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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Swede Bolt Shroud


montea6b

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To loosely paraphrase Thomas Edison, I have succeeded in discovering a way to install a Wisner side swing safety on a canted angle. Besides that small discrepancy, I am actually encouraged by the results.

 

Let me back up...

 

As the title of this topic states, I don't have a mill, lathe, or any other machining equipment, but I have looked at the sideswing safeties and pondered how difficult it would be to install with the tools I have. I decided to give it a go, and here is a brief report on the results.

 

First, I annealed the shroud. Then I chucked a 1/8" thick Dremel grinding stone in the drill press, scribed lines where I wanted to make the first cut, put the RPM at max, clamped the piece in a drill press vice, adjusted the height of the table to match my lines with the stone, and commenced to feed it in by hand. I recognize the limitations of the drill press as mill and proceeded with very light pressure, feeding it in slowly. This is when I made the first mistake...

 

I probably would have been OK if I had fed it in evenly, but for some reason I began to alternate sides. It then caught a bit on one side, and the rotation of the grinding stone kicked the piece to the side, chipping a small piece out of the stone in the process. I stopped the press to examine this, then elected to proceed. Well, it didn't take long for the whole stone to disintegrate. (wear your safety glasses kids!)

 

So I took it out, put it in a bench vice, and finished the job with a hacksaw. Sounds Bubba, I know, but I made two cuts and removed the sliver in the middle, and I was still well undersized. Then I went to work with a flat needle file. I stopped frequently to test fit, and was being very careful to keep the file flat and square so I would end up with a nice "machined" look and tight fit. Like I said, I am actually quite pleased with how I did, but I made a second mistake...

 

I had the shroud set vertically in the vice so it would cut better with the hacksaw, and I could apply even pressure to both top and bottom portions of the cut as I widened the slot, but I neglected to ensure that I was making it level. So, once it was wide enough to slip the safety lever into and I took it out of the vice, and it was then that I noticed that the lever cants upwards. You can see this for yourself below. (sorry that the picture is not the best focus) It's not horrible, but noticable enough and now it will bother me.

 

Shroud%20003.jpg

 

I was disappointed, but I decided to proceed for training purposes. The next step was to mill a cut on the side for the lever to swing freely. I changed stones, reset the shroud in the vice, and again proceeded to feed the work in with very light pressure. Here is a shot of the "milling" set up I used:

 

Shroud%20001.jpg

 

Again, I think I proved that the concept is sound and the results are acceptable. However, because of the cant to the lever and a crack in the shroud itself, (not related to any work I have done in it, looks like a flaw in the metal) I think I will acquire a new shroud and try again. Here's one more photo. If you look at the right side on the top, right were the safety shaft comes out to engage the slot on the bolt body, you can see a hairline crack. Not too noticable, but now I have two strikes against this shroud.

 

Shroud%20002.jpg

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I think you would have better results on your next try if you used a slotting saw and woodrift cutter instead of grinders.

You can get an inexpensive saw and arbour from Grizzly or Enco.

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I think you would have better results on your next try if you used a slotting saw and woodrift cutter instead of grinders.

You can get an inexpensive saw and arbour from Grizzly or Enco.

 

That's a good idea, but how well do you think they would work with a drill press? I'd be a little concerned that I couldn't feed it fast enough and that the cutters would glaze or work harden the surface I was cutting. Could I go slow enough and still have them cut efficiently?

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That's a good idea, but how well do you think they would work with a drill press? I'd be a little concerned that I couldn't feed it fast enough and that the cutters would glaze or work harden the surface I was cutting. Could I go slow enough and still have them cut efficiently?

 

The 2 I've done I feed pretty slowly just being careful.

Do you have some sort of fixture or jig to hold it?

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