My Wood Rail Gun Project

[jackieschmidt]

A year or so ago, I said I had the urge to build an all wood top for my rail gun. It’s just something I always wanted to do.

So I went over to Hardwoods of Houston and bought a big plank of walnut. I am more more less making it the exact shape as my aluminum top, just a lot thicker. The chrome guide rails are just like before.

I have all of the machine work done, and it’s mocked up. The next step is to sand it and give it a TruOil finish.

It’s not often you see gun work being done on a #5. Locus Boring Mill.

I still have to time the rails so it tracks dead on, then everything will be bedded so it stays in place. That will be done at the range.

I’m not totally insane, but probably need to be watched closely

 

[ricco1949]

I like it but that wood barrel block looks kinda iffy.....

You gonna bed the barrel in the block? Looks like it could qualify for a glue and screw.

 

[Fuj]

Don't mess with the Tru Oil. Get Bcz on it.

As for your insanity quip ?? Always thought you were a long lost brother....LOL

 

[BartsBullets]

Damn Jackie! That Looks like what Fred Flintstone would shoot if he had a railgun!
Bart

 

[jimmymac]

Damn Jackie! That Looks like what Paul Bunyan would shoot if he had a railgun!
Bart

Fixed it for you Bart.

You are a creative guy Jackie. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ggmac]

Much less vibration, for sure . Beautiful work as always. I really would like to know more about the car on the lift !

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I was waiting for you to get around to this. I'm going to be real interested in how it shoots

 

[urbanrifleman]

Monster.

 

[AlNyhus]

Jackie, it will be interesting to hear about the vibration dampening. Thanks for sharing this. Your brain is always engaged....a good German trait.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[Silo1616]

This could be a pretty deep "rabbit hole" you've headed down Jackie. Finding and maintaining the optimum pressure for the barrel block -

 

[ISS]

This is wonderful. Keep us up to date.

 

[Skedaddle Shooter]

Hey Jackie,

Very cool, you’re kind of a mad scientist type a guy. I love that! I have been building a few stocks lately and have been using Rubio Monocoat in the Pure color. It is there version of natural. It is a catalyzed hard wax and was created for single coat hardwood floors. They also use it on furniture. It is more durable than true oil. You can get a little sample bottle to try if you are interested. I top it with their Sheen Plus product and a ceramic hard coat for a little more sheen. Here a stock I just finished. It gives you a hand rubbed oil appearance. Can’t wait to see yours finished and shooting.

 

[hdskip]

I love it Jackie! Not only thinking outside the box but you burnt the box too!

 

[Walt Krafft]

Look what you have done! Every top in the country will need to be replaced with a wood one!!

 

[Cloudrepair]

I used to run one of those boring mills. With 6'x4' table . Nice work

 

[jackieschmidt]

I will probably modify the barrel block. I have plenty of wood. I am thinking of a round clamping surface with just a single split and just enough clamping force to keep the barrel from shifting.

I want to have the least amount of pressure, or influence, on the barrel as possible. I started mounting the scope on the action instead of rail top several years ago, so the stability of the scope if mounted away from the barreled action won’t be a problem. On my aluminum top, I lap the barrel in the V Block and use a light clamp, around 30 inch pounds. I played with barrel clamping force a lot, and found the lightest you could go without having the barrel shift in the block gave the best results.

I thought about not even using a barrel block, , just bedding and mounting the barreled action directly to the top. But I do not have a large action to support the 1.450 barrel,(it’s a Neuvo), at this time. The ideal set up would be a big Kelbly Polar for that type of mount, but that’s just wishful thinking.

Heck, About all I use my Rail for now is bullet testing, and just having fun. So if this proves to be a failure, I can just put the barreled action back into the aluminum top.

 

[DShortt]

I will probably modify the barrel block. I have plenty of wood. I am thinking of a round clamping surface with just a single split and just enough clamping force to keep the barrel from shifting.

I want to have the least amount of pressure, or influence, on the barrel as possible. I started mounting the scope on the action instead of rail top several years ago, so the stability of the scope if mounted away from the barreled action won’t be a problem. On my aluminum top, I lap the barrel in the V Block and use a light clamp, around 30 inch pounds. I played with barrel clamping force a lot, and found the lightest you could go without having the barrel shift in the block gave the best results.

I thought about not even using a barrel block, , just bedding and mounting the barreled action directly to the top. But I do not have a large action to support the 1.450 barrel,(it’s a Neuvo), at this time. The ideal set up would be a big Kelbly Polar for that type of mount, but that’s just wishful thinking.

Heck, About all I use my Rail for now is bullet testing, and just having fun. So if this proves to be a failure, I can just put the barreled action back into the aluminum top.

I'll never venture this particular road, but I appreciate your posting your experiences and looking forward to how it plays out.

Anyone can learn something anywhere from anyone, if they watch and listen.

 

[jackieschmidt]

I made a round clamp style block yesterday, I bored it to where it fits a 1.450 barrel.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Another way is to just have the bottom half of the block and glue the barrel right to it. Thats how I would do it with a wood block.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Another way is to just have the bottom half of the block and glue the barrel right to it. Thats how I would do it with a wood block.

Alex, years ago, I tried that with an aluminum block, not wood. It was about 7 inches long too.

I glued the barrel into the 1/2 block with JB. At the range, after about 5 shots, it stated climbing vertical. A lot.

We figured that with just a little heat, the top part expanded at a different rate than the bottom that was held securely in the aluminum block.

That was one of my experiments that did not go as planned.

Wood might be different as it has flexibility that aluminum did not.