I wanted another Dance to go with the one I had previously built. That way I'd have a brace to shoot if I so desired. This gun was the perfect candidate for the project because it is a parts gun. I got the barrel and cylinder from a friend of mine. And found a really good deal on another gun that was missing it's barrel and cylinder. So I bought all these parts and just put them together. It's been sitting in the safe for months gathering dust, so I decided to use it to turn into a Dance. I want my Navy sized Dance pistols to be in the correct .36 caliber. So about the only way to get one, is like this.
Here's how the project is going so far.
First things first. Gotta remove the recoil shields. We've been down this road before. I used my 4" grinder to remove the bulk, and files to bring it down to where it needs to be.
That took the better part of the afternoon to accomplish. I then Perma Blued it just to see where I was, and how it's going to look. I like it so far.
Just a little more refinement and then I'll polish it up good and blue it nicely. Since the Dance revolvers don't have case hardened frames, it's not a problem to duplicate the original.
Next I had to figure out what to do with those extra frame screws for the shoulder stock. This frame was previously for a 61 Navy, and it had the extra stock screws and recoil shield cutouts. The cutouts weren't a problem, they disappeared with the recoil shield. The screws were going to take a bit of finagling. Here's what I've done so far.
I worked on the frame screws for quite a while. I think I'm almost there. I ended up interrupting the threads, screwing them in as tight as I dared, and then removing the heads. After that, I peened them down a bit, then worked them with the file and then a couple grits of emory cloth. Still a ways to go, but it's working. Also, removing whatever coating is on the frame, is a bear. You think you have all the faux color case hardening off, but you don't. The metal will not accept bluing, as you can see in the pictures. More sanding will be required.
I put some blue on, just to see where I'm at.
I also removed the engraved scene from the cylinder, and put a little blue on it too. Here's how it looks all together right now.
So a way to go yet, but on the right track. Still have a few details to work out, like shortening the barrel and changing the front sight to a blade and removing the billboards. But if you want a Dance in the correct caliber, this is about the only way to get one now.