Gonzo Long Barreled P08 Project

[sheepherder]

Work on my second (or is it third???) 16" barrel continues. If you've read through page one and this page up to here, then this is all a repeat of what has gone before. I have done a few things differently, and I want to preserve them for future reference, so please bear along with me...

(23) Cutting the rear of the forearm. I've cut the 'scallops' so that they will recoil over the frame ~3/8". It makes the forearm wider, but the side profile will be similar.
(24) Now that the forearm has been fitted to the barrel and inletted to clear the frame, I need to locate where I will cut the dovetail for the forearm lug. To do that, I need to finish off the chamber and fasten the barrel to the receiver for the last time. Here I'm chambering it for 7.65 Parabellum.
(25) Cutting the feed ramp.
(26) Cutting the extractor notch. I use two Woodruff keyway cutters, and smooth the interior corners with a triangular file.



The barrel has now been screwed into the receiver and torqued to place the rear sight at exactly 12 o'clock relative to the extractor notch/feed ramp.

Next will be locating the screw holes in the forearm and then milling out a slot in the barrel for the dovetailed lug.

(27) Milling the slot for the brass inlay.
(28) Side-milling the bottom of the forearm; final cut.
(29 & 30) Milling a flat for the forearm attachment lug, and milling the ends for a 60º dovetail.



I'll make the lug next, with a 60º chamfer on each end for a ~2 1/8" long x 3/8" wide dovetailed lug.

(31) Milling the lug with a 60º cutter.
(32) Forearm lug drilled & tapped for attaching screws.
(33) Side milling the forearm taper.
(34) Milling the brass inlay for the forearm.



The barrel is completed. I'll fine sand the barrel itself to make it shinier. Rest of the remaining work will be on the forearm wood and the brass inlay.

Woodworking - I hate it. I hate sanding. So most of my woodworking will be done with metalworking tools.

(35) Using a corner-rounding end mill to round the bottom of the forearm.
(36) Using a tapered burr to relieve the top of the forearm.
(37) I'm rounding the tip of the forearm on my belt sander. I've left this to last because in the previous forearms, I've chipped the curl when milling the sides first. I had to make a wedge-shaped jig to hold the forearm square with the belt. Next, the part I hate - finish sanding the wood to minimize tool marks.
(38) This shot is to show the assembled barrel & forearm in battery and under recoil. You can see that the fixed forearm, with its carbine profile, recoils past the trigger guard. I had wondered if this would pinch the shooters trigger finger, but unless the shooter has fat sausage fingers, it doesn't hit the finger. In fact, I couldn't release the trigger quickly enough to even be close to the forearm tang.



That pretty much wraps it up for the fixed forearm and long barrel. The barrel will go out for bluing, and I'll put a couple coats of BLO on the forearm. The brass inlay also needs a couple thin cuts to make it level with the forearm.

Originally, I had worried that I would need to screw the dovetailed lug to the barrel so it wouldn't come loose. It has to be removable, as the rear sight needs to move past it on assembly. But while fitting the forearm wood to the barrel, I realized that the dovetail lug holds the forearm tight to the barrel and the sides of the forearm hold the dovetail lug from moving. It's a non-problem.

Here's a couple pics showing the completed barrel/forearm combination, with and without frame assembly.





I'll replace those pics with the 'finished' pics when the barrel comes back from being blued. Hopefully, I can take the pics outside.

[sheepherder]

Cleaning up some of the odd operations that remain.

(39) Milling the brass attachment inlay flush with the forearm. I'm actually milling it down to ~.004" from the surrounding wood. There is a .004" shim under the brass inlay.
(40) Heavy coat of BLO applied to the wood. Let soak in for 10 minutes, wipe off excess, and let dry. Another coat in an hour or so. Objects in foreground are the dovetailed steel lug, brass inlay, brass screws, and that .004" shim.



Here's two additional pics. I was trying to show how the fat barrel-mounted forearm is wider than the lug/frame mounted forearm.

This last 16" barrel and forearm was just an exercise. I don't expect it to win any beauty contests. I just wanted to see how it would look, and if it could mimic the profile/look of a 'traditional' carbine.

[sheepherder]

I got my faux 'carbine' barrel assembly back from the refinisher; it looks good!

Forearm is about as done as it's going to get. Everything has been assembled and function-tested, no problems.

To reiterate - The forearm mounts on the barrel and recoils over the frame. That makes it fatter than a 'real' carbine forearm, but the profile is similar. No modifications to Luger frame necessary.

Here's the finished product -

(41) Finished barrel assembly; blued, chambered for 7.65 Parabellum, notched, ramped, dovetailed, drilled & tapped. Swedish Mauser rifle rear sight, custom front. Original toggle mounted rear sight is lower than Mauser so it does not interfere with new sight picture. Swedish Mauser sight graduated to 1600 meters. It'd be like lobbing a baseball.



(42) Closeup of top & underside of forearm and installed dovetail lug, plus mounting screws. Like all Luger carbines, forearm must be removed to disassemble the pistol. The difference is that my forearms are screw-mounted instead of a tapered wedge.



(43) Closeups of Mauser sight up & down; front sight; and rear views showing hollowed-out wood.



(44) Static and cycled pic of faux assembly mounted on a 1937 Mauser Luger w/Erfurt toggle assembly. Side profile still resembles a 'real' Luger carbine but does not require any modifications to the frame for the forearm.



(45) View showing barrel & toggle train in full recoil. My finger is in no danger of being pinched. I'm 5'11" 195 lbs. If you had fat sausage fingers you might draw blood, but an average shooter won't get bitten.



That does it for my assortment of Gonzo long barrel Luger 'carbines'. Very interesting conversions and very informative to me as far as 'designing' and creating. This thread is too long and takes too long to load, so anything further will go into a new thread.

(Side view of dovetail lug added).