Chile contract type 92 HMG

A while back I was able to snap a few pictures of an interesting contract heavy machine gun made for Chile. It is basically a Japanese type 92 in 7×57 Mauser. sorry about this fist photograph, bad lighting.

close up of the top cover

An interesting piece.

These photo’s were taken at Reed Knight’s collection.

CNC router update

Some work was accomplished on the CNC router over this long weekend. The angle bracket was machined for all the connectors to attach to. I was going to wire the plugs up but found out that the wire we have is not the correct type, it is on order no for next weekend.

Here are the pictures of the angle bracket that was made.

Just as a reminder this is where it will set on the side panel of the cnc router.

Beretta AR-70 magazine modifications

A couple of years ago I bought a Beretta AR-70 rifle for the reference collection. This was before the availability of replacement magazines for the rifle. Because of the total lack of spare magazines in this country people came up with ingenious ideas to modify existing magazines to allow them to shoot there rifles. I find it interesting to see how they did the modification. You never know about the future and what it holds for available magazines.

For those of you that may not know what an AR-70 rifle is, here are a couple of pictures of the weapon.

When I bought my rifle it came with a modified AR-15 magazine. So this is my first example of magazine modification.

What was done was to weld a piece of aluminum to the front and side of the magazine. Then they attached a locking notch on the rear of the magazine. The strip that was weld on the front allowed for positioning the magazine in the front of the magazine well for proper feeding. This was had fitted after it was welded on.

A couple of close up pictures of the conversion. You will notice that the side spacer was welded on one side one. Even doing this the magazine worked correctly.

You can also see that no magazine stops are present on the side of the magazine.

Later I was able to obtain original rifle magazines. This is what an original AR-70 magazine looks like.

This close up shows the magazine stops and what the magazine latch block looks like.

A close up review of this magazine shows four components for the magazine body. The right and left sides of the body, the wrap around upper support assembly with the feed lips incorporated into it as well as the stops that are pressed in. The final part that was added was the magazine latch block of the rear of the magazine.

Pete, a friend of Gun Lab, sent this AR-15 magazine modification. This is a very nicely done conversion. It allows the magazine, with a bit of work, to be converted back to its original design. What was done with this magazine was to make a sheet metal housing to fit around the original AR-15 magazine to allow it to fit and operate in an AR-70 magazine housing.

You can see in this picture that the housing was hand fitted to the rifle.

You will notice that with the fitted housing that the front of the sheet metal has been machined away to allow proper fit into the rifle as well as allowing for proper lock up in the front of the magazine well.

Here are a couple of pictures showing all the magazines together for a better overall understanding.

As with all magazines that had been modified for use there is a certain amount of hand fitting that goes with the project.

Memorial Day

Having served for ten years this is one of the Holidays that I respect the most. During my time in I had lost friends that I went to high school with. There names will forever be on the wall. Please take the time today to say a prayer for those that have served and are not here and will never be here again, except in our thoughts, to enjoy this day with friends and family. And for those that are serving.

I still remember the heart break of leaving and the joy of coming home.

I feel that the best we have in this country are the men and woman that stand up to say that they too will serve. I just wish we would not send them to useless wars to be killed or maimed.

I saw this video and just wanted to share it with you.

Have a fun and safe holiday.

Rare Carcano rifle

In my youth I had the opportunity to look at and take a couple of pictures of a very rare Carcano rifle. Judging on the way I look, with hair and all and not that many wrinkles, these pictures were taken 35 years ago or so. It is not often that you get to see something as rare as this and I wish I would have taken a few more pictures. This is a Moschetto Model 1891 (carbine)

A view of the top of the rifle

Close up of the receiver area

Another view of the receiver

The crest in the side of the stock

3d printer and the Remington Hepburn

A couple of years ago I bought a Remington Hepburn rifle That was in very poor condition. I happen to like this style of action and wanted to reverse engineer it and make a new rifle. Orin, a friend of gun lab, also has an interest in this rifle and making one. I bought a set of prints from ASSRA as a starting point and started making a solid model of the rifle in solid works. When I finished my part I sent the drawings and all the components to Orin where he finished the drawings. The project has set as we still needed a few critical dimensions. Well then I get the word from Orin that he has bought a 3d printer and he has printed out the receiver and a cut away of it as well. This is that story.

This is the printer that he bought.

After 3 hours of printing

After 5 hours and 20 minutes

After 9hours and 15 minutes the receiver is complete.

