For the last couple of days, I have been making a sight box for my Henry-styled long range muzzleloader. I am not copying an original per se, but approximating the style to fit my needs. The rifle has front and rear sight staffs, 12 aperture inserts for the front and two eyecups for the rear. The details are irrelevant, but I could do this and many other small jobs a lot better if I had a small milling machine, instead of pushing wood through my drill press with an 1/2" end mill. I'm sure I could find many other things to do with it as well, including some minor metal work eventually. But I'm not going to become a gunsmith either, so I'm not looking for industrial grade. Just a nice quality hobby tool.

I have neither the space nor the skills to justify a full-sized, mill but a small, bench-top model might be perfect, depending on costs. Is there a consensus on new or used machines that are better than others? Is there a best place to look for these (especially used ones)? And finally, besides a bunch of end mills and taps, what sort of tooling is involved to make these things useful?

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BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)

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