My STEN project...

[NavyShooter]

Well, another hour and a half in front of the lathe. Rather more productive this time. Total time, 13:50 so far. $302....

Here's what you can do with 1.5" of steel...

And here's the pile of chips...life is good!

And, considering the comments above, I've decided to try my hand at deep drilling. This is the lathe running with the bolt offset to allow me to drill the guide-rod hole.

http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/econolodge/Sten/Apr 08 024.avi

Made me dizzy the first time I saw it....and, while setting this up, I notice why I broke that first drill-bit. My tailstock was off-center. I had to shim it up about .020 or so....that other poor drill-bit never stood a chance!

NS

 

[NavyShooter]

Had to buy an uber-long drill bit to do the guide-rod holes. Total cost now is $335

Spent another 3 hours doing those holes, then parting and facing the bolt body. Total time now 16:50

I'm now gonna spend a few minutes marking on the bolt, noting where the next cuts should be.

I've noted that if I shift the end with the broken drill bit to be the rear of the bolt, I can, quite likely, mill out that portion, and save the bolt.

Hopefully that works....

More to follow.

NS

 

[NavyShooter]

Hmmmm....

Another 3 hours in front of the Sherline Mini-mill has convinced me that I NEED a BIGGER MILL. That three hours was spent setting up, and getting 0.562" deep on the rear slot of the bolt (1/2" wide by 1.8" long, .835" deep) I mean really, yes it's versatile, handy in size, but c'mon, this takes bloody for ever to cut with!

I got down to the drill bit that's stuck, and have about 1/3 of it removed so far. Bodes well for removal of the remainder too.

However, at 0100, I'm calling it quits. Sleep is good, and I have to be at work again in 6 hours or so...

Anyhow, that's where things are at just now, I've started machining the bolt.

A couple of questions from those with factory SAS Bolts, what should the breech face relief be for the case? (ie what's the setback from the bolt face?)

More to follow, pics probably tomorrow.

19:50, $335

Thanks,

NS

 

[NavyShooter]

Well,

Another 4 hours of work behind the mini-mill, and I've got the rear slot (1/2" by 1.8" x .835" depth) milled in.

My problem of not having a long enough 5/32 drill bit will get fixed tomorrow I think. I'm going to rough in the firing pin hole from the back end, and get that finished before I move on to feed lips.

23:50, $346 (Bought a new end mill today.)

The longer I spend behind the Sherline, the more I am convinced I need NEED a bigger mill.

Claven2, how long would it have taken you to mill that same slot? I clocked almost 6 hours I think. I'm looking at the feed lip section, and wishing I had a better solution there.

Mind you, this is a good study in what it takes to build one of these, from the perspective of a neophyte machinist, and novice gunsmith.

If I can do it, so can anyone else?

NS

 

[NavyShooter]

Just so people understand how bloody slow this Sherline is....my final cut to face the forward portion of the slot (deepening it from 1.770 to 1.800") took me 4 depth stages, and each depth stage took me 25-30 passes (.001" feed) to cut. All hand turned, no power feed. So, that's 100-120 passes to cut an area .030" wide, .835" deep, and .500" across. Each pass taking approximately 15 seconds, that's over 20 minutes just to cut that.

And you don't want to know how my right hand feels from spinning those little wheels so much.....

NS

 

[NavyShooter]

Well,

A "tube" arrived in the mail for me today, and I'm going to add that to a pre-existing template that I have from somewhere, and see what I have time to produce on the weekend.

There's a hobby show on Saturday at the Maritime museum, so that'll eat up some time, but I expect it'll be a fairly quiet weekend overall.

