No, not dug up in the pig sty, but maybe the same result.
After the "Henry" build last year, I thought of really courting failure by building a Farquharson clone.
Good a time as any to start, winter here in Canada.
Warned Ya!
Anyway, started with a couple of pieces of 4140. Got out the square drill and went at it.
Hope to keep at it, and will update as I ...uh.. "progress".
Enjoy
No, not dug up in the pig sty, but maybe the same result.
After the "Henry" build last year, I thought of really courting failure by building a Farquharson clone.
Good a time as any to start, winter here in Canada.
Warned Ya!
Anyway, started with a couple of pieces of 4140. Got out the square drill and went at it. Wouldn't EDM be easier and cheaper. Where in the tool crib do they keep the square drill bits, I wonder? next to the USN's Sea-Bees stash of sky hooks and shore line for towing perhaps. You Canadians sure have strange machine shop techniques, but at least AISI (is there a CISI) 4140 nickel chrome moly with 40 points of heat treatable carbon is a good choice, Ey??
Hope to keep at it, and will update as I ...uh.. "progress".
Enjoy
Sounds like a fine and instructive project. Thanks for sharing it from the start. And may good luck attend your exercise.
I would have used EDM but we aint invented it here yet...LOL
Now I may have to start over!
No CISI but there is CISC - deals with Construction steel.
Oh, it aint "EY", ya know, like, it's "Eh"!
This is where the much maligned shaper shines.
Mike
I would have used EDM but we aint invented it here yet...LOL
Now I may have to start over!
No CISI but there is CISC - deals with Construction steel.
Oh, it aint "EY", ya know, like, it's "Eh"!
Ja, reel gut dere- guess I've been watching my two "Cabin Feverwinterbound older movies too often" -- The Shinning and FARGO--Construction and metal fab steels are a tad different than 4140--but ferrous metals and codes and std. machining practices are pretty straight-forward-- No EDM machines in the great lands of: Walleye, Hockey and great beers?? Shame, that. One of my shooting pals has a fairly complete machine shop-- and he has a EDM--just don't ask him to "punch out" relief ports with it in the muzzle area of the barrel of your Weatherby shoulder-breaker--
Thats a real nice looking square hole. That is the receiver?
I am scratch building a highwall at present and a Stevens 44 and 1/2 .Didnt know anybody on this forum were showing barstock builds. I will watch this one.
Yup, the old square dri..er.. EDM does a really neat job.
Hopefully it will turn into a receiver.
FYI, this is my 3rd - search under my handle for a "silly webley henry" and "henryish".
Thats a real nice looking square hole. That is the receiver?
I am scratch building a highwall at present and a Stevens 44 and 1/2 .Didnt know anybody on this forum were showing barstock builds. I will watch this one.
Sorry I am on too many forums. Now I remember seeing your Henryish rifle.Very nice...You got serious skills.
Starfire,
Have followed your builds and look forward to this one. You do nice work and progress faster than most. There are some of us who have whittled actions from bar stock. A recent one is a Ballard on the ASSRA forum. Harry Eales (I will pull his chain again) developed a method of putting square pegs in round holes that works very well. Basically, using the mill as a vertical shaper. You can square up the corners faster than you can set up a shaper.
Chuck
Got out the rat tail file....uh .. milling machine, made some progress.
Got out the rat tail file....uh .. milling machine, made some progress.
Sweet--
Am I missing something on scale? Something just does not look right. Even if that is a three pound coffee can, seems small. Agree, minatures are as difficult a full size, just less chips.
Chuck
A bit more progress.
Block slides into the action.
Bottom partly machined out for the trigger plate and lever bosses.
Action is 1 1/2 wide, 3 high - just hard to tell because of camera angle.
Made some more chips.
A start on the trigger "plate"
Fitted into the block with a dummy lever stub
A bit more progress.
Block slides into the action.
Bottom partly machined out for the trigger plate and lever bosses.
Action is 1 1/2 wide, 3 high - just hard to tell because of camera angle.
Good clear foto- even can see the blue Dykem layout-- looks like a nice bit of milling-- what Rockwell scale and hardness range will you want for this crucial part of the breech? Just curious--
The blue is DoAll Steel Ink (spray bomb).
