Today is April 15th, which the Feddle Gummint refers to as “Tax Deadline Day”, but which Real Murkins refer to as “Buy-A-Gun Day” (hence the title of this post).
I haven’t made up my mind yet, but it’ll be something small and concealable, with no paper trail. (And therefore will not appear on these pages, sorry.) I invite my Readers Of Similar Persuasion to do the same.
Feel free, however, to be like the guy who embraced the concept fully*:
But if you feel that you have enough guns (okay, you can all stop laughing now), feel free to lay in some canned goods instead:
(That’s not Ye Olde Ammoe Locquer, by the way, but it’s not far off.)
*My only quibble: way too much plastic in there.
Well, Kim…
I had to buy it two days early, but bought it I did.
Do you remember your first visit to Collector’s Firearms, along with your clan, Doc Russia n’ me, ’bout ’04 of thereabouts? Mike Clark, the owner had brought out a Mauser ’88 Commission Rifle, which was once owned by Kaiser Wilhelm III, all engraved n’ inlaid and such. No price tag, but he equated it to paying off a substantial mortgage in value.
Then, he brought down from the wall, a pristine Norwegian Krag Carbine in 6.5×55 Swedish Mauser. Price on that one was a much more “achievable” $2,700.
At present, I’m down in Orlando, clearing out the estate of my late Step Mom, who’d passed in January. Getting the car cleaned, I noticed a wee gunn shoppe next door to the car wash, so over there I went.
Snagged a thoroughly original, unaltered metal Norwegian Krag, original 6.5 Swede chambering, but in a very nice Bishop gunstock. The bore is simply… perfect. It is now en-route to my local FFL in Galveston County, TX.
I did *not* pay $2,700.
Yes, they priced it like an “average” .30-40 Krag Springfield, and it’s “oops them, yay me!”.
*gloats* *happy dance*
Happy BAG Day!
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Jealous.
It’s build a gun day here at Chez TwoDogs. Work continues apace on my first 80% lower AR-15 build. Fire control pins and safety holes are drilled, roughout drilling of the fire control pocket is done. Time to chuck up an end mill and get to making chips. Hope to have it ready for a match on Saturday.
That’s what I need to get going on – an 80% lower. When I have the confidence of a completed and working model, then 10 more. I’m bothered that my self built AR from 2 years ago has a numbered lower.
Well, crap. That didn’t go like I wanted it to at all. The end mill was a lot grabbier than the drill bits and wound up yanking the chuck off the taper several times. I have a couple of friends with actual milling machines and may wind up hitting them up. Poor boying it with a drill press and XY vise approaches diminishing returns. This may be the most expensive lower ever. Stuff I’ve bought just to do this – three carbide end mills, drill index set, XY vise, Drill and milling jig and other miscellaneous stuff. I’d be way ahead at this point to have just bought three stripped lowers.
OK, don’t get distracted with the obstacle. I’d like to learn something from this for I don’t have the financial horsepower to purchase a machine shop.
Why did the chuck move (yanking it off the taper)?
You said you used an XY vise, and I’ll assume you had the drill press locked, so how could anything move?
Let me make a few more assumptions?
You had the bit too deep, and therefore more likely to grab? You advanced the bit too fast, causing more friction?
Can you fix what was damaged?
I have a little machine shop experience but I am a woodworker and so are my machines. But I believe I can do mild metal work with them if I am very careful. Until my assumptions prove me wrong, which happens some times.
I have pretty extensive experience with CNC mills and a bit with lathes. If I had access to my old workplace I could knock this out with no sweat. The main problem with milling on a drill press is side loading the chuck which is not intended for that sort of use, so my planned workaround was to plunge cut as much as possible since that’s what a drill press is for. That is what I was doing at the time – plunge cutting the web between drilled roughing holes. It was going OK for a while but it grabbed every so often and finally one of the grabs yanked the chuck loose. I don’t know if the whole setup is not rigid enough or what, but there doesn’t appear to be any damage. I’ll try to remount and go at it more gingerly.
And I’m with you on $275 for a $50 lower being overkill, but hey, if you’re going to do ten that’d amortize out. I’ve seen video of that rig in operation and it’s darn slick.
I don’t know where your reply button went so I’ll reply here. OK, I get a picture of what you described and can see it clearly. Drilling out the webs. I too have wondered about the junction where the vertical shaft that supports the head of the drill press would hold up or if it might get jerked loose. I went back and spent more time on the link albertosaurus posted and you’re right, spread out over 10 or more lowers drops the cost per. Plus, I can use my router instead of drill press. I’ll have to ponder this further. Thanks for your input and good lucj with that lower, hope it works out.
https://www.5dtactical.com/multiplatform-80-lower-jig-s/154.htm
Genuinely factory-grade results.
I don’t know man, a $260 jig to do an $50 lower?
I’m not sure there’s any cost effective way to do just one. But if you’re planning to do multiple, it makes sense. Still cheaper (and better, IMHO) than a Ghost Gunner.
I anticipated BAG day by a week, but made up for it by buying TWO guns. One of which was a P225.
No guns, 6,000 rounds was delivered on BAG Day. The new Independence Day.
6K rounds. Mmmmm….. I got 10K in last month and walked around with wood for a week.
I went at it for a while longer today and managed to keep the chuck in place. What seems to me to be happening is chip loading. I’ve mounted a dial indicator on the rig so I can precisely index for the next plunge and have tried a .005 and .010 index so far. What happens is that it goes along smoothly at a very slow down feed rate until at some point it starts vibrating vigorously. Backing the tool out stops the vibration and allows feeding back in. Sort of peck drilling but no real visible chips like you get with a drill bit. The chips it is making are very fine – just a step above what I’d call filings.
GS – if you’d like to continue this in private – anyone else out there is welcome too – email me at (caps only make up the address) : GbbbAwqqRvvYLfjfjHbmrI(thats an India, not lowercase Lima)sbwN;;aavE at gmail.com.