Poor mans tools and techniques

[PaulS]

Have you tried to do some modification to a rifle with "back-yard" tooling?
What was it?
Was it successful?

[PaulS]

A few years back I read an article that said you could re-crown / repair the crown on your muzzle with a round head screw, a bit of lapping compound and an electric drill. Has anyone ever tried this?

I have used 1/2 inch plate glass as a lapping surface and stacked it for a lapping sears at 90 degrees. I even have some sandblasted glass that I use as an abrasive stone for final polishing.

PaulS

[Graybeard]

I've not used the brass screw and compound but a friend has.

I generally rework the triggers a bit  and glass bed the actions on my rifles.

GB

[TopGun]

How about in a dirty basement or garage? I've cut and re-crowned the muzzle on my version of a 6.5x55 Swiss. I heated and turned down the bolt handle, cut and schnabeled the forend, and refinished teh wood, while maintaining the rear sight. I also added a Williams ramp front. The bore was great and it shoots awesome. I use it as my back-up bad-weather gun. I love the caliber. I've installed a Jewell trigger in a HB M70 that had an aluminum beddding block. I took a long time, but the work was worth it. It was on a Hi-Power mathc rifle I added a Mo's adjustable buttlate, front and rear sight block for a Redfield Palma rear and olymoic front and set a hand rail in the fore-end. It is extremely competitive. I love to tinker with them, and I wish I had the tools to re-barrel.

[Paul H]

You can make some nice wood srapers from worn out hacksaw blades.  Break them into ~3" lengths, and grind the ends to various radii.  They make great barrel channel scrapers.  

I know I've made other bits of tooling, but none come to mind at the moment.

[Howler]

I have done a few crowns with a round head BRASS bolt. The round head wont cutt out of square & does a decent job.

[new snake owner]

So I got my hands on a couple of high grade stocks for my model 70 and needed to open the barrel channel to fit a my 375.  Borrowed a barrel channel rasp from a buddy and went to work.  I got a fair amount of the way there and couldn't get it to be as smooth and the top corners as sharp as I would like so..... i looked around the garage and saw an old alum. tent pole in the corner and said " hey thats about the right diameter" picked it up took out the mic and found that it was about a 10th to small no problem DUCT TAPE.  I now have a barrel channel that fits like a glove. BTW I found that if you bend the last couple of inches at 90 it works like a 2.5' plane with a piece of 120 wrapped arround it and the tape holds the sand paper from slipping.

[PaulS]

I have used hardwood dowels to finish the barrel channel but never made one that was permanent enough to have a handle - good thought to use metal conduit or an old tent pole. I may have some work to do. I wonder how many other tools have been made by those just lurking in the background. C'mon... share with us!

PaulS

[shootingpaul]

I used a round stick about 1/2 in diameter, and stapled sand paper to it, an dused it to free float barrel in the stock.
by th eway ---- back yard modifications----..... I had a Brune mod 4 with 29" barrel, a frien d of mine offered to cut it for me and recrown... here comes the kicker.... he cut it with a saw - was not square - so he used a square and a file and try to ---- get it squeare, then he took a stone put it in the drill and made a crown ( I dont know what angle was on that stone), when he told me that my eyes just opened widly and I was speechless.........   here comes another kicker....
He tells me to go and try it out and if it does not shoot then he gonna redo it, so there I go to the range bench it and ........... 1 1/4 inch at 100 meteres with T-22!!! HEY I am not KIDDING!!,  this Bruno is a really shooter it will shoot most target stuff within 1 to 1 1/2 inch at a 100meters,
I told the story to another friend and he did not believe, then I showed him the finish (finish is a great overstatement) product - he laughted until tears were comming out...........
Bottom line is that the barel is not square yet, you can see it and the crown... I just leave it to your imagination...