Block is annealed 4140, not sure what final numbers will be. Will depend on cartridge to some degree, may even go with colors.
The blue is DoAll Steel Ink (spray bomb).
Block is annealed 4140, not sure what final numbers will be. Will depend on cartridge to some degree, may even go with colors.
Thanks-- give us a report on the final caliber/cartridge decision, and whether it will be blued or color case hardened. Will you then cyanide color, or will you try the older bone and charcoal pack with heat and then quenching?
I live for these threads. Please keep us posted on your progress.
Well, a bit more.
The block with firing pin, try link and dummy lever stub,.
Bottom plate with hammer pocket and link slot(sorta hidden by the blue ink).
I am hoping to go with carbon pack color case, but a cracked receiver would be a real pain.
Caliber will be a rimmed something (Surprise?).
That is all for a while, I am seconded as a CBE for a short time.
(Covert Bikini Evaluator)
I have to study up on the 3 types.
Bathing
Baking
Baiting
Well, back from the beach.
Oh, the poverty! Some of those young ladies can afford only a few small scraps of cloth for a bathing..er...baiting suit!
Got a bit done this week.
First try at a hammer, fitted into the trigger plate.
Trigger plate in the breech
And the breech block actually fits and slides!
Worked away a bit, making some progress
Carved away some metal on top
And on the bottom
Worked on the dummy lever, added the trigger beginning, and made a new hammer with cocking indents (hammer is backwards!).
Started roughing out the actual lever
Hope this works out, or it will be a lot of hours for nothing.
Some progress this week
More shaping on the lever and trigger, added the trigger guard
Assembled, fits... sorta!
Best of all, a Douglas .308 sporter barrel, 1/10 twist.
Maybe go to .30WCF
You want to make two?
You want to make two?
What? And have two people mad at me? (You and my wife!)
Cheaper to buy the real thing, based on my hours in the shop!
Make that 3, my wife too!
Well, to try your patience..
Some progress
Trimmed the hammer, made a start on a link for the mainspring. Intend to use a flat spring.
Also shaped the trigger a bit
Started shaping up the lever.
Movin' on
'Nother hammer (#3), link and leaf spring, cocking bar, and lever latch.
Barrel hole drilled and tapped.
Back to the ol' milling machine......
Plodding along
Barrel threaded, some shaping on the lever. Trigger, hammer, and lever catch case hardened.
Small setback.
After a number of flexings to full cock, the flat spring shattered into 5 pieces.
I found 4 of them.
So, may go to a coil spring system.
And onward
Lenghtened the top tang, added the rear upright, converted to coil spring.
The upright also allows the use of a stock through-bolt! Yippee!
Same with action open and hammer cocked.
And NO, it is NOT a short barrel, only a piece of solid shafting to help work out the extractor and breech block face.
I inclined the block mortise a bit to give a little camming action, as per a High-wall (1885)
Will be away for a week so y'all get a rest.
Home again, home again, jiggity.....
Cleaned up the action a bit, barrel chambered to 30WCF.
Thingy above the trigger guard is a sliding safety.
The 1/4 inch bolt will be replaced with something appropriate.
Now on to an extractor and wood and sights.
Should I put a rail and a red dot on it, ya think?
And a flashlight
I'm impressed by your skills. Very nice - wish I had one like it..
More done
Forend hanger attached - Safety button removed for stock inletting.
Forend inletted to barrel - note neat blue fingers!
Saving up to buy some duck tape - to attach the flashlight.
How could I have missed that critical item??
PS: Anyone here going to Vintagers in September?
You could use painters blue masking tape, so it would match your fingers.
Mike
Very interesting build. Would like to see more builds. Whitey
Plodding along, getting closer.
Cobbled up an extractor - thingy in front of breechblock with a spring.
Extractor installed
With a round in place
Forend roughed out, butt inletting underway
Love to see any kind of build projects. Whitey
A bit done - shooting season is "interfering"
Forend glassed and shaped, butt inletted and glass bedded.
Found a front ramp in the parts box, will try to mount it on a piece of tubing and make a banded front sight.
NOW - The ultimate!
EPA approved, OSHA considering.
