LongRiflesinc
Program it like ya' stole it!
I don't get to frequent this forum very often so I thought this might be a neat thing to share.
I recently completed a little rimfire BR gun for a gent down in NE. We had some fun with this little bugger. It's a Stolle Swindlehurst action, Kreiger barrel, McMillan Edge BR stock, Jewel trigger, Kelby rings, and some odds/ends of my own creation rimfire bag gun.
Here's a little picture book of how it all came about.
Base components:
Action-
Stock-
Onto the fun stuff:
Barrel work. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the original pictures of the actual barrel being fitted, so these are just some pics showing the general process. I use a slant bed CNC turning center with a 16C collet closure. It's a Dunham product that still allows a guy to indicate a bore in just like a 4 jaw chuck. Doing it this way gives me a whole bunch of contact with the barrel which makes for a pretty solid way to hold the work.
Getting the stock ready for bedding:
It starts with making a surface model of the action in the computer. From there I write the tool path and once proofed out in a chunk of 2X4 I fix up the stock in my inletting fixture. Here's the stock being leveled to the work plane and tool height offset.
Now onto chewing out the inlet. This is all done on a 4axis CNC milling center.
Once done I verify my work and ensure the BA actually fits in the stock the way I want it to.
With the preliminary machine work out of the way we move onto bedding. Here she sits as the epoxy does its thing.
I added some carbon fiber the stock to stiffen things up a bit. Here's that portion, pulling the action after the bedding had cured, and the final cleanup of everything.
Now onto more machine work. We decided to "go loud" with this rifle. Wild paint, flames, etc so I figured it needed a buttplate to match. I started out with some hand drawn flame patterns done by a buddy who does a little late nite body "inkin" on the side. From there I figured out a way to import the image, scale it, and project it down onto my 3D surface model of the buttplate. Then it was a matter of generating code, selecting the right tools, loading the part, and lettin her rip.
After some preliminary assembly and testing I got it all ready for paint. Base is a House of Color product called "Cobalt Blue". Flames were pinstriped by hand in a smurf blue. I was apprehensive at first about the pinstripe color but it really worked out. This is before the clear coat's been applied.
And the final product after clear, about 3 hours of color sanding with 2500 to grind out the orange peel, and another couple hours of hand buffing with some Meguirar's products.
Performance. The day I tested was quite pleasant. I didn't have a great deal of options when it came to ammunition so I went to Cabellas (Rapid City SD) and bought some of the relabled Eley black box stuff. I shot at 100 yards at the Spearfish canyon range. My groups hovered in the half inch range for both elevation and windage. The last 25 yards to the tgt can represent some challenging wind as it likes to whip around down there due to the way the trees and impact area are arranged.
Still a barely sub half minute rimfire behind my fumbling hands (I am NOT a good bag shooter) in a brand new gun with a randomly picked box of ammunition is a good sign.
As for the owner, I'll let him speak for himself. He's an accomplished BR guy with his own indoor range on his property.
Hey Chad,
She arrived safe and sound!
To say I'm impressed with the work would be an understatement. She looks great!
I got her scoped, grabbed a box of ammo, and cleaned the cobwebs outta the bore with 10 x 5-shot groups in my tunnel. I averaged 0.266" for the 10 groups and I'm confident I'll do much better with some lot testing and a little tweaking of my rest system. Very encouraging after just a quick stretching of her legs!
Thanks for looking!
All the best,
Chad Dixon
I recently completed a little rimfire BR gun for a gent down in NE. We had some fun with this little bugger. It's a Stolle Swindlehurst action, Kreiger barrel, McMillan Edge BR stock, Jewel trigger, Kelby rings, and some odds/ends of my own creation rimfire bag gun.
Here's a little picture book of how it all came about.
Base components:
Action-
Stock-
Onto the fun stuff:
Barrel work. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the original pictures of the actual barrel being fitted, so these are just some pics showing the general process. I use a slant bed CNC turning center with a 16C collet closure. It's a Dunham product that still allows a guy to indicate a bore in just like a 4 jaw chuck. Doing it this way gives me a whole bunch of contact with the barrel which makes for a pretty solid way to hold the work.
Getting the stock ready for bedding:
It starts with making a surface model of the action in the computer. From there I write the tool path and once proofed out in a chunk of 2X4 I fix up the stock in my inletting fixture. Here's the stock being leveled to the work plane and tool height offset.
Now onto chewing out the inlet. This is all done on a 4axis CNC milling center.
Once done I verify my work and ensure the BA actually fits in the stock the way I want it to.
With the preliminary machine work out of the way we move onto bedding. Here she sits as the epoxy does its thing.
I added some carbon fiber the stock to stiffen things up a bit. Here's that portion, pulling the action after the bedding had cured, and the final cleanup of everything.
Now onto more machine work. We decided to "go loud" with this rifle. Wild paint, flames, etc so I figured it needed a buttplate to match. I started out with some hand drawn flame patterns done by a buddy who does a little late nite body "inkin" on the side. From there I figured out a way to import the image, scale it, and project it down onto my 3D surface model of the buttplate. Then it was a matter of generating code, selecting the right tools, loading the part, and lettin her rip.
After some preliminary assembly and testing I got it all ready for paint. Base is a House of Color product called "Cobalt Blue". Flames were pinstriped by hand in a smurf blue. I was apprehensive at first about the pinstripe color but it really worked out. This is before the clear coat's been applied.
And the final product after clear, about 3 hours of color sanding with 2500 to grind out the orange peel, and another couple hours of hand buffing with some Meguirar's products.
Performance. The day I tested was quite pleasant. I didn't have a great deal of options when it came to ammunition so I went to Cabellas (Rapid City SD) and bought some of the relabled Eley black box stuff. I shot at 100 yards at the Spearfish canyon range. My groups hovered in the half inch range for both elevation and windage. The last 25 yards to the tgt can represent some challenging wind as it likes to whip around down there due to the way the trees and impact area are arranged.
Still a barely sub half minute rimfire behind my fumbling hands (I am NOT a good bag shooter) in a brand new gun with a randomly picked box of ammunition is a good sign.
As for the owner, I'll let him speak for himself. He's an accomplished BR guy with his own indoor range on his property.
Hey Chad,
She arrived safe and sound!
To say I'm impressed with the work would be an understatement. She looks great!
I got her scoped, grabbed a box of ammo, and cleaned the cobwebs outta the bore with 10 x 5-shot groups in my tunnel. I averaged 0.266" for the 10 groups and I'm confident I'll do much better with some lot testing and a little tweaking of my rest system. Very encouraging after just a quick stretching of her legs!
Thanks for looking!
All the best,
Chad Dixon
