Making the front sight base keyhole spanner, barrel vise inserts, and other small items.
(23) Boring a hole in a chunk of 7/16" aluminum plate.
(24) Milling the slot for ramp clearance.
(25) Spanner in use. Works great! By some stroke of luck (or divine intervention) the sight base is in exactly the right position for tightening to 12:00 position.
(26) Milling Patridge-style notch in rear sight leaf, to match squared front sight blade.
Vise inserts, made from aluminum round stock, 1 1/2" dia & 1 1/2" long.
(27) Faced insert being bored to ~.755", which is the diameter of the barrel just in front of the rear sight base.
(28) Sawing the finished vise insert in half. Cuts will be belt sanded smooth.
(29) A second vise insert is used for the front sight base, as shown in pic #25 above. An insert from another barrel project was the right size, so no other insert fabrication was required. Sight spanner, vise inserts, and receiver insert shown with torqued assembly. Bluing will be the final step.
Next will be a new, longer forearm to match this longer barrel.
(30) I have a piece of some kind of Walnut, 21" x 8" x 1 1/2". Has some defects [the X] but hey, it's what I gots.
(31) Slab has had a 1 3/4" x 9" piece cut off, decked top & bottom parallel, and barrel trench cut with a 5/8" ball end mill.
(32) Trimming ~.200" off each side. Bottom has had a similar amount milled off.
(33) Cutting the coves with a 1/2" ball end mill. Mounting holes were drilled first to hold the forearm to my mandrel/vise fixture.
Next up, I think, will be the bottom angled cut.