1902 Carbine Stock Attachment Photos...

[Dean]

Practice...practice..practice...

Yep, I'm back at it.

Before I destroy a brand new barrel I thought I'd at least pratice the threading procedure on a piece of stainless barstock.

But before I could do this I needed to get the original barrel off. Here is a picture of the frame wrench and barrel vise blocks that I made..

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/framewrench.jpg

The frame wrench was made from some 1/2" scrap brass. It was from some kind of door handle so it was plated. I was originally going to use cap head bolts, hence the machined recesses. I could not find cap head bolts long enough so I ended up using the studs & nuts you see here.

The vise blocks were made from 3/4" aluminum. I mic'd the barrel close to the frame and bored a hole in the aluminum that size. I made no effort to taper the bore to match the barrel taper. The taper is so gradual that it really does'nt make much difference. I then cut the block in half on the bandsaw.

The barrel came off easier than I thought it would. The barrel and aluminum pieces were put in the vise, and I used a large pipe wrench around the brass clamp and it cranked right off.

Next, I practiced the threading operation on some 304 stainless barstock. I've set the barstock up just as I intend to machine the actual barrel...

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/testcut.jpg

You can see that I have machined down a portion to about .71". This is what I measured on the shoulder of the original barrel.

I intend to use the live center with the real barrel. I mounted up the Shilen barrel in similar fashion and I checked the run out with the dial indicator. It was less the .005, which I feel is acceptable. I will also be supporting the barrel with the steady rest fixture (which I did not use while practicing).

You will notice in the above photo that I have the compound of the lathe set at an angle. While threading, the compound is advanced inward with each cutting pass. So it is just the left side of the bit that is doing most of the cutting. For a threading tool cut to 60 degrees, the compound is set to 29.5 degrees. For 55 degree threads, the compound is set to 27 degrees. I cut 55 degree threads. It's hard to tell what the original barrel threads are.

The results of this practice run were "satisfactory". I was able to get a good tight fit to the reciever. In fact it is a little tighter that the original, but it can still be turned by hand.

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/teston.jpg

The threads were slightly rough. I think I need take lighter passes. A more serious error I made was that I bumped the cross feed by accident. This caused me to loose registration. This happened just as I was taking the final pass. To recover I had to hunt around to get it registered again. Next time I'm going to lock the cross feed before I begin so that it can not move.

I think I am going do another test run. I think I will also drill a fake bore on this test piece so I can test the chamber reamer.

With a little luck, I may have the new barrel mounted this weekend.

Stay tuned...