NS

 

[tiriaq]

Had a look in the FRT, version 3.6, there were 25 entries found doing a search for "homemade". Doesn't mean that there aren't more, they just didn't get entered as homemade. "Handmade" produced zero hits.
None were semi-auto. One was an electrically fired muzzleloader. There is an entry for a flintlock rifle, a Monk's Gun, a .44 Magnum revolver. There is a FRT # for homemade AR-15s, -1 if 5.56, -2 if .223. A few model cannon are listed.
It would seem that a generic FRT number is sometimes created, then the -X suffixes used for variants. For example there is a generic number for bolt action sporting rifles, another for single shot pistols, of all action types.
Before any firearm can be registered, there must be a FRT number. If there is no existing one that is a close enough match, one is created.
A verifier cannot create a FRT number, and the verifier's description may not satisfy. I went through this with a Mannlicher Schoenauer sporting rifle. It was a version that had been sold in Europe, but not in Canada, so no FRT match. They would not move on it without photos being submitted. And this was a standard unaltered commercial sporting rifle.

 

[NavyShooter]

Progress report for the evening.

Here's where I began, with a receiver template I got from someone....close fit, but when I taped it on to see how things worked, it was off, just a bit.

So, off it came, and I browsed about the net a bit, (doesn't take long!) and found a handy looking template. I printed it off, ran to the bench, trimmed it out, rolled it on, and it FIT, things lined up quite well too.

That said, there were some "minor" dimensional differences between the template, and the actual Dewat Sten and Sten parts kit bits sitting in front of me.

Out came the ruler, some tape strips for measuring around a tube, a pencil, and when I was all done, this is how things looked:

You can see the red outlines of where things "theoretically" might go, but when compared to a couple of receivers in front of me, well, it's hard to argue the facts.

The black sections are what will be cut out.

Here is the template getting bonded on. I laid the template out face down, and rolled the tube along it, right at the back edge to ensure proper alignment. I had two pieces of tape put on the edge of the paper, so when it got to the right alignment, I just finished the rolling, and presto, it was stuck in place.

Then I rolled it on to make sure, things looked pretty good, so I laid it out again, and here we are with the contact cement applied:

Here we are, a few minutes later, with the contact cement dried enough to ensure a good grip, and the template rolled the rest of the way on:

Then, in case I do something silly, I decided to make sure I have my index points well marked, so I went around with the automatic center punch, and marked my lines.

Here's a little close-up of that:

So, that's my progress for the night.

The kids are in bed right now, so I'm not really in the mood to wake them up with daddy buzzing away with the dremel at 2330 hrs.

22:50, $370

More to follow....

NS

 

[NavyShooter]

After all that setup, I had to go and play with the cuts.

I made the initial cuts on the rear of the tube, and filed them smooth. I haven't cut the hooks yet, but I was finally able to actually ASSEMBLE a piece of the final project!

You have no idea how good it feels, after almost 24 hours of work on a project, to finally see some fruit of my labours!


23:30, $370

 

[tiriaq]

Using the prick punch is a really good idea - you can't guarantee that a glued on template won't lift.
Incidentally, the surviving Sten prototype shows prick punch layout marks.

 

[NavyShooter]

Well,

A quick spin with the drill press to pre-drill a bunch of holes, took about 20 minutes. Then re-drilled them to a larger diameter, another 10 minutes.

Then 6 hours with a dremel tool and file.

30:00, $370.

As an aside, when I had the kids at the model boat show today, there was a gent with a bunch of mini steam engines running. COOL.

His friend is interested in maybe buying my Sherline..... Better news.

Life is grand.

More pics to follow...

NS

 

[stencollector]

Instead of a dremel, try a $16 princess auto die grinder with a cutting disc. While the dremel is handy for the little notches at the back, and the short cuts matching the magwell, the die grinder makes short work of the long cuts, especially on those thicker tubes.
Of course, this is assuming you have a compressor.

 

[NavyShooter]

Well....

That might have been handy to know about 5 horus ago LOL

So this leads me to the next stage....the barrel trunnion thingie.

What's the best way to remove it from the front portion of the old receiver tube?

I was thinking of just chucking it up in the lathe, and turning it down to the right diameter. Or am I going too in depth?

NS

 

[stencollector]

First thing I do is simply chop saw away the bulk of the tube that is behind the trunnion. Less chance for getting something caught in the lathe that way.

