GunLab

Making the Gerat 05

In the last post I showed you some of the parts that had been made for the 06, this time we will chat about the o5 and do a little more detail about the making of it.

The life of the 05 starts out like any other pressing as a water jet cut flat. The initial flat were made with my band saw and file until it is some what close to what I need. Then they were stamped and checked.

Then drawings are made up based upon our findings and 10 flats are water jetted out. They are pressed and cut to determine if the metal is moving properly in the die. The final pressings are checked and measured to see if it correct. Then the drawings are again changed and 10 more flats ordered and re-stamped and the process is started all over again. Some where between the 8th and 12th time we finally have a product that we want. Once we have the flats are correct and we feel that they are ready I determine the number that I am going to make. In the case of the 05 I want to make 50 complete rifles with the possibility of making 100 total if they sell. So I order 120 flats. In theory that should make 60 receivers. However, if truth be know I am hoping to get 50 complete rifles at of that number. With each step that we take, fixtures have to be made, milling has to completed, welding set ups need to be design and tested so by the time I get to the final product a certain number of them will be reduced to scrap.

In this picture you can see one of the test sets that we stamped a year ago. This is 3 out of 4 receivers that we made. All of them have problems of one sort or another. On the center one the cut for the mag housing was to far back and the lower on has a similar problem but to close to the mag housing. There was also a tearing problem on them as well. the top of the mad well was not pressing correctly and we changed the design and dimensions of the front angle piece. At the end of this process we though we had a correct design, that was not to be correct.

These 5 receiver flat are the latest batch of test pieces that we made. This group came after doing a series of test pieces were we changed the flat design and the stamping dies. There are also major problems with every one of the flats. All but the last one tore and they all had problems with the upper corner of the magazine housing.

This picture shows the tearing.

Another problem was the design of the flat.

This one shows that the flat design was not correct and would have to be changed as it left to much metal up close to the barrel extension.

In addition to the visible problems we have to cut a few of them to check metal thickness after stamping.

The dies were changed again to insure the proper metal thickness.

A few more pictures of the same stampings before and after modifying the dies.

So now with the stampings checked and re-checked we are ready to stamp out the right side receiver. From start to finish the process has taken about a year and over 100 bad stampings have been made. The good news is with the right side completed we can now used that knowledge to reduce the number of bad stampings on the left side of the receiver. Until next time.

The Gerat 06

Now that I have spilled the beans concerning the Gerat 06 here is the progress so far on the rifle. All the receiver half’s have been pressed.

Here are a couple of close up pictures of the receiver.

The sight bases have also been pressed.

The end caps for the butt stocks are completed.

The triggers are completed.

The inner mag housings are completed.

And the barrel end caps are completed as well.

We are currently keeping the cnc machining centers busy with the VG1-5 parts, however as soon as we have completed those parts the 06 will be next.

The other projects at Gun Lab

I did a little slipping in the machine gun shot video about one of the projects that we are also working on. That is the Gerat 06. There was only 4 of these weapons ever made before the Germans shifted to the STg45 instead. We are planning on doing 14 of them.

The other rifle that is also on the production line is the Gerat 05. This was a concept rifle only as no were ever made. This rifle is the only copy of one and I like it so much that I decided to do a run of 60 of them.

This is a picture of me shooting it.And a close up of it.

Both of these rifles are gas operated roller lock design. the little wood stocked one is pattern after the Gerat 03 that was made in 7.92x57mm. Both of these rifles are in 7.92×33 kurtz. Both rifles take the standard stg magazine as well as the 10 round ones that we make.

So as we are finishing up the VG1-5 I will also start posting about both of these weapons. Until next time.

Video from the machine gun shoot.

I have finally managed to complete a basic video from the machine gun shoot.Now it is back to work for me.

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What I did last weekend

I know, I know. I should have chained myself to the milling machine or the lathe and work through the weekend like I normally do, instead I went out and had some fun.My son, wife and I went to a local machine and cannon shoot and had a great time. I am working on a video to show all the fun we had. As a teaser I shot and played with the following toys.MG-42, MG-34, Gatling gun, 13.7 Japanese machine gun, 50mm Krupp cannon, full auto Fal, Bren, STg-44, 1950 madsen smg, pps 43, and 30 or 40 other weapons that slip my mind. Video to follow.

Up date on the project.

Here at Gun Lab. net we have been working on a number of projects. Quite a few videos have been made and as soon as I can get Ian down to help me correct the problems with Pinnacle studio they will be posted. Some of the projects are new stamping dies for various parts that have to be made and a number of them are the actual parts that are now completed.

