Inletting for Trigger ~ Stolle Swindelhurst w/ Anschutz Trigger Assembly

June 10, 2010


Scope Rail and Rings for Smallbore and Long Range Rifle – Unfinished Prototype

April 6, 2010

This has been one of my chief rants over the last couple of years… that the advent of the new rails and rings, which are actually pretty high quality, add so much height to the shooting position, that when you go from your iron sights to your scope you have to raise the cheekpiece 1/4″ to 3/8″.  On this project I set out to make the scope at the same height as my iron sights.  One of the things that I discovered is that when you order a set of rings (that they call low rings now) are the same height as an old set of Weaver rings.  You think you’re getting low rings and they are actually high rings.  The whole affair ends up that you have an extremely high cheekpiece when you get done.  After arguing with the parts for 2 years, I decided to build a prototype for myself to see if it could be done, and still end up with a set of workable, reliable, repeatable rings that ended up the same height as the iron sights.  I think this whole problem developed over having rings and bases to satisfy the tactical shooters.  I appreciate the precision and the quality of rings that are being made for tactical rifles, but what you lose  is the ability to shoot a prone rifle in a comfortable position.  Or maybe I’m just getting to be a cranky old fart….





F-Class TR Stock Finished

March 1, 2010

This is a right hand stock with a left handed action.


Surface Grinder

February 21, 2010

This machine is really handy to fix recoil lugs that have been overtightened, and also truing parts that need grinding.  This is part of the equipment that was once owned by George Mitchell (Mitchell movie camera and Panavision).


Mike C – Walnut Rifle – More Final Pics

February 5, 2010

Doan is at the match in Phoenix this weekend, so I’m just finishing up some final pics.

~Sue


Quick Disconnect Cheek Piece with Magnet for TR and F-Class Rifle

January 29, 2010

Inletting and Bedding ~ Barnard F-Class Rifle

January 28, 2010


Bedding Block and Recoil Lug ~ Barnard F-Class Rifle

January 27, 2010

Typically, the Barnard action is bedded with either a round screw in the center of the action, or a square bedding block in the middle screw on the action.  Since this is an F-Class rifle with a heavy barrel, I made a recoil lug to fit the slot in the bottom of the action so that I could use the middle screw as another action screw.  I also enlarged the length of the bedding block.


Setting up for Inletting – Walnut Rifle Stock

December 20, 2009

Start of inletting and leveling stock in milling machine

Nice figuring in this wood

Setting up the stock for inletting


Bedding Action ~ Veterans Palma Raffle Rifle

November 6, 2009

Bedding Action Veterans 09


Bedding Compound

November 5, 2009

Bedding Compound


Placing Action in Inletting ~ Veterans Palma Raffle Rifle

November 4, 2009

Placing Action in Inletting  Veterans 09


Inletting – Veterans Palma Raffle Rifle

October 31, 2009

Inletting Veterans 09


Modifying a Composite Stock

October 25, 2009

This is a H&H Ian Robertson stock that I modified the pistol grip on to match the owner’s wooden stocks that I have done in the past that were Culbertson patterns with a slightly larger pistol grip.  I modified the grip to make it larger, matched the color and the silver pattern, installed butt plates, removeable cheek piece, bedding for a Barnard action, and made the trigger guard.  The stock is a composite stock – from time to time I do work on composite stocks, although most of my stock work is with wood.  Working with composite materials stems from when I spent years building custom motorcycles – show bikes.

Composite stock IMG_3951


Moving………. Part 1 … Pratt & Whitney Lathe

February 7, 2009

Moving under any circumstances is difficult…… moving an entire machine shop without heavy equipment machinery movers is an undertaking.  Sue and I are relocating to Albuquerque, NM  - so far we have three pods (one and a half already loaded)  and will probably need a 26 ft. truck.  The pods are necessary because they can be loaded at ground level -a requirement when you’re moving a 3200# lathe by hand.  Yesterday Ray Del Rio and Gary Elisio’s son Jeremy (dad was in Phoenix this weekend shooting) helped move the lathe.  This is why I’m not in Phoenix this weekend. Today Mike Tuck helped secure the lathe to the inside of the pod and move lots of other stuff.  Any able bodies in  Southern California are more than welcome to join the fun!