...or, "How to build a varmint rifle out of spare parts in less than a day"....
Looked at my assortment of rifles this AM and decided I didn't need two sporter weight 223's...so, one had to be something else...so, I grabbed a nice 1983 vintage 700 BDL sporter in 223 that I had picked up at a gunshow last fall.....someone had already cropped the barrel to 22" which I wouldn't have done...so, it was ripe for a barrel swap and I actually felt like running the lathe which doesn't happen often as I have to look at machines 50 or 60 hours a week at the shop...
Then looked around the garage and found a new take-off 223 barrel from a VLS that I had picked up on the EE a few months back,...and a nearly new VS(HS) stock, also from the EE last summer.....things were looking up.
Checked the scope inventory and came across an Elite 4000 6-24X that I bought from our friend in Whitehorse,"whynot" at least 5 or 6 years ago, it hasn't been mounted for quite a few years....it needed a home.
A half hour or so later it looked like this....
I trued up the front face of the receiver and lapped the lugs,..here are a couple pics of my spring loaded lug lapping tool made from an old barrel, a sliding closet door spring and a plunger made from Nylatron..works well.
After the receiver work I screwed the new barrel in to see where the stamping lined up....looks like I have to go back about a third of a turn...about .020"
so I dialed the barrel in on the lathe and took .015, checked again and took another .003"....this put the stamping a bit above the factory location,...it came down a bit when I torque the barrel in.
Then I proceeded to face the breech end of the barrel .018, deepen the counter bore and cut the chamber to get proper headspace.
Looked around some more and found a new matte floorplate with hex head screws that better matched the VS stock.
Mounted up the Elite scope and bore sighted it....done,...now I have two heavy barrel 223's for gophers this year,...and I have less parts lying around that I have to find homes for.
Next project:...rebarreling my oldest son's left hand stainless Ruger M77 30-06 to a 35 Whelen..why?...because I have a new stainless King blank, a reamer and gauges and he wants a Whelen....all good reasons....
Looked at my assortment of rifles this AM and decided I didn't need two sporter weight 223's...so, one had to be something else...so, I grabbed a nice 1983 vintage 700 BDL sporter in 223 that I had picked up at a gunshow last fall.....someone had already cropped the barrel to 22" which I wouldn't have done...so, it was ripe for a barrel swap and I actually felt like running the lathe which doesn't happen often as I have to look at machines 50 or 60 hours a week at the shop...
Then looked around the garage and found a new take-off 223 barrel from a VLS that I had picked up on the EE a few months back,...and a nearly new VS(HS) stock, also from the EE last summer.....things were looking up.
Checked the scope inventory and came across an Elite 4000 6-24X that I bought from our friend in Whitehorse,"whynot" at least 5 or 6 years ago, it hasn't been mounted for quite a few years....it needed a home.
A half hour or so later it looked like this....
I trued up the front face of the receiver and lapped the lugs,..here are a couple pics of my spring loaded lug lapping tool made from an old barrel, a sliding closet door spring and a plunger made from Nylatron..works well.
After the receiver work I screwed the new barrel in to see where the stamping lined up....looks like I have to go back about a third of a turn...about .020"
so I dialed the barrel in on the lathe and took .015, checked again and took another .003"....this put the stamping a bit above the factory location,...it came down a bit when I torque the barrel in.
Then I proceeded to face the breech end of the barrel .018, deepen the counter bore and cut the chamber to get proper headspace.
Looked around some more and found a new matte floorplate with hex head screws that better matched the VS stock.
Mounted up the Elite scope and bore sighted it....done,...now I have two heavy barrel 223's for gophers this year,...and I have less parts lying around that I have to find homes for.
Next project:...rebarreling my oldest son's left hand stainless Ruger M77 30-06 to a 35 Whelen..why?...because I have a new stainless King blank, a reamer and gauges and he wants a Whelen....all good reasons....
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