Project: Custom Precision Rifle by Winchester_070

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Okay folks here it is…. still under construction….


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It is a P14 action made at the Remington Factory and will be screwed to a King Straight / 1.300” dia. cylindrical barrel chambered in the potent 338 Lapua! The barreled assembly will be mounted to the stock in a barrel block, which is made from 4” diameter steel shafting! Lots of work here folks and I am far from complete.

The King barrel started out quite long but it kept getting shorter until I finally cut an acceptable square thread. :).

I have purchased a Piloted match reamer in 338Lapua from PTG and will be using a Dayton Traister trigger complimented with a speed lock kit to reduce the firing pin travel time. I will be building an adjustable scope mount that will attach to the barrel block and give a useful range of adjustment from 100 to around 2500 yards.

This is my first attempt to build a complete rifle. I even had some instruction on the barrel making process. I plan on building my own bench rest quality rifles in the future and now own most of the equipment needed to do it. I figure if I can get an Enfield to shoot then building a Remington or a Winchester should be much easier....:)




Well here is the start of the stock (Plywood)!


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Now setting up for inletting.....


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Partially inletted...

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Now we are milling the exterior...

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More pics to come!! Thanks for browsing....Gary!!

















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Hats off Gary!
 
What made me choose the material , well a couple of things . First i wanted to see how rigid the plywood would be when glued together. I plan in the future to build more guns and i do some work for others so i have always figured that experimenting with my own gun i will learn alot more than just purchasing a build item IE: Boyds Laminate .
Secondly i found a piece of 5/8 plywood with about 3" corner busted off and the local building supply gave it to me for $10.00 and the gal. of glue was on sale for $17.00 , i will use marglass to fill in the end grain and any nicks , then i will use a product call SLICK SAND it is an extreme high build polyester primer surfacer designed for metal f/glass wood ect ect then finish with an automotive paint , one sugestion i learned from the Rod Shop that painted my PPC..( Black) was "NOT" to clear coat the reason they gave is that any scratches in the clear turn a milky white coulour and stand out , but a scratch in the paint can easily be buffed out as long as its not through the paint to the primer .
Any how sorry for the rambling , why plywood?, just wanted to try it , can overcoat it so no one will even know it is plywood and it's cheap...
Thanks Winchester_070
 
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Thats wierd about the no clear coat. It acts as a paint protecter and if your lookin for gloss the clear coat really brings it out. You will always see a scratch in paint but you can work the clear pretty good and almost eliminate it. Most high end automotive paint shops put on more clear than usual cause you can cut polish more and it gives a deeper look.


My .02
 
Gary, great looking project. A milling machine....I hate you.

Keep the pics coming. It seems to have a familiar look :)

Do clear coat your paint. You can put in an additive that will harden the clear coat quite a bit. It will be far more durable then paint alone especially if you can go metallic. All those straight lines would make a metallic paint job pop.

Nice stock design too. I like the low amount of drop in the butt. That will really help with roll. With your milling machine, keeping all of this true would be a breeze...I hate you.

Even if using 250gr lapua's, that thing is going to kick smartly. With 300gr MK, OUCH. Consider making provisions for ballast and a muzzle port. I had to put a 3/4" port at the end of my King barrel and that tamed my RUM nicely.

With ballast, my rig is 35lbs and recoil is nice and slow.

Jerry
 
I'll give me $0.02 on the paint as well. Assuming you're using quality automotive paints, scratches are not a problem in clear coat paints. The truth is that if you get a scratch, it can be buffed out of the clear just as easily as out of single stage paints. In fact, I've found clears to be more forgiving and easier to buff, sand, and repair flaws.

If you just want a solid colour, then either single stage or base-clear paint will both work fine. High quality catalyzed urethane paint will be very scratch resistant and can be wetsanded/buffed to remove any scratches. The only advantage of single stage paints is that they're cheaper because there's less to buy.

If you want any metallic, flake, or candy then you need base and clear. It's possible to get metallic single stage paint, and that's fine for cheap cars, but if you want something really nice go with the base and clear. The main advantage is you can wetsand and polish the clear so that there is zero paint texture. Orangepeel sucks.

later,
dh
 
I won't argue with anyone on the paint as i know nothing about it , used to sell automotive paint but that was back in the 80's alot has changed since then , all i know is that everyone coments on the paintjob (good comments:) and the shine is awsome looks like its cleared and so far none of the scratches it has really stand out . But painting is a whole new world and there are many different ideas on what works and what don't , and i have to admit that my thoughts were that a good clearcoat was needed for shine and protection , but so far the fella has been right and me wrong but age can do things to paint , it has only been a year . I will ask Joe to post a pic of my PPC that i redone they are not the best pics but it will give an idea of how the paint looks , and if i have time i will try to get some better pics .
But i do appreciate all and everyones comments it not only helps me but many others who read these forums .
I have learned so much from reading the comments and sugestions from many of these forums here in GUNNUTZ / 6MMBR and BENCHREST CENTRAL .
There are so many knowledgable gun people who are willing to share there knowledge in their area of expertice whether it be smithing / loading / optics / hunting ect ect . We are all lucky to have this available to us , think back to the days off Ackley and how many people actually got to talk to a man like that, not many . Now with the inet we have people like LEEPER and SORENSON and many others sharing their knowledge and opinions freely for us to sort out and put to use what we chose to...
anyhow thanks again guys for the comments they are all appreciated .
PS , The paint used was SIKKENS
 
