Comments on: Making the Gerat 05

By: Howard

Howard — Mon, 14 May 2018 18:20:13 +0000

Hello, Would like to order one of your 05 Gerat rifles. Thanks much!

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 16:38:27 +0000

Hi were the 60 Gerat 05 ever made and put into limited sale? I have been waiting and looking for a while now and I have not been able to see any at trade-shows or auctions.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 13:15:17 +0000

Hello John. I enjoyed your comment and it has got me thinking about solutions for a few of our problems.
I have heard about kirksite but have never seen it in use. It is something to look into, thanks for the heads up.
To eliminate the tearing problem I had to change the die slightly to allow the metal to flow better. I also had to modify the flat. There was to much metal in a few spots that would not allow it to flow properly. We have also changed our lubricant over the last two years based on the recommendations of our supplier.

By: John D.

John D. — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 14:34:16 +0000

Surprised you were able to eliminate the receiver tear in a single draw. Automotive practice would be to stamp this receiver in two ‘hits’. The first hit would have formed the guide rail and the receiver ring, with some formation of the magazine well. The second hit would finish the magazine well and create the bottom of the receiver. This would have allowed the blank to ‘flow’ into the guide rail during the first hit and avoid tearing.

You can see the severe flow striations on the receiver bottom surface in Photo 5, which also shows the receiver tear. Heavy lubrication of the blank in the striation area might make a single hit process feasible.

For prototype automotive stamping on steel dies, molybdenum disulphide NLGI 2 grease would be ‘painted’ on the surface of the steel blank which becomes the receiver bottom. You might also be able to single hit this part with a compound die, but this is probably unduely complex for these short production runs.

Kirksite offers much greater lubricity than steel in stamping dies. Kirksite dies are one of the secrets of the prototype stamping industry. You might try a Kirksite casting for your next complex stamping die.