fyrd

That is a good secret, Fyrd

Finally got the chamber reamed and the bore broken in. I have some test loads made up but the range I have access to is closed until the end of turkey season or his nephew fills his tags.

Like Dr.Hess I got a 7x57 barrel from Midway and it worked great. Fyrd

Well, I ordered the standard reamer, not the match chamber reamer. As soon as I have some shooting results I will report back. thanks for all the input. Fyrd

Not sure if anyone has seen this or if such things are allowed here, but I like this one. Fyrd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IPCuaWIn1E

This could get a lot more interesting that we want it to.....

Thanks Rob

I am afraid you may be correct. Many of the old school artisans/artist trades have been made obsolete by industrialization. Like butchers, bakers, blacksmiths and other once common and necessary trades, gunsmithing's customer base is shrinking as automation replaces the human touch. A mixed blessing at best. Fyrd

Thanks, it was a fun build. I will never be a Turnbull, but I enjoy playing shade tree gunsmith for myself and friends. Fyrd

I got my friend's log book on this rifle. Here is the final test load data and target. Please remember this is an ACKLEY Improved chamber. book005.pdf

Thanks Fyrd

Planning on renting the reamer. Thanks Fyrd

Yes, I saw the reamer club but aren't ready to jump in quite yet. And you are probably correct that a standard chamber is the way to go at this point, but, you know.... greedy..... Fyrd

Well, my greed and petulance is coming out. I always want as much accuracy as possible. However, one of the reasons for building a 308 in the first place is to be able to use military ammunition. (Because anything a 308 can do, an '06 can do better.) so.... I am probably trying to have my cake and eat it too. Just an FYI, I have an email to Pacific Tools pending. If they respond I will post the results here. Fyrd

Thanks, Fyrd

I am building a .308 rifle. Question: Will a rifle chambered with a Pacific Tool 308 MATCH reamer accept and safely fire Milspec Ammo? Thanks Fyrd

Our accuracy load for this rifle is 150g Nosler Ballistic Tip behind 44.5 grains of WW760. This gets us < 1MOA if the shooter does his part. Fyrd

"Question about using the steel filings, does it attract rust?" It hasn't yet and I have one gun that I bedded over 30 years ago. The filings were taken from a machine with that white coolant and are coated with that in the glass jar I keep them in. Once mixed with the Acraglas gel, they are also covered. Fyrd

Just for fun, please share what you consider your best 'secret' idea or technique for working on guns. Something that you do that you don't hear much about. For me, it is bedding a rifle. Years ago I worked for a place that had a diamond wheel grinder. I got a quart of the very fine steel filings, basically fine steel dust. I mix this with Acraglas gel when bedding an action into a stock. I can't say how much, if any, it improves the quality of the bedding, but it makes me feel like it works better. Fyrd

FYI, Green Mountain Barrels work great. I rebarreled a 93 Mauser into 7x57 and was able to come up with a load that shot under 1 MOA. I just got a .308 for my current Turk conversion project. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/753330/green-mountain-barrel-mauser-series-3-308-winchester-f54-contour-1-in-10-twist-24-fluted-stainless-steel (Yes, we had to turn down the threads, ) We also have a couple of barrels off of Gunbroker, but haven't used them yet. Fyrd

True, but all of them I have seen have had some coating between the aluminum and steel. The stock insert was raw. Fyrd

Thanks Karl. Fyrd

Thank you. What I did was make the L shaped part out of 1/8" stock, welded it onto the original safety 180 from normal, then cut off the original thumb piece. The safety is still three position, the thumb piece is just 180 degrees from normal. Not as fast at the original, but still gives the two different safe modes. Fyrd

I have a question about using aluminum bedding blocks with a steel rifle. Aluminum and steel attached to each other corrode each other over time. How do these kinds of bedding blocks avoid that? Fyrd

Ok, I will now try the magic of posting pictures. A friend of mine had a small ring Mauser barrel in 22.250 Ack. On a budget, so we decided to do most of the work ourselves and keep it simple. We ended up using the original stock, as it has some very nice wood. The finish is a first for me, cosmoline for an unknown amount of decades wire wheeled off. As it happened, the diameter of the muzzle was the same as the original barrel. We decided to go with a Mannlicher full length stock. We moved the original hardware back about an inch or so and reinstalled. For the safety we decided to rebuild the original safety based upon a design I came across years ago on a sporterized Mauser. If there is a name for this kind of safety I don't know it. A word about the finish on the gun. I was going to use the last half of a Duracoat spray kit, had everything cleaned and degreased and didn't discover until I went to mix the chemicals that my hardener had gone bad. I tried a substitute, but it didn't work. When we next get ready to do some Duracoating, this gun will get refinished. Like I say, not an especially beautiful work of art firearm, but it is an honest shooter, grouping under an inch at 4100 fps. Fyrd