I thought I would give you an up date on the rifle that we are currently working on. This next batch of pictures deals with all the parts that have been made and the various stages that they are in.

All the rear barrel supports are completed.

All the hammers are machined but not heat treated.

The cross pin for the rear barrel support is machined and threaded.

All the front barrel supports are 90% machined. the retaining notch needs to be cut and that will be done after all the upper receivers have been machined.

Misc cross pieces and been cut and stamped.

The gas pistons are machined. We just received the tap in this week. We will have it threaded this coning week.

All the rear sights are machined.

All the extractors are here, we are using H&K extractors as they are the same basic style.

All the extra extractor springs are here, again H&K.

All the rear top covers have gone through the first stamping op and 20 or so have been completed.

All the end caps for the rear top cover have been cut out,

All the barrel blanks are here. We are using MG-13 barrels are our basic blank. No they are not rusted just covered with grease and dirt.

The receivers have been stamped.

Mag catches are complete. The button and post are in the works.The triggers are completed and heat treated.

The front barrel support take down spring are finished.

The buffer springs are here as well.

All the upper receivers are cut to length and turned to the proper diameter. And the first 10 are turn on the inside. Only one has been completed and fully machined. This our test and fit sample.

The mag housings are completed.

The upper receiver guides are machined.

The test batch of the newly design primary and secondary sear and the new disconnector.

The new fire control group housing is now design and ready for testing.

All the strengthening plats are cut out and ready for bending.

The newly design receiver support has been cut out, bent and tested for proper fit.

All the safety’s are cut out and just need to be bent.

I have more pictures to take for the rest of the parts that are completed. I will update soon.

Time at the big press

Today is pressing day. We received the flats back from the water jet people and they look great.

A second picture of the pile.

So out to work to get this project back on schedule.

The first package is complete and on to the rest.

The second package is now complete. It takes 5 hits from my big press to do a single top cover.

This is it looks like after this op.

Almost done. Just one package left to complete.Well it is done. I have found the flat that I’ve been looking for all day. And would you not know it but it was hiding on the bottom of the stack. So this is the little sneaky one.

Here are a few pictures of the operation. The first is the flat in the die and centered.

This next picture is as the die starts to close.

This next photo is the die fully closed and the pressing complete.This one is what it looks like after opening the die.

Now for the picture you have been waiting for. The final flat stamped. Front and back.

This is a photo of all the flats pressed. I hope you enjoyed the day at Gun Lab I will chat with you soon.

6th op on the front barrel support.

By now I am sure you are wondering when will this front barrel support be done. Come on and lets make something else. Well, not quite yet. This is the last operation that will be completed on the cnc lathe.

Now the last step after this is the knurling and then machining the notch for the locking spring.

Update for the week ending 2-1-14

So we will start with the update on the VG1-5 project. I stamped the rear top covers.Out of the 10 that were stamped.

We found a few problems. I had to re-stamp the parts due to not getting the ribs deep enough.

This is a close up of the stamping.

Once I re stamped them they looked good for the next step. This showed us that we need to change the basic design again. I hope to have those flats this next week. It should be the last change. Once verified I will stamp all of them. I will be glade to finish these parts. I need to get on to other parts that need stamping. This is a quick picture of the top cover installed on our prototype rifle.

On to other things completed this week/weekend. We have made a new machining fixture for the hammers. The previous one had tolerance issues. We also have to re-ream the pivot hole on the hammers. They were undersized. Not a big set back, just another day reworking parts. To allow us to re-ream the hole we are using a real basic fixture that has been dialed in on the Webb mill. A pile of hammers to re-work.

This is the set up.

By using the round part of the hammer in the v portion of the vise and the flat of the hammer against the solid vise jaw I can get repeatably. This vise will set inside my kurt vise be zeroed in.

More work was completed on the fab shop. I have finished the windows and outside of the wall.

The inside which will also be covered with osb is about 50% completed.

I finished the frame for the evap cooler and hope to have it up and running before the summer season.

The Type 99 female die.

Now that the male die is complete, with only de-burring left to do, it is time to start on the female dies.

As with the male die it starts out as a large block of steel.

With this die we made it in three parts. This allowed us to machine areas that would be very completed.

At this point you will notice the alignment pin holes between the upper and lower dies.

After the lower die is completed a backing plate was made and then ground to hold the completed die together.

This is the completed die attached to the plate.

With this step completed we will be drilling the holes for attachment to the die plate. That will be this weekend. I will post about that when completed.

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