[Toolpush]

Every body that laughs at this owes me a nickle every time they laugh! :-D  :-D  :-D

When I was a kid I read in the Herter's catalog about glass bedding.  From what I was learning about rifles It made good sense to me. Good uniform contact around the wood metal fit. When I got to the old age of 16 I traded for my first 264 Win Mag. The thing shot pie plate size groups!  :oops:  My kid brother and I rounded up all the melt glue we could find. You know the stuff that you attach arrow points with.  :roll: I don't think the hot glue gun had been invented yet for the general populace. We got my mothers ash tray that looked like a miniature iron skillet cleaned it out real shinny with Commet and steel wool.  I removed the action from the wood and found a hump of wood where the barrel and the action meet and a lot of shavings that had been varnished over. I took my first lesson in how shoddy that Savage was makin guns in those days. I took out an old timer pocket knife and removed the hump. Sandpapered the barrel channel out. I remember sandpapering enough out so that the glue would not be too thin.

Now I should had stopped right there and screwed things back together. But I had already made up my mind! (yep I was a headstrong fellow)

We heated the glue on Mother's stove in her ash tray. (Heck no she wasn't home. She'd had not stood still for what us boys were doin on her stove. Nevermind the rifle!) I was smart enough to coat the barrel with Crisco shorting. Little Brother poured the molten glue down the barrel channel while I held the stock and the action ready to  hand press the action into the stock. With the rifle pressed together, Kid brother and I stood there in the kitchen lookin at each other letting the witches brew cool.  He was 4 years younger than I.  I ask him you think we ought to pull it apart yet?  He thought we should wait a bit more. But I didn't think so. I gave it a small tug. UT OH! :eek:  I showered down on it! POP as I broke the action free from the stock!  Time for the old timer again to trim off the excess glue and to clean out the screw holes. Put the rifle back together and to the dirt pit we went. All of a sudden I had a rifle that would shoot quarter size groups with factory shells! That was my first stab at home smithing and I haven't quit yet. Although I do try to use higher grade materials these days.

That evening my dad thought I took a h377 of a chance in ruining the rifle. To which I answered that it wasn't worth much as it was to me, shooting pie plate size groups.  He couldn't argue with that.  

[Toolpush]

Every body that laughs at this owes me a nickle every time they laugh! :-D  :-D  :-D

When I was a kid I read in the Herter's catalog about glass bedding.  From what I was learning about rifles It made good sense to me. Good uniform contact around the wood metal fit. When I got to the old age of 16 I traded for my first 264 Win Mag. The thing shot pie plate size groups!  :oops:  My kid brother and I rounded up all the melt glue we could find. You know the stuff that you attach arrow points with.  :roll: I don't think the hot glue gun had been invented yet for the general populace. We got my mothers ash tray that looked like a miniature iron skillet cleaned it out real shinny with Commet and steel wool.  I removed the action from the wood and found a hump of wood where the barrel and the action meet and a lot of shavings that had been varnished over. I took my first lesson in how shoddy that Savage was makin guns in those days. I took out an old timer pocket knife and removed the hump. Sandpapered the barrel channel out. I remember sandpapering enough out so that the glue would not be too thin.

Now I should had stopped right there and screwed things back together. But I had already made up my mind! (yep I was a headstrong fellow)

We heated the glue on Mother's stove in her ash tray. (Heck no she wasn't home. She'd had not stood still for what us boys were doin on her stove. Nevermind the rifle!) I was smart enough to coat the barrel with Crisco shorting. Little Brother poured the molten glue down the barrel channel while I held the stock and the action ready to  hand press the action into the stock. With the rifle pressed together, Kid brother and I stood there in the kitchen lookin at each other letting the witches brew cool.  He was 4 years younger than I.  I ask him you think we ought to pull it apart yet?  He thought we should wait a bit more. But I didn't think so. I gave it a small tug. UT OH! :eek:  I showered down on it! POP as I broke the action free from the stock!  Time for the old timer again to trim off the excess glue and to clean out the screw holes. Put the rifle back together and to the dirt pit we went. All of a sudden I had a rifle that would shoot quarter size groups with factory shells! That was my first stab at home smithing and I haven't quit yet. Although I do try to use higher grade materials these days.

That evening my dad thought I took a h377 of a chance in ruining the rifle. To which I answered that it wasn't worth much as it was to me, shooting pie plate size groups.  He couldn't argue with that.