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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

1909 Argentine Octagon Bbl Project


z1r

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here are some pics as I begin an Octagon Barrel 338-06 project based on an Argentine 1909 action.

 

Here is the rough turned barrel fitted to the action. In the front is a half round half octagon barrel that is of similar contour to what we will be using.

 

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Here's a pic showing the action in more detail. The action is how the client sent it to me except thatI have trued it, lapped the lugs, and trued the bolt face. It was D&T'd for a one piece base. The rear hole will be welded up, new holes drilled, and the bridge contoured.

 

DSC00508.jpg

 

Here is the rear bridge after I removed the bulk of the material in preperation for surface grinding. Tomorrow I will weld up the hole, & redrill the bridge for two piece bases. Then surface grind the receiver.

 

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I hope to have the receievr finished and the new bolt handle welded on by week's end. More pics as I make some progress.

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Today was a crazy day. About all I accomplished was welding up the rear hole, dressing it down and removing the bulk of the hump remnants. Tomrrow it gets D&T'd.

 

DSC00514.jpg

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Ok,

 

I managed to surface grind this sucker over the weekend.

 

here's a pic of a receiver in the grinder jig.

 

DSC00511.jpg

 

Here's a pic of the action after the grinding.

 

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And here is a close up of the left rear. Some one commented about getting a straight edge where the side meets the bridge. Well, sometimes you have to cheat. Normally I like to keep the rear bridge at a 30 degree angle on each side. That's what the factory angle is. However, sometimes there are waves (low spots) near the edge that won't go away. If you keep taking material off evenly accross the bridge things start to get kind of thin. So, I cheat. I increase the angle. On this one the sides got ground at 32 degrees. There was still a little wave at the edge so I got out my stone and hit the side. As you near the top you can lean into it a bit and favor the top edge. A couple of minutes and the low spot is almost gone as you can see in the pic.

 

DSC00515.jpg

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No, it's Spanish, the one I posted a while back. Perfect for testing out your new surface grinder instead of using the customer's expensive Argentine. I had a pic of that in in the jig but not one of the Argie. That's why I said here's a pic of A reciever, lol. I knew I couldn't fool you guys.

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Thanks, Mike. A surface grinder is on my list of items to be watching for in the future. We have a bunch at the school that I can get on, but it ain't like having your own!

 

Do you rotate the receiver yourself under the stone for each pass? Do you need to contour the stone?

 

Clemson

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No need to contour the stone. I use an spin indexer to rotate the receiver one degree at a time. The hardest part is figuring out which wheel will give you the best finish. It is a slow process. Try to remove too much material and you burn the metal. USe the wrong stone, you burn the metal. It give a much nicer finishthan the mill that I've used for years. End mill marks take forever to polish out. I still hit the receiver with my polishing stones after grinding but it takes a fraction of the time.

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That surface grinder is nice isn't it. I use the same set up in the mill with one of those cupped grinding wheels. But it sure would be nice to have a dedicated machine to avoid having to protect the ways and keep the heck out of it each time. What's the advantage of drilling and tapping before grinding, I've always ground first? Maybe I'm missing something.

-Don

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I like to D&T first so I don't have to clean up the holes again. If you grind then D&T you get a raised lip around the hole. Then you have to dress it back down, double work. I suspect that after you grind you're hitting the receiver with stones?

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I suspect that after you grind you're hitting the receiver with stones?

 

Yes, because the finish from my grinding setup isn't the greatest. I'd say halfway between your results and with an endmill. I'll have to playaround with different wheels. I'm just using the one from brownells that they sell with their contouring jig.

-Don

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, Made some progress on the action. New handle welded on. The majority of the polish is done. That thing had one ratty bolt. If it wasn't making such good lug contact I'd have replaced it. Everything trued and ready to ship to the heat treater. Then comes the hard part, making the blind mag stock from scratch.

 

DSC00524.jpg

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Now I can work on some forum member's guns until the parts get back.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Action is out for heat treatment. Will get started on the barrel just as soon as I move some other cutomer's guns out. I'll post pics as soon as I get some more work done on it.

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Thanks Z1r. I am contemplating doing an octagon barrel. I'm really not sure where to start. Are you doing a half octagon half round barrel? What tapper are you going to use? My main concern is warping the barrel. Most of the time when you remove material from one side of a work piece it warps. Do you work around the barrel or do opposite sides? Does the barrel need to be stress relieved after machining? I can probably think of a million questions, but will stop for now.

Thanks,

Bob

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  • 4 months later...

That's whatthe owner wants to know too, lol. I am working on the pattern stock. That's all that really remains. Only the owner is trying to convince me to install irons on it after he refused my early attempts to install them. My concern is that they'll look like an after thought now, which is exactly what they'd be.

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That's whatthe owner wants to know too, lol. I am working on the pattern stock. That's all that really remains. Only the owner is trying to convince me to install irons on it after he refused my early attempts to install them. My concern is that they'll look like an after thought now, which is exactly what they'd be.

 

 

LOL......customers can sure be pests.... :P This is one I hope you post pics of when you get it completed, I really like the octagon barrel look.

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  • 11 months later...

Bob,

 

I'm stocking it right now as a matter of fact. The owner sent me two emergency repairs so this one went on the back burner for a while, plus, he changed his mind on a thing or two.

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