Weekend update part 2

A number of other project were also worked on this last weekend.

The major one was the kitchen. All the tile for the counter top has been laid down. The next is the back splash.

We also finished welding in the cross bolts on the VG1-5 lower receivers and started Tig welding the stock supports.

A look ate the lower receiver. It is now time to fit up the fire control box.

We wanted to add extra security to the stock supports. It was felt that with the amount of material that was just spot welded it would be a good idea.

All the cross pins are now welded

Looking at the Stevens Little Krag rifle

The little Krag rifle made by Stevens gun company is a 22 caliber boys rifle. The Krag name was chosen because the Spanish American war was still in the recent memory of most Americans. It is a simply design single shot rifle that came out in March of 1904. The rifle came with a standard 20″ round barrel and oil walnut stock. For a short time there was a scope that was available, it however was dropped after being made for only one year. By 191o the rifle has run it’s course and was discontinued.

Close up of the receiver in the stock.

Out of the stock.

The barrel is a slip fit that is held in with a screw on the bottom of the receiver with a screw.

As you can see from the pictures this is a very basic receiver.

Even the trigger and extractor are of a very simple design.

The bolt as well is very simple in design and function. The bolt handle is what keeps the action closed when the rifle is fired.

There is an interesting design with this rifle. It is the design of the extractor. It is a spring loaded design. Here are a few pictures of the spring and extractor set up.

As you extract the cartridge out of the chamber the extractor springs forward to all another cartridge to be fed into the rifle.

This is a video of its operation.

Quite often I am e-mailed about I am interested in making my own rifle but I don’t have the experience or the tools. This rifle can be made with a very little experience and tooling. There is no or minimal heat treating involved with this design and steel selection could be basic scrap steel.

Weekend update 2-8-16 part 1

A great deal was accomplished this weekend. First is a couple of pictures that Mac,a friend of gun lab, sent me about some new lighting he put into his little shop. The before and after shots.

The increase in available lighting was amazing. Then he told me the price of the lighting fixtures, $36.00 I could not pass it up.

My machine shop has a few dark spots in it and I am always changing out ballasts and bulbs in the lights.

There are a number of lights that need to be changed out.

You can see the dark spot over the surface grinder and bead blaster.

The first light changed out over the milling machine

Added one the surface grinder area.

Removed all the old lights.

New sheet rock and first coat of mud. Could not connect the plug in as the mud was still wet.

The new light over the manual lathe

With a life span of 50,000 hours I should not have to worry about new lights for 25 years. As the older ones go out I will be changing them to the new lights as well.

Interesting single shot pistol

Once again Axel , a friend of gun lab, has found another interesting and unusual weapon. This time it is a single shot 6mm pistol. I just wish it was available here in the states. It is the Pistolet Le Moustic.

An interesting design

Single shot lifting breach pistol

Over all size

They even had a holster design for it.

I would really like to study this one closer.

Another great site to check out

If you have an opportunity you should take a side trip over to

Firearms History, Technology & Development.

His site address is http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/ this is great site. Generally he only posts a couple of times a month but when he does they are well thought out and very informative. It is well worth the trip and check out his archives. Expect to spend some time there.

Battery gun

I have been going and looking at firearms in England for over 20 years. One that I always go back and look at time and time again is a battery gun. Not your normal single row of barrels type battery gun. No this weapon is made up of two rows of different caliber revolvers.

This is what you would face crossing that bridge.

Each. row of weapons is controlled by a single crank handle

With spare cylinders the rate of fire could be kept up.

Now on to the nuts and bolts of this weapon system. In this picture you can see how the front of the cylinders set in the frame.

A view of the frame with out the cylinder. A very basic design.

A close up of the frame

The cylinder release lever and crank rod

The frame it self is not that large

A close up of the operating gear

Looking at the front barrel support

close up of the front barrel support

Rear of the large cylinder

front of the smaller cylinder

Rear of the smaller cylinder

front of the smaller cylinder

This would be a great home build project.

A quick video of the battery gun.

22 caliber boy’s rifle

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

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.

Weekend update for 1-24-16

This is the run down of the fun and excitement that went on this last weekend.

We are testing out a new ejector design for the VG1-5. The original design that we used started to experience problems after several hundred rounds. The newer one will be a little more robust and a slightly better design. It needs to work with a variety of magazine manufactures as well as our own magazine. So testing was conducted on the bench first and when we think we have all the bugs worked out it will be off to the test fixture.

I have not been able to solve the wire edm problem on my own. So now it is time to send it to the factory to be tested and repaired as necessary. I removed the monitor and it’s circuit board, packaged them up and sent them off to Mcwilliams to check it out.

I would really like to find away to change it out to a flat screen, but no luck yet with that idea.

The new circuity for the cnc router has come in and I have started working on the new layout for the control circuit.

This set up comes from Smooth Stepper (http://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/breakout-boards/ethernet-smoothstepper-motion-control-board-with-terminals-for-mach3). With the help of my friend Orin I hope to have the basic wiring completed this next weekend.

I also got back onto the kitchen project and finished the molding for the cabinets.

Then I started on the tiling.

I am also making a parts box for the Hotchkiss portative. I wanted something on the line of a British design Vickers or Lewis box. I have finished about 1/2 of it is solid works and actually cut and planed the first two wood pieces. As the wood is coming from old pallets it took a little time.

Enough for one weekend and it’s back to work for the week.

Great article at Rifleshooter

I was just over at one of the sites that I try and get to daily and he posted a very good article on

“Turning a sporter contour rifle barrel from a blank”

If you have not been to the rifleshooter site you are missing some great stuff. This is his post, you should check it out.

http://rifleshooter.com/2016/01/turning-a-sporter-contour-rifle-barrel-from-a-blank/

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