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Are you planning to mount the scope on the bedding block or the receiver? It is common practice to mount on the block. Your block is beefy enough to mill a slot in the top into which you can fit a bar which can be milled to accept your ring of choice. This bar would extend back over the receiver to allow proper scope positioning. An old guy like me would need help to pack that thing to the bench! Nice job on that block, by the way. Regards, Bill.
 
That's impressive! I am sure you are going to be proud of this project.

I know how you feel about square threads... a bit of a pain to do... There was a local incident years ago where a poorly done square threaded barrel blew right off the action.

I am curious about the fit of the barrel block....? I haven't done any for 30 years but I used to make the bore of the block a few thou larger than the barrel and lay the barrel in with epoxy. I never did try any machined to a perfect fit...
 
d

Bill, I plan to mount the the scope on a rail of some sort that is attached to the block , here is what I have in mind , anyone who feels this is a not good idea tell me what/why you think , I need idea’s . I have only been machining for two years, so I need to keep it within my capabilities.
I was thinking on cutting a precision slot in the top of the block as you suggested , I then will mill/stone a bar to hopefully on size or maybe .0001 undersize (Winchester is dreaming ) so I get a good fit on the sides with little interference the forward or barrel end of the block will then have a precision cross pin that will go right through the block and the front of the bar and this will be my swivel point , further back I will drill and tap one hole right through the bar this will have a long set screw that will bare against the block to raise and lower the bar for elevation behind that will be a hole that is countersunk and drilled for a allen head capscrew to go through into a taped hole in the block to lock the bar into place once the elevation is set . The only thing is see as a problem is I am going to have to figure out is how to machine the hole for the allenhead capscrew ,because as the bar is raised or lowered the hole will become out of alignment
with the tapped hole in the block. I was thinking as I am writing this that maybe just slotting the hole in the bar lengthways might work . (any suggestions out there?) Towards the back of the block I hope to tap the block on each side I will put in set screws which should lock everything up solid .
For those off you who may be interested I was trying to come up with what size of bar I would need to mount the scope on . Soi a few months ago I posted a question that said something like “What size of a solid square bar would be needed to match the rigidity of a 700 Rem action . One of the fellow gunnutters (Cosmic) gave this reply ,
If you recall my formula for moment of inertia, there is a term height or dia to the fourth power ie heightXheightXheightXheight
So all the stiffness exists farthest away from the centre of gravity.
- tube and bar about the same stiffness, same weight
- hollow tube much stiffer than bar stock, same weight. The larger the dia, the stiffer it is.

Well that really did nothing for me so I explained what I was trying to accomplish and this is what he came up with ,

OK - I think I understand. The scope mount bar will be cantilevered from the barrel block rearwards. To get the same stiffness as the receiver you need a bar approx 7/8 square. What you have to watch is the method of attachment - If fastened, you need a large precise bearing surface, and multiple fasteners. Welding would be a good option - ie fillet weld with a machined groove.
If you really want to get techoptimal, the profile of the cantilever beam need not be constant - it can be thicker at the securing end than at the free end - you could even put in a locating "step". To best benefit the cantilever, putting additional height is desireable. (ie 7/8 wide througout, 1 1/4 at one end, halh inch at the other.)

Thank You COSMIC for your help



Confused anyone? I am !!!!:)
 
Dennis ,
The block did not work out as well internally as i had planned . I was going to bore it to about .001 over then just clamp it , but i suck at sharpening drill bits and the one i used was too close to size and once i drilled through i reallized that i had sharpened the bit way to much on one side ( duh!! should have noticed only one flute cutting ) and the hole was way off center . So i bored it back to center but did not clean up all the way , I could have spent some time slit and rebored but instead decided to do like you sugested and just used acraglass to correct my mistakes .
Dennis or anyone for that matter , i am told the Lapua kicks like a mule so i will need to stop the barrel from coming back on recoil but many have told me that not too much torque on the block or i will distort the barrel , i was thinking on cutting some small grooves in the barrel that the would be inside the block so that the acraglass would mold to and hold, or turn down the barrel .025" and use that up against the block on the front side ,
What do you think?

Thanks Again
 
Sorry for the delay Gary!

