LugerForum Discussion Forums - View Single Post

Dean · 04-05-2004, 11:37 PM

Status 04/05/04

Ordered a stainless "Featherweight #1" barrel from Shilen today. It will be 3-4 weeks until delivery. Looks like I am commited to this project now!

The machinist at work recommended a local metal supplier that caters to the walk-in customer. I went down there last week (Metal Supermarket in NE Philadelphia) and bought some stainless rectangle barstock. This place is wonderful. The have a large "cutoff" section (organized by metal type) where you can browse around and pay by the pound. They cater to the larger customers as well. Hard to believe you can get 30ft lengths of 4 in diameter aluminum bar.

I have begun machining out a stainless stock iron ("Stock Stainless"?). I am grateful to John Sabato for providing some accurate measurements on this item.

Presently, I have milled the block to the proper outer square dimensions. This took a while BTW, the luger iron is just over 3/4 inch thick (20mm), so I had to mill 1 inch down to 0.787". I think if I were to do it over I would have lived with .75"

I have now scribed the profile on the side and I will begin roughing out the interior. I will post some pictures of this procedure. I am performing this on the Atlas milling attachment.

I figured I'll work on the stock iron and other details while I wait for the barrel to arrive.

Oh yes, I ordered some tooling from Grizzly. They had a nice threading tool for the lathe that takes carbide inserts. Price was right for $15. They also had a 4 flute 1/4" carbide end mill that I will use for cutting the "Stock Stainless" and other parts. HHS mills work fine on the stainless, but there is much cutting to be done with the 1/4 inch mill so I figured for $8 it was money well spent.

About the stainless, I am using what I believe is one of the new 304 "free machining" types. Seems that all the manufacturers are constantly improving the recipe. This stuff cuts pretty easy.

04-05-2004, 11:37 PM	#46
Dean User Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: PA Posts: 132 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Status 04/05/04 Ordered a stainless "Featherweight #1" barrel from Shilen today. It will be 3-4 weeks until delivery. Looks like I am commited to this project now! The machinist at work recommended a local metal supplier that caters to the walk-in customer. I went down there last week (Metal Supermarket in NE Philadelphia) and bought some stainless rectangle barstock. This place is wonderful. The have a large "cutoff" section (organized by metal type) where you can browse around and pay by the pound. They cater to the larger customers as well. Hard to believe you can get 30ft lengths of 4 in diameter aluminum bar. I have begun machining out a stainless stock iron ("Stock Stainless"?). I am grateful to John Sabato for providing some accurate measurements on this item. Presently, I have milled the block to the proper outer square dimensions. This took a while BTW, the luger iron is just over 3/4 inch thick (20mm), so I had to mill 1 inch down to 0.787". I think if I were to do it over I would have lived with .75" I have now scribed the profile on the side and I will begin roughing out the interior. I will post some pictures of this procedure. I am performing this on the Atlas milling attachment. I figured I'll work on the stock iron and other details while I wait for the barrel to arrive. Oh yes, I ordered some tooling from Grizzly. They had a nice threading tool for the lathe that takes carbide inserts. Price was right for $15. They also had a 4 flute 1/4" carbide end mill that I will use for cutting the "Stock Stainless" and other parts. HHS mills work fine on the stainless, but there is much cutting to be done with the 1/4 inch mill so I figured for $8 it was money well spent. About the stainless, I am using what I believe is one of the new 304 "free machining" types. Seems that all the manufacturers are constantly improving the recipe. This stuff cuts pretty easy. __________________ Carpe Diem, Parabellum