That Made in Canada M203 project...

I don't know anything about whether carbon fiber can take said pressures except that I have seen it employed in the use of barrel wrappings on a ruger 10/22 variant.

Plus I think using steel to be a good idea but overly heavy IMO

Peckerwood
 
sixty9santa said:
Ok people,

This whole barrel issue sounds like there is not one single person that can actually machine a barrel or is not setup for doing this.

Riffling is a different story entirely, but it can be done. Ever hear of Bill Holmes? Anyone?
He has a dirty method of doing it: you need another finished barrel as a riffling guide. This results in a slightly damaged initial barrel.

Barrel material does not HAVE to be aluminum.

PM me if there is anyone out there with COMPLETE DETAILLED DRAWINGS of the M203.
Sounds like a neet little project and if it can be LEGALLY made, let's talk.
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sixty9santa,

If you have read many of Bill Holmes' books you know that he doesn't make many guns because he hand makes (yes I know he uses machines, but they are still crafted by one person) them, and even then advocates purchasing or scrounging rifled barrels as opposed to trying to make them yourself.

What we are discussing here is mass producing a commercially viable product of consistant quality and finish. Two different things.
 
Bill holmes is not a good example.

As SPI stated we are doing this as a commecial project. Meaning it has to work 100% of the time for the market we are trying for.

Alumium so you know is one of the easy metals to work with if you have the right tools, not sure why we would want to try for a steel barrel...the cost would just go up as would the weight....both things we are trying to keep down

I have Rock Island Arsenal drawings of the M203. No, I am not sharing them.

We are building a Mil-Spec 40MM laucher, with our own special features. We are building it right and not cutting costs. It will cost what it does, and some people will buy it and some will ##### about the price no matter how cheap it is made.

FYI a Colt M203, used hard (ex isreali) sold recently for almost 4K. Last year one fetched 3.5K.

The Colt M203 does not have the features ours has, most importantly rifle barrel freefloating.

We will not be asking 4K for these, but our inital budget is now shot due to the fact we cannot buy barrels, and they have to be made. And they will be made right, not by a method out of a bill holmes book.

Peckerwood - I do not think the pressures are too high for carbon fiber, but we have invested alot of time the AL barrels, and at this point feel it would be best to continue down that path. Also we want to retain backwards parts compatibility to the M203, so a real M203 barrel could be used, if one could be found. Actaully we are using all real M203 parts, with the exception of the reciver, and the mount(s)

S9S - They can legally be made, you just need a manufacturing licence. Simple.
 
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: This is just too COOL!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :twisted:
 
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Uuuhh Bill holmes was just a suggestion

The Bill Holmes thing was just a suggestion for peeps without the proper tools.
I have the great luck of having such tools.
You guys have the plans, I have the tools.
See the prob Bob??
As stated before send me plans or one can always pick up some measuring instruments and so on...
But as I do not have any launchers or access to them I can't, but I would :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
 
Well, I might be a bit premature coming out and saying this, but my brother and I will hopefully be set up to cut rifle 40mm with a 1/48" twist soon, 4 grooves. We're working out the kinks and there's no saying we'll be successful the first time around, but we're going to try. If the guys in this project are interested in the result, send me a PM. Right now we're just looking at rifling 3" OD blanks in alum alloy to send off to have the rail etc machined, but once we get the first blanks done we'll think over producing entire barrels, but that's a long ways ahead, as it is it could take a couple months to get the rifling equipment running.
 
PS, how serious are you guys about actually getting this project to fly? Are you able to make the receivers without issue and have the equipment? I saw the massive shop, looks promising. I would invest cash in this project if I knew there would be tangible results, namely the barrel making end of things. Further food for discussion and thought...
 
Guys, just my opinion on this one.. Be carefull how much moola you invest in something like this. Gun owners are notorious for saying "ya ya, get me one", and then when it's time to pony up for the payment, "I'm broke now, maybe next month".

There once was a time when you could buy all the M203s that you wanted for around $800. And it took years for them to sell. There weren't that many guys that were willing to spend the money then. Not much has changed.

I'm not saying that you probably couldn't sell a few, but the market in this country is very fickle. Don't get burned.

Again, just my .02 worth.
 
koldt said:
Guys, just my opinion on this one.. Be carefull how much moola you invest in something like this. Gun owners are notorious for saying "ya ya, get me one", and then when it's time to pony up for the payment, "I'm broke now, maybe next month".

There once was a time when you could buy all the M203s that you wanted for around $800. And it took years for them to sell. There weren't that many guys that were willing to spend the money then. Not much has changed.

I'm not saying that you probably couldn't sell a few, but the market in this country is very fickle. Don't get burned.

Again, just my .02 worth.
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A very valid point, for now I'm under the $1K mark and can do other things with the equipment so it stands as an interesting experiment that might get a few more barrels out there. We'll see how it goes, for now it remains a challenge I'm simply interested in.
 
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