Photo 6ppc

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winchester_070 said:
Dennis ,
The block did not work out as well internally as i had planned . I was going to bore it to about .001 over then just clamp it , but i suck at sharpening drill bits and the one i used was too close to size and once i drilled through i reallized that i had sharpened the bit way to much on one side ( duh!! should have noticed only one flute cutting ) and the hole was way off center . So i bored it back to center but did not clean up all the way , I could have spent some time slit and rebored but instead decided to do like you sugested and just used acraglass to correct my mistakes .
Dennis or anyone for that matter , i am told the Lapua kicks like a mule so i will need to stop the barrel from coming back on recoil but many have told me that not too much torque on the block or i will distort the barrel , i was thinking on cutting some small grooves in the barrel that the would be inside the block so that the acraglass would mold to and hold, or turn down the barrel .025" and use that up against the block on the front side ,
What do you think?

Thanks Again
Click to expand...

The problem as I see it with clamping the barrel is slight distortion. In clamping a barrel with a diameter of 1.2 inches in my barrel vise, that will distort the chamber enough that a chambering reamer will not fit in the chamber and it did fit before tightening the barrel vise...

I like the idea of fitting the block so when it is all tightened up the barrel will move ever so slightly, and when it is epoxied, it will be tight... I like the idea of a slight shoulder on the barrel... I would bore the block and face it at 90 degreees in one set up. The only feature of bolting the block together rather than a solid sleeve, is ease to dismantle and assemble it if required.
 
Gary - your paint job looks super in the photos! Bang up job!!

I wish I had some time to do some calculations for you. I'll see what I can do. In the mean while I would hold off cutting grooves in the barrel. The idea is actually good, but my first guess is that the barrel block will be sufficient. Distortion of the barrel will depend on a few things.

Two alternatives.

1) Use a light coat of soldering rosin on the clamping surfaces and use some moderate torque. Lube the threads with a good antifriction and make sure you use torque ratings for lubed bolts. What is moderate... well that is where the calculations come in.....

2) Since bedding compound can be easiliy removed with moderate heat, you could clamp and bond the barrel. Make sure you use release agent on the threads.

Send Dave Tooley a quick email. If he has time he may give you some proven and quick suggestions. I wish I could be of more help.

The adjustable mounting systems are tricky. As you know any clearance or slop and you will have sighting problems, so another thought process might be to have an adjustable system similar to what you are describing, but with a lock or clamping mechanism to lock things in place once your done.

I am not sure I understand the need to have the base as stiff as a Rem. receiver. The scope will also had stiffness to the base but it is good to have a solid base.
 
Dennis wow! I think we have to keep in mind that a vice (very pointed line loading) is pretty hard on a round object and that the chamber reduces additional tube wall thickness substantially. If the vice were fitted with "heavy" curved supports it would be better. The problem is the curved surfaces still can flex outward unless they are guided in some sizeable fitted pins reamed holes with minimal clearance clamping screw holes. Since we are pulling the blocks together on each side it should provide a less hostile clamping load.

Slugging the barrel might be a step that Gary can try. Slug without clamps and then with clamps gradually tightening the clamps...ultimately up to the max torque of the fasteners.

Well I have to run....
 
### International said:
Dennis wow! I think we have to keep in mind that a vice (very pointed line loading) is pretty hard on a round object and that the chamber reduces additional tube wall thickness substantially. If the vice were fitted with "heavy" curved supports it would be better. The problem is the curved surfaces still can flex outward unless they are guided in some sizeable fitted pins reamed holes with minimal clearance clamping screw holes. Since we are pulling the blocks together on each side it should provide a less hostile clamping load.

Slugging the barrel might be a step that Gary can try. Slug without clamps and then with clamps gradually tightening the clamps...ultimately up to the max torque of the fasteners.

Well I have to run....
Click to expand...

My vise is bored with a 1.5 inch hole and is 1.5 inches thick. It uses a 1.5 inch 2 piece bushing bored to 1.2 inches. When I fit a new barrel I turn it to 1.2 inches. I use powdered rosin in the bushing. This induces very little pointed line loading if any. I have bushings to fit many diameters and tapers. I don't think my vice is flexing much.

Vise.jpg
 
sorry accidently double post.
 
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Dennis my apologies. I misread your post and missed the "BARREL" vise which is significantly different from a simple maintenace bench vise. Sorry about that.

I haven't tried sticking a chambering reamer into a barrel while clamped in a barrel vise....at least not yet. I don't think the rosin would have influenced much for the condition you described.

Your barrel vise is similar to mine except mine is 2" wide. Do you recall what torque you used and what chambering it was.....keep in mind the bigger the case, the easier it will be to flex the barrel with the B. Vise. It looks as though your bolts are a bit stouter then the ones Gary has on his barrel block.

I haven't done any barrel block work at all so this is unchartered waters. Someone on this site or BR central.. must have done some work in this area. We need a quick answer....
 
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