Webley No.5
CGN Regular
- Location
- Rural Alberta/Calgary
So I have a 1907 forend that has a few chips, cracks and some glue. Figured I should probably check the buffer, when I removed the forend it was in two pieces and only held in but the receiver and the front cap. Since I’m a sucker for punishment I decided to try and build one. I’ve decided to share the process as a cautionary for anyone considering the same or for the off chance someone can suggest a better way of doing things.
To begin I cut a piece of walnut that was 2x2 slightly longer then the original forend easy right? The next step was to get a groove the length of it. This groove is a little more complicated, it is a C groove with rails at the top. The rails cause an issue because I can’t just get an appropriate size ballnose endmill and cut it. I need a reduced shank ballnose cutter that is shorter then the depth of cut. The price to special order that cutter would pretty much defeat the purpose of this. So I made one out of 3/4in O1 (I actually made two due to a math error). I first roughed in a 3/4in wide 1.300in deep channel before switching to my cutter. Here’s where it gets fun. The forend has an internal taper, the back 2/3s is roughly a straight channel, the last third tapers both up and the sides taper in. So in order to replicate this I cut four steps. The depth change was about 0.175in so I did 4 steps of 0.043in to approximate this. The sides tapered less and where difficult to measure on the broken forend so I did one step and elected to sand the rest in.
Steps shown above
After I got that cut in I sanded the steps with a socket wrapped in sandpaper until it was a smooth taper. Then it was a lot of test fitting and sanding to get it all the way on without dragging.
Once it slide on the way on had to cut a c shape tongue for the groove on the receiver, do this with a file.
Once I got that fitted into the receiver, I sanded the front end for length until the end cap could sit on top with the first thread visible. The cut another c-shaped protrusion into that side and adjusted until I got sufficient threads. Once I got it threaded together I sanded the internal channel to make sure that reciprocating mass that’s part of the bolt doesn’t drag.
So it’s still quite over sized at this point and I’m just profiling it and shaving it down. I plan on leaving it on the larger size because the original is quite thing and delicate.
Any thoughts on a better way to handle this? Anyone know what the factory process was for building these? Some kind of router duplicating machine?
Well I left it quite large but it feels nice in the hand.
To begin I cut a piece of walnut that was 2x2 slightly longer then the original forend easy right? The next step was to get a groove the length of it. This groove is a little more complicated, it is a C groove with rails at the top. The rails cause an issue because I can’t just get an appropriate size ballnose endmill and cut it. I need a reduced shank ballnose cutter that is shorter then the depth of cut. The price to special order that cutter would pretty much defeat the purpose of this. So I made one out of 3/4in O1 (I actually made two due to a math error). I first roughed in a 3/4in wide 1.300in deep channel before switching to my cutter. Here’s where it gets fun. The forend has an internal taper, the back 2/3s is roughly a straight channel, the last third tapers both up and the sides taper in. So in order to replicate this I cut four steps. The depth change was about 0.175in so I did 4 steps of 0.043in to approximate this. The sides tapered less and where difficult to measure on the broken forend so I did one step and elected to sand the rest in.
Steps shown above
After I got that cut in I sanded the steps with a socket wrapped in sandpaper until it was a smooth taper. Then it was a lot of test fitting and sanding to get it all the way on without dragging.
Once it slide on the way on had to cut a c shape tongue for the groove on the receiver, do this with a file.
Once I got that fitted into the receiver, I sanded the front end for length until the end cap could sit on top with the first thread visible. The cut another c-shaped protrusion into that side and adjusted until I got sufficient threads. Once I got it threaded together I sanded the internal channel to make sure that reciprocating mass that’s part of the bolt doesn’t drag.
So it’s still quite over sized at this point and I’m just profiling it and shaving it down. I plan on leaving it on the larger size because the original is quite thing and delicate.
Any thoughts on a better way to handle this? Anyone know what the factory process was for building these? Some kind of router duplicating machine?
Well I left it quite large but it feels nice in the hand.
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