montea6b

That was a concern I had. Thanks Bob!

Anybody have a "Fry Baby"? I ran across a seldom used one that my wife brought into the marriage during our recent move and I got to thinking that it might be handy for blueing small parts. Can these things heat up enough for hot salts blueing?

Very nice looking stock Z! On a closer look I noticed that you left little "ears" of wood sticking up between the bolt release and the thumb cut on the left, and forward of the bolt handle on the right side. It would be much less obvious with the metal in plase of course. This was a topic of much discussion on another thread somewhere else. On mine I just mowed that part down flat. It's really a matter of personal preference, but I'm wondering what most others here do.

Coyote, I'm sorry. At the risk of coming across as a snotty ass, I've got to speak up. Try using some punctuation and form some complete sentences! It is truly painful to attempt to decipher your posts, and it really hurts your credibility. There, I got it off my chest. Having said that, I look forward to hearing more about your very ambitious project, and wish you the best of luck.

Freed it up today. Shot a little WD-40 in the plunger slot, then worked it a bit with a slim punch and it unstuck itself. That'll teach me to store it cocked and locked!

Anybody ever had a problem with the plunger on a Chapman style side swing safety locking the bolt? I can't lift the bolt handle for the life of me. The only thing I can think happened is that the spring broke and the plunger that fits into the indent in the bolt body is stuck in place. I tried tapping the butt of the rifle on the ground to see if gravity would help it fall out, but to no avail. Unfortunately I will have to take the scope off to get at the screw that holds it all together. Better it happened now than autumn in the mountains...

Good point Z, and after reading your comment I went back and looked at it again. I'm happy with the placement as is. I selected the position primarily based on the amount of sweep I wanted in the grip area. It's already a pretty open grip, which I like, but any further back would have exagerated the sweep a bit too much. Keep in mind that the cap is fairly thick and is only inlet about half depth. If you look at the center part you can see that there is a good 1/8" plus to go just to make it flush, and I will go a little further to allow for sanding the wood down. At full depth it will be much closer, and if it's still too far I can just go a little deeper. I too don't like the cap to stick out too far at the back end. About the radius of a rat tail file should be just right. "Are you planning on checkering like this?" Yes. EXACTLY like that! (If only I can approach that level of expertise!) But I'll try my best... I'd actually considered trying something creative and different like carving or inlaying an Eagle Globe and Anchor, or some other similar personal icon, but feared that I might end up with a tacky look. I think a tasteful classic approach just like what you pictured will look best. P.S. I can't really reposition it anyhow because I already drilled the screw holes! On another note, I know that somewhere in my AGI video it shows how to line up the screw slots like in Z's picture, but I can't remember how and don't feel like wading back through hours of video. Anybody have a quick answer?

Just a few shots of something I have been chipping away at in my spare time. (what little of it there is!) Gripcap inplace Inletting progress

Cool. No, I have nothing to add to this thread besides that rather juvenile commentary.

I too have a Wheeler vise with oak blocks. I succeeded in getting one barrel off with it, using homemade rosin after soaking the action good in PB Blaster, heating the front ring with a propane torch till just hot to the touch, then putting bressure on the wrench and whacking with a big hammer. The home made rosin was obtained by picking dried chunks of pitch from Douglas Fir trees on my property and grinding them in a makeshift mortar and pistle. This was for a barrel that I wanted to re-use. The first one had a junker barrel and the only way I could get that one off was using a pipe wrench. The way to do that is to get a big wrench of about the same length as the handle of your action wrench, and with the action wrench attached, put the pipe wrench on at about a 30-40 degree angle, (like a capital letter "A") and put the whole assembly on the ground by your workd bench or another area where you can hold on to something to stabilize yourself. Maybe even put the muzzle end in a corner to keep it from sliding on the floor. Then, stand on the handle of the pipe wrench and "jump" carefully up and down. I don't know how much you weigh, but you can apply a tremendous amount of force in this manner. Probably a lot more than by pulling and whacking with a sledge. It broke a tooth off the pipe wrench, but the feeling of elation after finally achieving success was well worth it.

My 2 cents worth might be a little late here, but I bought a receiver from Gibbs a few years ago that I believe (from what I heard later) was a Santa Barbara Mauser that Gibbs obtained when they bought out Parker Hale stock. It has the channel for the guide rib, and can be used with a milsurp bolt. However, the bolt that came with it was of the variety pictured with the additional material on the left lug, no split on the lug, no firing pin hole, and not heat treated. It would have cost me far more to make it serviceable that it would to have a new handle welded to a milsurp, so I unloaded it with lots of cautions and disclaimers in the ad.

FYI, Bob Seger did that song on his album of the same name in '79 or '80. I didn't know Wille covered it on The Highwayman. It's a great song, I'd like to hear his version.

I recognized it right away, and was LMAO! How many times did you hit rewind to copy all that down?

Thanks FC, I fly the EA-6B Prowler.

I've got a new job! Got the offer Thursday evening, slept on it, and closed the deal yesterday. I feel like a tremendous weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I guess I can put away the cardboard signs I was preparing... You may remember from other posts, but I am retiring from the Navy on March 1st. While I had saved enough to manage for a while and will have a pension, I still needed to find work. With a mortgage, wife and three young kids it's amazing how fast the money flies out! It will be a while before I can "retire" retire. Anyhow, it's a management job. Nothing exciting. White collar, wear a suit to the office. The kind of job that in my adventurous youth I once swore I'd never take! But it's a secure steady paycheck with regular hours and there's a lot to be said for that. Good company, great people, and that makes a big difference. Hanging up the wings will be difficult. I had also been pursuing an airline job, but it is a tumultuous industry which has lost a lot of its luster lately. I think I made the right choice. No, I know I did. My kids will be seeing me evenings, weekends, and on holidays. With an airline job it would be years before I had enough seniority and control over my schedule to have a "normal" life. Anyhow, it's a good feeling and I just felt like sharing the news.