Environmentally friendly lighting attachment.
Note the "Green" retention band,
AND the hand crank illumination unit.
Patent applied for....
Now for the rail...
With the lighting attachment in place, Id call it done.
I look forward to each post on this thread.
LOL ... You are going to need to polish the flashlight case to make it match the other metal finish. ... maybe nickel plate the whole thing.
... Joe
LOL ... You are going to need to polish the flashlight case to make it match the other metal finish. ... maybe nickel plate the whole thing.
... Joe
Nah, Chrome and trimmed with camo tape!
well, last posting for a while - Glad, huh?
Turned the Terrifically Trained Termite Team loose, they did OK.
A lot of finishing to do, not all that interesting till all done.
I have popped a couple primers, so it does function.
I will post finished results, may not be for 3 -4 weeks.
It's been fun, hope you enjoyed watching.
I have enjoyed it, thanks for posting it. I look forward to the final photos.
Mike
I also enjoy the build. And wish more members would post their project builds or restoration goals. Maybe it would help us novices. JMO Whitey
This has been well recieve[r]d, among my gunny-network. There have been high compliments from folks who can work steel to their own ends. Thanks for sharing this; it was educational
Well, finished up.
Final episode, won't bore you any more with this one.
Case Color is carbon pack.
Shoots very well.
Overall
Left side.
Left closer
Right side
Bottom and my signature grip cap - with a diamond inlay of genuine Yukon Mastodon tusk ivory - Tribute to a favorite late brother who provided the material.
I think its wonderful. Thank you very much for taking the time to share it all.
I really enjoyed your build. What is the next project.????? Smile Whitey
Thanks for allowing us to watch the build.
Mike
hello , I am a new member on this site. alphawolf45 sent me a link to this build, amazing work. if I could ask a question or two, when you edm'ed the mortice in the action body did you leave a radius in the corners for strength ? and what heat treatment was done apart from the colour case hardening ? was that done for cosmetic reasons or was it necessary for the strength of the action. thanks.
I did not EDM the hole myself, but it appears that the only radius is the wire radius.
The action is 4140 which was dead soft, and was carbon pack cased for cosmetics and strength.
It was then drawn (tempered) for about 1 1/2 hours at about 350C to reduce hardness.
Thanks oldstarfire, what design did you work to ? or was it the sort of project that just came into your head as you worked along ?
I guess the basic concept and design was based on Winfer's book on the Farquharson (Vol #2), but particularly on the article in DeHaas book "Single shot Rifles and Actions".
The layout was based on a block of 4140 that I had, which already had a square hole EDM cut in it. Couldn't let it go to waste....
The "numbers" were worked out on Autocad on my PC abacus.
This was my third attempt - Check a thread on here called "Building a Henryish Rifle" for #2 - worth a chuckle.
For what it is worth, you can get the "square" corners with a shaper.The 7" bench shaper is a good size for this. Shapers are "looked down upon" but will do some things nothing else will do.
Mike
Der Ami, that's true. I have tried to get my hands on a small shaper for a while now. Anyone I have asked about them, including a machinery dealer I know, says the vast majority of them have been scrapped. This is a great pity as more than likely they will never be built again. A lathe, milling machine, shaper and a small surface grinder in your workshop or shed and I reckon there is very little that couldn't be made.
For the halibut....a followup.
Shot today, 50 yards, 110 hp Sierra, 3031 powder
Peep rear, bead front.
Shooting high, but working on that.
If you have a vertical mill, you have a fine manual vertical shaper using the hand feed handle with the machine turned off and the head locked. Ideal for squaring corners with the proper cutting tools. Much quicker than setting up a shaper. Sold my shaper because I almost never used it.
Chuck
I happen to know a (now retired) toolmaker who told me he absolutely despised shapers, he reckoned the advent of the vertical mill the best thing that had happened in the trade in a long time. But i have to say the shaper does excel at cutting internal keyways and is ideal for cutting a nice square opening in a falling block action.
Bonny,
Also a shaper leaves a better finish than a mill,can "cut off" precisely to length,and you can grind your own tools very cheaply. They lost favor in commercial machine shops, mainly because they are slow, not much of a problem for "one off" work.
Mike
