HOW TO: Custom Bullet Door Locks (from live ammo)
 

I just did this mod I've been thinking of since I got the truck. I wanted to share how I did it in case anyone else had wanted a similar look, that was more authentic than a lot of the cheesy aftermarket machined ones.

I will include pictures and instructions along the way.

I have a 76 F150 supercab, this should apply to just about all of our trucks, since I don't believe they changed the door locks on them throughout the generation.

Before I start, by doing this, you are doing this on your own will. No one is making you do this, and any resulting damages, injuries, divorce, loss of limb, job, the puppy down the road, envy from your friends, etc. is your own doing and not my responsibility. That said, on to the build.

What we are starting out with is a few tools,
-Vice grips or a vice
-A Dremel or equivalent
Dremel Attachments
-Ceramic sandpaperish cutting wheel, aka the kind you can breathe on and they break (not metal. For the love of God, DO NOT USE A METAL CUTTING WHEEL!)
-Small conical polising/grinding attachment thats about 7mm
-Flat grinding wheel (might not need this, depends on how straight you cut, and how clean you want it.

And some materials:
-2x OEM door locks
-2x 9mm handgun rounds (other rounds of a similar caliber will work as well, 9mm, .38, .357, (9x18 and .380 is probably too short though)
-1x Tube of superglue

First we start by cutting open the handgun rounds. Put the round, held by the casing around the primer, in the vice/vicegrips. Now we cut open the round. You want to cut low, just above the primer, but not so low that you accidentally ignite the primer. You also don't want to do this so fast, that you may ignite the charge.
This is why you use a ceramic cutting wheel. A metal one will spark and you could have a very bad day. Igniting a cartridge held by vice grips in your hand could cause serious injury or death, so BE CAREFUL!
Some people recommend soaking the cartridge in oil for a few days before doing something like this to kill the primer and wet the powder.
Others would recommend to pull the bullet, empty it, and put it back after cutting. This requires some special equipment and may leave marks on the bullet or casing, which we don't want. I live dangerously and I'm impatient, so I was just careful and cut it off like so.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...-01-36_740.jpg
Next you will want to cut off the top of the door lock, so we have a cylinder to work with. You can see a slight line on it if you look carefully, this is where it starts to taper, and this is where you want to cut. You want to leave as much of the lock as possible, while eliminating any outer taper.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...-03-55_178.jpg
Next you will want to clean it up with the conical grinding wheel, and flatten the top as much as possible without cutting it down too much, with the flat top grinding wheel, if you made a clean straight cut, you won't need to do this. You will also want to take the conical grinding wheel and take down a little material on the inside of the casing. This is mainly to clean the edge up to make it smoother to go on the lock. You will then want to take the flat top grinding wheel and smooth this down as flat as you can. Once again if you made a really clean straight cut, you won't need to do this..
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...-06-03_515.jpg
Test fit it goes in smooth and sits flat and straight. Flatten out by grinding if needed.
After that you will add some glue to the inside of the casing, as well as to the outside of the lock, and insert it. Wait for it to dry, making sure it dries as straight as it can. It is pretty snug, so it's not too hard. Do not set it down right side up, as the glue will run down the center of the lock and make it unusable. Let it dry with the bullet facing down. After it dries, it should look like this.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...-07-40_266.jpg
Now it is time to install. When I first installed it, it was a little short, because you do loose a little bit of thread cutting the top off. It looked like this,
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...-59-34_753.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...-59-26_856.jpg
While not bad, it is not what I had in mind.
I took the dremel cutting wheel and cut down the shaft of the door lock mechanism in the door, by about 1/8th of an inch. This made the door lock sit more flush and looks great.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...-31-06_930.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...-31-00_754.jpg

Have fun and be safe. Post pics and ask questions.
Also this could be applied to just about anything you want to put on there to customize your truck. I love guns, so I did this. If you do your own, or do other variations, post it up here so we can see and get ideas.

Excellent! I'm gonna have to do this to the War Machine (my 73 F100)... click on my garage and you'll see why it would be purr-fect.

My idea is to build a self powered mini-gun (like a Gatling gun) using a starter motor, tubing, some tranny gears, and mount it on pedestal in the bed.

I can see why. War machine is lookin good and this looks like it'd go great on it.

Love it, I went and looked at another truck today, and that would look sweet in it!

Fun project.

I'm going to have to make some of these, but never mind the 9mm, I'm going .45 ACP. However, I don't need to live that dangerously so I'm not cutting open live cartridges. Being a reloader I have all the components seperate already.
BTW, a bullet puller only cost $15, pretty cheap for protecting yourself from an exploding case.

I was thinking .45, but the inside diameter of a 9mm was perfect to go on the stock locks and doesn't leave a gap.

Also I knew from before hand that ceramic + brass = no spark, so I just took my time and cut it up. A puller would be the way to go, and I would definitely not try that with stuff like wolf with their aluminum and other non brass cases.

No doubt, I won't even let that junk near my guns. We'll probably hear about someone blowing their fingers off by taking a hacksaw to one though.

Hence my disclaimer. There's always one idiot out there.
Like the guy in another thread we were taking about who recommended a member port and polish their engine by dumping sand in the intake. I actually knew of the guy who listened to him and posted the thread of someone doing exactly that. It sucks disclaimers are ever necessary, but there's always the one guy a hammer short of a tool box that makes stuff like that have to be said.

Also, I won't let that stuff by my guns either.

i already did something similar with .44 mag and .500 s&w rounds hehehe }> i too am a re-loader i just de-primed them and drilled them out to almost same size as threads then screwed them on it helps having the right tools for the job

That's a good idea since I think they would look cool as a complete cartridge rim and all. Did you just drill out the flash hole and screw it on? I seems to me that partially filling it with epoxy that could be drilled and tapped might be good in order to keep it from sitting cock-eyed.

i used candlewax before i put i back together :) the threads on my door hold mine perfectly upright

that is very cool. thanks for sharing. I'm going for the redneck "no offense to the southern members :)" theme on my truck. the PO had a rebel flag for a head liner. unusual look in MN lol. I was thnking of adding a gun rack and the CB antennas on the mirrors.

How about .50 bases for light switch and wiper knob?

do it it would look cool i think