On 11 Apr 2010 05:43:16 GMT, "RAM³"
wrote:

Don Foreman wrote in
:

On Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:27:57 -0400, Wes wrote:

Today, I thought I'd make the rear barrel plate for my gatlingun.
Simple round disk with an array of 10 threaded holes, a central hole
for a hex bushing and a dowel pin hole at 12 o'clock.

Easiest way to do this looks like I bolt the round plate to a chunk of
flat stock and hold the flat stock in my mill vise. I look around and
find a 3/8 NC cap screw. Okay, I'll use that with a washer to hold
the plate down. Grab the tap stand, what is a 1/8 NPT tap doing in
the 3/8 NF hole?

Okay, I'll look for another bolt. Didn't find another bolt but I did
find some 1/2 NC threaded rod. Sweet. Back to the tap stand, there
is a 5/8 NC tap in the hole for the 1/2 NC tap. I have a feeling this
isn't going to be my day.

Rummage around some more, I find what I think is a 1/2-20 bolt, that
would be good enough. Check the tap stand, hey, I got a 1/2 NF tap!
Check bolt to tap to see if pitch is same. Match.

Drill and tap hole. Bolt falls into hole. ???? Look at tap stand and
see there is such a thing as a 7/16-20 fastener and by Jove I have a
tap for it. I put tapped hole on other side of plate.

Now we are cooking but I'm worrying that with a washer to bridge the
9/16" hole in my plate, I might not have enough thread engagement
since the bolt I have is rather short. One more trip to the junk box I
found the 7/16-20 bolt in and I find a FHSC in 7/16-20. That works
really well, the head centers my plate rather well over the center of
the tapped hole.

Indicate the barrel plate to find center, calculate x-y's of the 10
threaded holes and plug away with spot drilling, drilling, chamfering
and then tapping.

Unfortunately, on hole #10 I let the tap I was using go in too deep
while power tapping with the Bridgeport and the quill hit the quill
stop and started to lift once side of the flat stock I was using
causing a crooked hole.

Good thing I bought extra stock. I'm going to need it.

Wes

Bummer, that eau chitte moment after some investment in labor.

I am attempting to do stress-free pillar bedding of a rifle. I've
never done it before so I'm going *very* slowly. I think I'm ready
for final goo (epoxy) but I won't do that until I've slept on it. I'd
really prefer not to have this be an oopsie. It's not an expensive
rifle but I'd still like to get it right.

Traditional goo has been acraglass, but I'm using Devcon 10110. Fitch
and I call it d22 because 10110 in binary is 22 in decimal.
(b10110=d22) It's very dense steel-filled epoxy used and advocated by
a guy who beds a lot of competition benchrest rifles.

I'm hoping to get below half-MOA (minute of arc) accuracy, i.e.
groups shot from 100 yards with max center-to-center distance of under
half an inch from this rifle. The rifle is a Savage "package rifle",
an inexpensive "consumer" off-the-rack rifle in .243. It's a sporter,
not a benchrest rifle, but it's been a shooter as found so I really
hope with some pucker that I improve it rather than screwing it up.

http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/models/

Yikes! I don't know if they're getting MSRP for these, but I paid
about half that for mine about 3 years ago, brand new, at the General
Store in Osakis MN.
http://tinyurl.com/yckr3g8

The scope was a cheap Simmons, long since replaced. Not knocking the
Savage package rifle concept, it's an excellent value. The rifle as
found with the Simmons 3-9x scope had more than sufficient accuracy
for 90% of deerhunters shooting from a tree stand. Most deer in MN
are taken at ranges of well under 100 yards.

More when (if) I can get it apart after the goo cures, get it
reassembled correctly, get the scope re-mounted and re-zeroed and see
how it shoots. It shot about 1 MOA before with 70 gn bullets, didn't
do as well with 100 gn because the rifling isn't quite steep enough to
be optimal for 100 gn. I don't care, 70 gn is ample for target and
varmints. I'd use a heavier caliber if I hunted deer.

If this turns out well then my next project will be my .22-250.



Be advised that many Savage rifles are most accurate when the barrel is
free-floated.

My (now "ancient" @ 30 years old) 110DL .30/06 was lucky to get 1.5 MOA
from the box but, having floated the barrel, it'll provide me with 1-hole
5-round 100-yd groups if I'm doing my part of the work.

Earlier I'd had a 110MDL in .264 Win. Mag. that had given similar
results. (It was stolen from my apartment. 8-{ )

Be sure that the action, itself, is snug but be prepared to sand out the
barrel channel. (A sheet of carbon paper makes both a good marker AND a
good gauge.)

I was careful to do that. No part of the barrel now touches the stock.