Donmarkey, The inletting on the Dakota Cliff stock seems pretty tight from what I can tell so far. Keep in mind that this is only my second project, so I don't have a lot of experience. So far I've only inlet the triggerguard, and the only gaps are small and of my own making. It appears as though there will be a substantial amount of work to inlet the action, which means either a nice tight fit or a lot more opportunities to screw it up! Monty P.S. Here's a few shots of the one I ended up with. I have since fitted a 1" red Pachmayr Old English style pad and ebony forarm tip. It's beautiful when wetted, and I look forward to getting her really finished right. (I'll be sure to post more photos when I do!) As I said, this one had a few minor flaws and was listed as an auction as opposed to the ones that have a buy-it-now price. If you're curious, I ended up paying $140 for it. A little more than I originally planned, but I thinks it's still a pretty good price for the amount of figure it has.

This is kinda fun! Clayton, I had you pegged as an old crusty guy for some reason. (not that there's anything wrong with that!) The old site had a bio section under profiles and some guys had some personal stuff there, but it seems to have not caught on here. Anyhow, I'm Mike. 42 years old, British mum, German grandmother on my Father's side, (the rest unknown) born and raised in Western Washington state. I've been married 10 years, father of three girls. Worked various odd jobs in my high school/college years, farm hand, sheet metal work, security guard, then joined the USMC in 1983. I was a KC-130 Hercules Loadmaster, made Seargeant, whetted my appetite for flying, so I got out and finished college. Got into Navy flight school, and been flying EA-6B Prowlers at NAS Whidbey Island WA ever since earning my wings. Homesteading in the PNW hasn't helped my career, so it's time to go. I'm "retiring" with 20 years on March 1st of this year and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up! (big job interview tomorrow morning in Seattle!) I'll probably end up with a boring management type job, not as "cool" as I'm used to, but it will pay the bills. I love all outdoor sports, and tinker with rifles for much the same reasons that all of you do. Cheers!

For the one and only that I did I left the barrel on and had the receiver protruding from the barrel vice. Seemed handy for shifting the body angle around while filing. I also used a grinder, (careful here!) to get through the case hardening before switching to files. Not my ideas, they came from the AGI video, but they worked for me! By the way, nice work Clemson! The photos are always so slow to load I read down then jumped on to type before I looked at the results.

I bought one from Dakota Cliff's ebay stock shop. I bid on one for auction that had a few minor flaws, but the grain is going to water your eyes when it is finished. There's lots of wood to remove, but if you don't mind a little extra work you can get a nice tight fit and shape it just how you like. Here's a link: Dakota Cliff's

AzR, you may have already found this or other similar sites, but per your original question you can rent reamers. (30-30 AI is not in the MFRC Co-op) Here's a link for your friend if he is determined to go through with it: Reamer rentals

My Great Grandmother's maiden name was Morse, and I believe Samuel Morse was a cousin of hers. First, second, I'm not sure, but that's the story in our family. _._.. __. .._. (don't waste your time looking up the above, it's gibberish!)

Here's a link to my adventures in doing this for the first time a few months ago: Old post Good luck with it, and let us know how it goes!

Well stated!

Ah, the trailer life... I rented one in a North Carolina trailer park for a while when I was in the USMC in the mid '80s. Barracks life was getting old and I wanted to get off base where I would not be inspected once a week and could keep beer in the fridge. 10 years ago I had a 1967 Marlette 12x37 on my 2.5 acres on Whidbey Island. Cost me $6500, and I joked that I could have two houses for the $13,000 that my Toyota truck had cost me the year before! Reminiscing here because today is my 10 year anniversary and the Mrs and I were just talking this morning over coffee how the house and property, (and our lives) have changed. 9 years ago next week I was leading my 9 months pregnant wife across a rain slicked 2x8 crossing a muddy ditch for the septic line at 0400 in the morning on the way to becoming a father for the first time. We now have a pretty nice home, but I'm dealing with the prospect of having to move as the Navy will be booting me out the door on March 1st. Now I'm really rambling... Anyhow Jim, congrats on finishing the degree! I had you pegged for a soldier at Ft Lewis, was that on your old profile? Did you get out for college and get smart? That's what I did, although "getting smart" is debatable! Do I understand that you are waiting on word that you're accepted, or that you've been accepted and are just waiting on additional paperwork? Best of luck in either case! The USAF is a good outfit. Are you looking to get into flight training? Drop me a PM if you are ever headed to a WAC show in Puyallup. Maybe you, me, and RGRWJB can all meet for coffee. First round's on me! Have a safe and Happy New Year, and keep us all posted.

I'll try this eventually, and you can be sure a full report, good or bad, will be forthcoming. Don't hold your breath though, I have far more time to think, and dream, and plan than I have to actually execute my ideas. When I'm actively tinkering in the garage I am burning points, yet I can be envisioning how to notch the shroud or shape the cam while driving to dance lessons or the mall... Wife: "You seem distracted honey, what are you thinking about?" Monty: (although actually solving Mauser safety issues...) "I'm just hoping the new knee socks we bought the girls won't clash with their dresses". Anybody else know what I'm talking about?