I screw the barrel with barrel nut onto it and chuck the barrel so I have lots to grab onto. Then I can put the centering tool from the tailstock onto the chamber of the barrel. The difficulty in removing the scrap tubing will vary as to whether it was an early Cdn tube, a late Cdn tube, or a Brit tube. If you have a late Cdn tube, it will be spot welded on. You will find the lathe may act up a bit when it hits the welds which are a little harder than the regular tube. The good thing is that you won't have to cut all the way down to the trunnion. Most of the old tube will peel away as you get near to the rivets. You may have to touch it with an angle grinder just onto the spotwelds, and finish it with a file.

The earlier Cdn tubes, and most of the Brit tubes are silver soldered on, as well as rivetted.

 

[NavyShooter]

Looks like it was an older Canuck tube, no silver solder, just around 8 spot welds/rivets.

Minor fit issue now with my tube, I didn't measure the distance to the 90 degree magwell rotation slot right, and it's about 1.5mm off, too far to the rear.

A few minutes with a file should fix that up just fine I think.

What's the best way to connect the trunnion to the new tube? Weld I'm presuming?

Question.

I have an old 9mm barrel, with about 1/2" on each end mucked up due to welding.

I do not yet have my new barrel blank.

If I were to chop off both ends, re-face, and add a new bushing/pin, would it be legal for me to make this gun with a 6" barrel instead of the correct 7"?

Do you think I'd end up having to submit it for viewing by the lab?

Just curious.

I'm not anywhere near firing it yet, but it's an idea that popped into my head earlier as I was mucking about.

Thanks,

NS

 

[J. Savoie]

Well, on my parts kit, things look just this way:

I can't seem to find any more welds nor rivets than those 2 spots. So I'd only have to heat it properly with an axy-acetylene torch and the silver solder would melt revealing the rivets? Good enough for me!


J. Savoie

 

[tiriaq]

A piece of salvaged barrel could certainly be used. The firearm is restricted, so the actual barrel length is irrelevant. Far the sake of appearance, a sleeve could be added at the muzzle to get the correct length.
J. Savoie - If the barrel block was rivetted and soldered, the rivets should be visible. Silver solder was not used, just plain soft solder. If you can't see any rivets, it is likely welded. Spot welds are much more likely than plug welds. Heating the barrel block and remains of the tube isn't going to release the block. Using a lathe to turn off most of the remains of the old tube would be best. If you do not have access to a lathe, I would cut the old tube close to the breech face, then file a flat until you have almost broken through from the collar just in front of the sight back through to the breech face. Have a look at Claven2's photo ad for tubes at Milsurps. This should weaken the tube to the point that you could peel some of it away from the barrel block. You will be able to determine if there are welds or rivets. The important thing is to not damage the barrel block.

 

[NavyShooter]

Ref BBL, I may go that route, we'll see what shows up in the mail over the next few weeks. Good thing is, I'm in no real rush on this project That said, progress is being made.

I'll post results of today's efforts shortly...gotta call a buddy first.

NS

 

[NavyShooter]

So, here we are, the other evening when I put the label on, and did my first cut.

Here's my madness with the drill press:

Action shot with the Dremel!

Trigger opening...

Cocking handle slot, roughed in, prior to hand filing.

First pass with the file:

Here's the old trunnion chucked up in the lathe.

Here are the spot welds or rivets, not sure which it is.

Breaking through....after this it came off pretty quick.

Dewat with his brother....

One of my assistants today...

And, because I don't have the new mag well built up yet, here's a look with a mag stuck in the left side, wedged in with the bolt block I have.

And, to re-assure everyone that I am not yet at the point where anything needs to be registered due to assembly....here's the pile of parts.

Overall, a very good day.

NS

 

[NavyShooter]

34:00, $370

The tube came out looking very nice after I sanded off all the paper template and glue! Thank goodness for my bench mounted (or floor sitting) sanding drum/belt thingie.

So far, there have been really, no jobs in this production that have required an excessive amount of skill.

Yes, it's taken me almost a day and a half of straight work to build this (so far) but it's all been quite straight-forward.

I think that tomorrow I will look at the bolt a bit more. I need the milling vise to properly finish it, but there's a few more things I can still work on.

NS