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Sig PE-57 and AMT repair sections

Chuck — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 08:00:14 +0000

Pete, a friend of Gun Lab, was at the last Knob Creek show and picked up a PE-57 kit and repair section. He was nice enough to send me some pictures of the repair part and I thought I would add a few pictures of my AMT rifle to give you a comparison.

The first thing I have to say is that I am not beating up on the guy that made this repair section. This receiver is very complex and if made with the correct steel would be very difficult to press. With out having a progress stamping set up I think he did a descent job.

I also did not have the repair section here to measure.

the ejection port still needs to be cut out and formed

His bend looks a little rough.

Everything seems to match up when pressed together

The most glaring issue I see is the caming surface.

On the original weapon it is a clean and precise bend.

This one looks to have a not so clean surface and a dimple in it.

Who ever made this put a great deal of work into it. It does need a re-press to clean it up.

I would like to hear from people that have used this repair section to build up a rifle.

Cut Away Mauser

Chuck — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 13:07:59 +0000

Rod Henrickson, a friend of gun lab, was nice enough to send me a few pictures of a cut away Mauser rifle that he made. As everyone knows I have a thing for cut away weapons and i really appreciate the work that Rod put into making his.

He really did a very nice job as can be seen in this picture.

A big thank you to Rod for sharing his work.

This is a link to a video of Rod operating his cut away.

A 22lr EM-2

Chuck — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 08:00:17 +0000

A friend who has passed made this copy of an EM-2 in 22lr. It is amazing what people can come up with. Defiantly an interesting rifle.

Right and left side views of the rifle.

Look closely at the markings on the carrying handle base

Rear sight and carrying handle

Rear butt plate

Added ejection port cover

Magazine release and rear cover

cocking handle

Magazine housing

left side showing the cocking handle, grip and trigger

A couple of views of the front site and base

Front band

Front sling swivel

Gun Building Site

Chuck — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 03:58:28 +0000

I came across another gun builder here in the Phoenix area and made arrangements to meet up with him. What some of you may not know is that I happen to like all types of firearms, from match locks to modern machine guns. I also like to look at how firearms are made. So when I had the opportunity to do a meet up I jumped at it.

I find it amazing what can be built with nothing more then just basic hand tools.

Here are a few pictures of some underhammer weapons that he made with a drill press and files.

Underhammer shotgun he made.

A real simple fire control group.

Underhammer pistol

Close up of a couple of his fire control groups

You should check out his site. He has some very nice toys that he has made for himself.

http://idezilla.blogspot.com/2016/08/small-bore-really.html

Building a semi auto MP-44 part 3

Chuck — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 08:00:31 +0000

In this post we are going to look at how the badly cut up and rusted lower portion of the MP-44 receiver was repaired. You can see in the first photo the condition of the under side of the lower front portion of the receiver.

The first set was to cut out the bad section.

Now it is time to fabricate a completely new section. A section of sheet metal is first cut to approximately the correct size. Then the first bend starts the process.

A second bend is made around a filler piece to allow for the correct thickness

Now back into the vise to bend both sides.

The correct thickness

The cure is installed.

This is starting to look good.

You can see that a great deal of hand fitting is required.

Very nice work by Pete. I am looking forward to the next installment. Pete still has a few rear sections if anyone needs one.

Building an MP-44 semi part 2

Chuck — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 08:00:35 +0000

This is the second in a series of post of Pete, a friend of gun lab, building his semi-auto MP-44. From our previous post you could see the absolutely dismal condition of the cut up receiver pieces that Pete had to work with.

You can see from these pictures that there was no back section. So the only answer for Pete was to design the tooling and make a new rear section. This is that post.

In this photo you can see the style of the female die with the cuts for the ribs to be pressed in.

As with all stamping work to obtain the best possible product you must have a flat that is the same and you must have a method of properly locating that flat.

This male stamping die is much more complicated to make then most people think. All this tooling was made on a manual vertical mill.

With any press tool you have to have guide and alignment pins to obtain a quality product.

Pete does all his pressing on a simple shop press.

To fabricate the rear pieces it take multiply set up’s.

Some real nice tooling to make his rear section.

This is not a simple process to make the rear sections.

You can see for this final photo the quality of work that Pete produces.

If anyone is interested in a replacement section drop me a comment and I will forward it to Pete. He has a few of these left.

22 caliber boy’s rifle

Chuck — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 08:00:39 +0000

I dropped by a friends house today between jobs and he had a pie of boy’s rifles that he was going through. The majority of them were single shot dropping blocks or rolling block rifles and I find those interesting, however there was one that had been gone over by someone to make what I would call a custom rifle for a child. Here are a few pictures of the rifle in question. It is a J.C.Higgins model 103,18 in 22 cal. The rifle itself has no great vale and even after being worked over it now has less value, but still interesting.

You can see that a new stock has been made for it and a new trigger guard has been fashioned for it.

A close up of the stock. Not even sure what type of wood was used.

But the fit is correct so someone took the time to make it correctly

The interesting part is the trigger guard. An old spoon or fork handle was used to make it. To make it fancy.

As I looked at it all that crossed my mind is that someone went to some trouble to make this. To me it is interesting, I just think of some guy or gal doing this for his or her daughter.

Interesting Gun Making Videos

Chuck — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 13:47:00 +0000

I came across this series of videos by accident. The project is not complete yet, but it is turning into a very nice piece of art. Check it out.

Part one of the series.

Part 2 of the series.

Part 2b of the series.

Part 3 of the series

I am looking forward to the next video.

Part 3 of the Volkspistolen

Chuck — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 08:00:13 +0000

In this post we will be covering some of the small parts as well as the assembly and dis-assembly and operation of the Volkspistolen.

First a series of picture of this really nice looking pistol as completed.

This first video is of assembly and dis-assembly of the slide and showing the fire control group.

Now on to more pictures of the individual components to show how they are made.

The first set is of the disconnector.

The trigger

Magazine catch and back strap

The majority of the parts ready to be assembled

This next series are some more pictures of the frame.

It is interesting to see how the magazine well was made.

The cover for the magazine well is also the guide for the trigger

This photo gives a better view of the trigger as it sets in the frame

This last video shows the operation of the fire control group and how this pistol works.

Part 2 of the Volkspistolen

Chuck — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 08:00:21 +0000

In this report we will be writing about the frame and fire control part of the pistol. Again the pistol was made with out the use of an actual milling machine of lathe. It was made from hand tools, welders, and a drill press. Once again to get an idea of the final product here is a picture of the completed pistol.

The first step was to draw out a basic concept of what you wanted the shape of the frame to be. Next using this paper pattern trace it onto the sheet steel and then start drilling a number of holes to make it easier to cut it out.

Do this step 4 times two right and 2 left

With all the patterns cut out the next step is to make them all the same.

An idea of the basic concept to work toward to.

Four steel metal patterns completed. Notice the match holes that were drilled in the four patterns.Welding the front radius on to the grip panel.

The front grip radius after filing and sanding.

This shows the relationship of the magazine to the front grip radius and the barrel extension/barrel.

A look at the inside on the right side frame panel.

The front and back magazine guides welded in place.

Cutting out the inner grip panel for the trigger mechanism.

The cut out complete.

A look at the out side grip panel withe the barrel support screwed on and the inner grip frame welded in place.

The other frame side showing how the inner panel is attached and positioned to the outer frame panel.

The basic assembly put together with the trigger guard.

The pistol as finished with out the wooden grips installed.

A couple of pictures showing the fir control mechanism disassembled and assembled.

In part three of this series we will have a few video’s of the trigger mechanism and of the pistol cycling manually. So stay tuned.