Three views of the receiver after printing is complete.

The computer solid model as it looks prior to printing.

The cut away model and some of the internal parts to allow testing of the model.

This is a video of the process and progress of this project.

Update on the CNC Router

More work and re-design work has been done on the cnc router. The side panels were original design to be plastic with the three fans installed. Through all the design phases that we have gone through we found that plastic will not work as the proper material. Here is a picture with the plastic side panels on one side.

A close up of the plastic panel with the fans on it.

On of the problems is the lack of room on the panel after the fans are install and then trying to install the connector panel.

The new design takes off the corner supports as we are going to an all aluminum panel and doing a different layout of the panel.

You can see that we have placed all the fans horizontally with the plug in panel next to it. The only item missing from this model is the power input plug.

This is a view of the inside of the compartment showing the other side of the plug in strip.

A couple of views of the assembly attached to the table.

A little more design work to be done and then it is one to putting it all together.

No post more computer problems

Once again I am plagued with computer issues and Windows 10, may a thousands camels shit in the mouths of the designers of this software. The hard drive issue has been fixed with a new cable and a totally different hard drive. Now the videos that I have been working on in Pinnacle Studio 19 ultimate will not save. I can edit and work on them, which I did for several hours, then when you go to save them you get an error and everything is lost. I went back to the old computer and bought another copy of pinnacle but the down load took most of the night. Hope to be back at it tonight.

AR-10 handguard

Eric, a friend of Gun Lab, let me borrow his AR-10 hand guards collection to photograph and measure up.

The first set of pictures is of a very early hand guard that has not been completed. The information I obtain from this single piece is worth volumes in trying to determine how and what material they were made from. This hand guard has none of the hole drilled into it and has neither of the end caps installed.

Looking at the front end of the hand guard you can see the thickness of the sheet metal liner and the density of the foam and fiberglass outer housing.

Here you can see the seam on the hand guard when it was put together.

This view of the rear of the hand guard you can see the forming of the sheet metal for the gas tube as well as a good view of the type of foam material used.

He sent the end caps as well. This allow for a detailed examination of both pieces. Drawings were made of both of them.

The front end cap, front view.

The front end cap, rear view.

The type of material has not been accurately determined yet, still working on it.

The rear end cap has a great deal more detail to it.

The second hand guard that Eric sent is an unused Sudanese type. You can easily see the hole pattern on the hand guard.

This close up shows the fit up of the rear end cap and the grove and hole alignment.

You can see the difference between an early and the later rear end cap.

A good view of the gas tube slot in the rear hand guard.

A close up of the front end cap.

This Sudanese hand guard is from a friends parts kit.

The rear end cap design was changed between the first model and the Sudanese model

The grove for the gas tube has been increased in depth as well.

The hand guards and stock are easily damaged

Because of the damage and I now need U.S. 922r parts for my build everything on the front hand guards has been drawn up and as in the case of the rear end cap has been test run on the machines.

I started on a set of molds to make new ones in the future. Unfortunately, the first set that I made did not work correctly. A second set has been designed and programed and when time allows will be made. Projects are based upon time and if parts are available for me to complete the project.

I have to give special thanks to Eric for letting me borrow these rare components.

Just one last look of all of the hand guards in a single picture.

Interesting rifle for sale on Gunbroker

I generally do not spend a great deal of time at Gunbroker, stopping in once a week or so, as time is my enemy. However, with that said I did come across a

FRENCH MLE 1917 SEMI AUTO RIFLE 8MM LEBEL

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=558327170&trk_msg=BKIS0BOUB8VKLDPRMTGHQFBKI8&trk_contact=2BLJ1JOAB0FJ6MUOEMC38IJ37G&trk_module=sca&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Product&utm_campaign=Bid+Abandonment&utm_content=Bid+Abandonment2b

rifle. Not having one in my reference collection I am always on the look out for the 1917 or 1918 French semi-automatic rifle.

This is the write up of the weapon on the auction site.

RARE FRENCH MLE 1917 SEMI AUTO RIFLE. SHOOTS 8MM LEBEL. BEFORE THE FRENCH GOVERMENT WOULD SELL THEM . THEY TOOK OFF THE SEMI AUTO PARTS AND LEFT THEM AS SINGLE SHOT RIFLES. PARTS MAY BE FOUND OR MADE.

Here are the pictures posted of the rifle.