a little work if any depending on your knife and the exact tolerances. Anyone with a Beretta Tomcat firing .32 ACP should be set with a 9.1mm diameter as it should fit great without any work. I think most people are using 9mm and turning it down to size as 9mm Luger is an extremely common caliber. You can easily find it in a nickel plated casing in Federal and other brands. I also saw aluminum cased 9mm at Cabela's over the weekend that I think would look great and should be much easier to get to size and not lose the silver color. Aluminum casing will also be matte like the original LBS.

Process seems to be (off the top of my head, I haven't yet done this): Hold casing with vice. Drill primer while still a full casing and it is still easy to hold with the vice. Because the firing pin likely didn't hit dead center your drilling likely won't be perfectly centered. Use conical diamond sharpening file to ream until hole is centered so you can center it on the knife. Now use Dremel with fiberglass reinforced circular cutting bit to cut end off casing as this is the best way to keep your back side even. Use Dremel attachment that has a screw down piece and mount the casing upside down to the rough edge is exposed. Using a small bit of coarse paper on the end of a screw driver or similar take the rough cut edge down to flat or near flat careful not to sound down the top of the mounting screw. At this step you don't care for a nice fine polish as this side won't be exposed once mounted. Turn casing edge against a bit of fine grit wet/dry paper until it is the proper diameter of around 9mm. Coarser paper will work at this step but you don't want to scratch your casing all up if you end up going up over the edge while turning it down to size. Take casing end off end of Dremel and mount on knife.
 
9mm fits right in. I have one in mine right now that was chopped off and sanded down. I use a Dremel with a cutoff wheel and a sanding drum, use a plier to hold on to it.

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I have a silver Speer shell I am going to replace it with.
 
Thanks for the info guys! I have 9mm, .40, and .357 sig casings on hand. I can pick some .380 up if necessary...my Mom shoots a .380. I really wanted to use .357 sig though:grumpy:

I'm glad to see the 9mm is a direct fit though.

@PURPLEDC
If you would like some casings to screw around with let me know. I have plenty of spent .357 sig casings, but I would have to wait until I go back to the range if you would like any of the other calibers I mentioned. I appreciate the offer, but it looks like I can get this done pretty easy with a 9mm casing.
 
jfever311 said:
Quick question about doing this. Would this void your warranty??
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Doubtful. You can dissemble you knife and it should still be under warranty so as long as you don't completely wreck something. ZT is a little more lax on warranty this way.
 
rickdarris2004 said:
Doubtful. You can dissemble you knife and it should still be under warranty so as long as you don't completely wreck something. ZT is a little more lax on warranty this way.
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My only thought is that you are replacing a part with something that was not designed to perform the intended function. It looks cool, but does it function the same?
 
very nice job on the 0550! Ive done a .357 casing on my 0300.

Problem was the the brass is soft and it broke about a week in.

I went back to stock and never looked back.
 
wolf5391 said:
very nice job on the 0550! Ive done a .357 casing on my 0300.

Problem was the the brass is soft and it broke about a week in.

I went back to stock and never looked back.
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I figured this would happen. Someone needs to really start making some custom parts for the 056x's. Backspacers, standoffs, LBS, etc. I wanted a nice brass/gold LBS but I don't want to do it if it's just going to wear out over time and start to bend or break.
 
The problem with mine was the casing stuck out about 1mm from the handle and wasn't %100 flush. It got hook on a glove while I was using it and warped. Later that week it broke off. It it was flush then it might have worked, but I haven't made another to find out.
 
I haven't had a problem with mine. Though mine sits flush in the 0560. Its been in there since the beginning of April!
 
I'd use a deprimed case then there is a pilot hole already for you to drill out. Some nickel plated tend to be harder/stiffer.
 
I just contacted a buddy of mine (over at The Mighty Pen Co) and he's going to start making these for a pretty good price. I told him to come over to the forums and register as a dealer/maker and he should have them up for sale soon (I'm going to try out a prototype this week to see).

It's pretty hard to do without scratching or marring up the shell-casing if you don't have a lathe (and 3 times now, I've accidentally spun the primer free when cutting the rim off).

A 5.56/.223 or 9mm shell will fit the 055X and 056X with room to spare (I sold my 0301, so I don't know if it's the same size). A .38 or .357 shell could be turned a bit at the rim to fit, but it's too big without taking just a few thousandths off.
 
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