[Island made]

Hey all, hope everyone is well. A few days ago I finally found my child hood frames. These frames took more pigeons, squirrels, and grouse then I've ever taken in my adult years lol. They never left my pocket. But now that I never shoot big tubes, thought it would be cool to be able to shoot these again. Been wanting to to a Tex shooter matchstick fork for a while, so here's what I came up with. Very simple to do, all that's needed is a torch and a vice. As well as some wet rags so you don't melt your handle if you should keep it. Makes for a nice, low fork shooter.

Thanks for looking guys.

 

[Island made]

I am liking this! Hammer grip and low forks,what more could you want?

Thank you! Definitely makes a solid shooter.

 

[Island made]

Wow, nice mod! I wanna try this!

Go for it!! It definitely transforms it into a great flip without any cutting or welding.

 

[Island made]

That sure is a funny looking thumper.lol great mod buddy.

Ya, didn't come out like my usual thumpers ehh?

 

[Island made]

Look at that ! Nice idea Shane how does it work ?

Thanks! But not really my idea. Lol. Definitely Tex shooter and yourself for doing it recently and making me want to try it.

 

[Island made]

Awesome job buddy! I've definitely got one that needs this mod but I'm a wood guy so: Easy to bend after heating? Bands holding good? Not working their way to the inside? Full of questions eh?

Thanks Joe. The bends aren't perfect but there alright I guess. Yes, bends like butter one you get the spot you wanna bend nice and red.
And the bands are holding nicely! Jason said bill told him to use a piece of gum rubber for the matchstick, so I used a strip of 107 band, the first few shots the bands loosened a bit after release. But I just cut a little wider strip of 107 band so it jammed up tighter and since took about 50-60 shots this morning and nothing budged!!

 

[Island made]

I welded mine the other direction have not had a band even think about moving

That was my original plan. But I wanted to try this just because it uses the exact amount of fork that's originally on the frame, so no cutting. And this way there's no welding, because I know that can be an issue for a lot of folks that don't have access to a welder.

 

[Island made]

If it's holding strong I say your golden . I had to mess around with the jamming rubber to but once I got it there jammed solid .

Ya I had to play around with a few different width strips to get it right. But finally got it. Definitely holding great now.

 

[Island made]

Thanks, man.
Imma do this...after some other items get finished on my bench.

No problem. Glad you like it. It's an easy 25 minute mod that really turns it into an accurate smooth shooting flip! I'm not one for hammer grip, but I've been shooting this one a lot today and am really enjoying it, I'm tempted to go buy the wrist brace version and do it. I think it would be a deadly accurate setup with heavy bands and big steel.

 

[Island made]

It looks like the handle is held in place by two screws, so could probably be removed to prevent melting, and would allow mounting the frame in the vice. On my Daisy F-16, the cheap plastic handle slips off with a bit of encouragement. It is destined for the trash, along with the horrible tubes and thick pouch.

The handle is actually held in place with 2 aluminum rivets, and you could drill them out and try to reattach it. Or just replace the handle. But these marksman actually have a really nice robust, solid handle the feels really nice in the hand (my hand anyway). And being my childhood sling I wanted to keep the original handle. All I did was wrap the handle in a wet rag and cooled the forks after each bend and I had no melting whatsoever.

But yes good point, if you wanted to change the handle it would be much easier to just remove it.