How well does that work in steel?
It'd be no different. Just a few tool changes and some speed/feed adjustments.
I chose 7075 AL just because it has all the right properties for this part and it helps "float the boat" with everyone wanting to go with lighter rifles these days.
I made quite a few departures from the old school Iron Brigade piece and the one's the Mack Bros machine for Badger. It's never been my intent to make a "period correct" version of this. I just wanted one "better" in terms of little features that help a guy when fitting to a receiver. I've installed a bunch of these bases over the years and with that experience came a small list of things I wanted to do differently.
The biggest thing here was realizing the need to revise the front lug slightly. Every single CS base I've ever installed has a full radius feature on the front lug. One needs to make these a slip fit so the recoil transmits to the receiver. What I realized is that all a guy has to do is machine the base with a small flat at the crest of the arc. When "rolling in" the base it provides the clearance for it to go together without having to beat on it. The arc feature on either side capture the action's "notch" as the two surfaces become tangent and parallel along the cylinder axis.
Once assembled, they stay put and your not loading the receiver by trying to spread it apart on the top half or introducing an load to the base that forces it to arch its back like when pet a cat.
Next, contouring the edges of the lugs where the rings attach. No more saw blades that tear up your hands, etc. Now they are machined with tangent radius features all the way down. The base still gauges the same however. Not a big deal to do, it just adds time to machining since its done with a 1/16th dia endmill. I don't ever expect to sell ####'s of these per year so the time is of no consequence. Plus, it actually saves time because we don't have to expend the work knocking edges down, deburring, etc.
Last was getting the edges finished with a machined finish. No files, no burr knives, etc. Driving a tool to break all the razor blades that'll tear you up during assy and in use.
With the exception of one edge, these come off the machine assembly ready.
I may begin to offer them in steel, but for now we're gonna stick with AL.
