416WSM on Siamese Mauser & 416/348Ackley Improved on Martini

[BlueFlyer]

The stock for the Martini has been rough machined. Should not take too long to arrive from Tassie.
But I am going to need to get into the metal work to machine out a quarter rib and a similar feature under the barrel to hang the forend. This needs to be robust as I have learnt on my 45/70, silver soldered lugs just cannot stand up to long term heavy recoil, (my 45/70 only weighs 6.5lbs).

 

[AZDAVE]

Nice looking timber!

 

[BlueFlyer]

Nice looking timber!

English walnut grown in Tasmania. It has turned out better than the raw blank looked. I am getting excited to get into this rifle. Given the wood I think I will need to get some engraving on the metal.

 

[yumastepside]

Is that one of Gordon's stocks ?

 

[BlueFlyer]

Is that one of Gordon's stocks ?

Yes it is. I did not think he would be able to get it done, but I am very grateful that he found enough energy to machine it. He had to modify his pattern first.

On a side note, for all our Aussies on this forum - who would you recommend to apply some checkering on my stocks?

 

[yumastepside]

I truly believe Gordon to be one of the worlds best stockmakers, and its a shame his injuries are preventing him from doing something that he is so passionate about.

 

[Rule 303]

Yes it is. I did not think he would be able to get it done, but I am very grateful that he found enough energy to machine it. He had to modify his pattern first.

On a side note, for all our Aussies on this forum - who would you recommend to apply some checkering on my stocks?

The only 3 I have seen are Aaron Harrison but he is now working for/managing TSE, Rob Blomfield but he is flat out with new custom builds and Brett Rossouw, he is available for work. Hopefully somebody can give you other possibilities. Brett is good and getting better but I don't think he is quite upto the high standard of the other two yet. Trouble for you is he is in Brisbane so not handy if you want to actually see him. These three I know talk with each other and share their knowledge.

I have a No4 303 Stock Brett made for me. The chequering-no idea how many points to the inch- is very good - and what I wanted. No sharp points, as I will have them blunted fairly quickly with use. I gave Brett one of the Synthetic Stocks for the No4 so he had some thing to compare with as opposed to a No3 SMLE stock.

 

[BlueFlyer]

I dropped the stock off with Ross Waghorn last night to have the checkering done. I thought he had retired, but he was happy to do the checkering.

 

[Rule 303]

I dropped the stock off with Ross Waghorn last night to have the checkering done. I thought he had retired, but he was happy to do the checkering.

Very good choice

 

[BlueFlyer]

I am on light duties after a little elective surgery, = no shed time!
Instead I made a mess in the dinning room scraping in the tennon on the Martini stock . It is home, but needs the final bedding in to close the gap down to 6thou. I am very lucky having such a tolerant wife.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Spent time sanding the stock back to a point I am almost there on the main surfaces.
I also scaped down the tenon spigot 0.031" using a Stanley knife blade, to get the gap down to 0.010" which is where I will leave it for now. The wood in the images below is just the sanded surface, no spirit or any liquid to bring out the grain.

closing the gap.

This is the spigot on the end of the tenon that it needs to bottom out on.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Picked up the SM stock after Ross Waghorn added the checkering. It is a reflection on how small the custom gun scene is in Australia, Ross makes his checkering tools himself. He uses a thread chasing file to cut his double row cutters. When I dropped off the stock Ross only had 20tpi or 24tpi options. I really wanted 22tpi. I ordered a BSW/BSF thread chasing file on Aliexpress, it arrived within a week for the cost of AU$18 including delivery out of China.
Ross had no problem then making a 22tpi cutter to complete my stock. He is a very generous person, when I went to pick up the stock I also received a lesson on making checkering tools and some scrap walnut to practice on.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Back on the Martini - It needs a quater rib on top for a red dot mount as well as an express sight.
Just as important, is a similar "quater rib" on the underside to mount the fore end timber, plus add some much needed weight.
To get the interface profile I needed to make a template. Some 40mm square section aluminium tube was the basis, with endplates tig welded in. The one end plate was bored out to 19mm and the other end 29mm using a boring head in the mill. Then it was split along the centre line.

Then I used PlastiBond to mold a female pattern of the barrel.

Below is the pattern cleaned up and the stylus with a 10mm ball bearing silversouldered into the tip.
The theory is that the stylus follows the pattern while a 10mm ball endmill transfers the profile to a metal blank to create a precise interface to the barrel.

 

[AZDAVE]

I need to make a couple 1/4 ribs so will be following your process with interest.

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

There is a YouTube video by a guy from the ACGG that shows him making a quarter rib for a rifle, his process is very similar to how I was taught to do it.
Gumpy

 

[BlueFlyer]

There is a YouTube video

Exactly - the university of YouTube is where I got the concept from.

 

[BlueFlyer]

Here is the video

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

That’s the one. I was first taught to make them using a Deckel copy mill, once set up it’s very easy to make them in an almost production process, the video is a little bit more complicated to start , but works just as well and is probably how I’d do them from now on
Gumpy

 

[BlueFlyer]

Unfortunately I don't have a Deckel, I have to make do with a Metex DM45.
The are subtlies that the video does not highlight. When cutting along the centre line it is straight forward. But, when you move off the centre line, then the ball on the stylus is contacting the radius on the female barrel form. If you are not careful and use too much force the stylus will deflect and produce an incorrect profile on the machined surface.
It is critical that the setup is parallel and centred for both the stylus and end mill.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Exactly - the university of YouTube is where I got the concept from.

@BlueFlyer
I went to the school of hard knocks. And a bit of time in the Bluestone college for not paying speeding tickets
Bob