I have a handful of things that I want to do... I have a couple of ARs in 300BLK plus a 762SDN6 for them, and I really enjoy those, but I want to see how it does in a bolt gun. I have a cheap 700ADL in .223 that I bought specifically to rebarrel to 300BLK, but I'm waiting on PTG to grind me a reamer and a go gauge.
Meanwhile, I had already ordered a shilen barrel from brownells, but I got a little carried away on the taper. It's a #7 straight taper, and it's a friggin baseball bat. It's not really appropriate for a BLK gun, so I decided to make a dedicated 30-06 bench gun out of it. I have a 700 LA off a cheapy 270 ADL that I've had lying around for ages, and I had already trued it up in some fixtures that I built:
I did that work on my big old worn-out clausing 12x36.
I've been doing some muzzle work on a couple of different guns on my little grizzly 10x22 that I converted to CNC, and it does a reasonable job, but it's size limited for doing rifle work in some situations.
While I'm waiting to rebarrel the .223, I threaded the muzzle for a suppressor mount on the CNC lathe:
I put a 9" troy handguard on my 11" AR, and I cut the barrel down and rethreaded it to snug the can right up to the handguard:
A friend of mine has a pretty nice tactical 700 .308, and I cut it down from 20 to 18" for him and threaded it for an AAC brake/mount:
In preparation for chambering the new barrel, I cut some stainless scrap on the CNC lathe to simulate turning a tenon, threading, and counterboring:
Little bit of chatter, but not too awful.
So, my little lathe has a 1" spindle bore, and I can do chamber work or muzzle work through the headstock on reasonable contour barrels of 22" or more, and I can work on a steadyrest for anything shorter. Unfortunately, that #7 that I bought is neither reasonably contoured nor short enough to work on a steadyrest. I tried to hold it in my action truing fixture, which moved the chamber end far enough away from the headstock that I was able to get that beast of a barrel through my spindle bore:
I tried to cut like that, and it wasn't nearly rigid enough. Chatter city! So, I moved it to my big lathe and cut it there. I'm using a PTG range rod and bushings, and got it dialed in to around .0002" TIR on both ends of the rod. Tenon is turned and threaded... the threads aren't as clean as my little lathe produces, because my big lathe has sloppy ways, but they're good enough! I also have the bolt nose counterbore done, and I drilled the receiver face for a recoil lug pin. The barrel is still setup in the lathe as I write this:
![url]](http://[url="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/399878_775108450002_71107655_35352520_1069079313_n.jpg"]http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-a...069079313_n.jpg[/url])
My PTG 30-06 finisher came in the mail today, but I'm waiting on a Manson floating holder from brownells.
Once I get the chamber reamed, I need to figure out what to do about a finished length and do the muzzle work. I intend to thread it for a suppressor mount. If I cut it down to 20" or less, I can do the muzzle work on my little lathe. I'm really up in the air about how long I want this barrel to be... as a dedicated bench gun, it seems like the weight would be good for velocity and recoil... However, I can really do much nicer thread work on the CNC lathe, and 18" suppressed bolt guns (like the 308 I pictured above) look really good to me...
Also, I haven't settled on a stock yet. I'd love to put it in a mcmillan A3-5 or A5, but money most certainly IS an object. I really like the B&C A3 "hook" stock that is on my buddy's 308, but they only seem to make that in short action. A B&C A2 would be good, and the price is right, but stocky's is out of stock on them. They do have the B&C A5 adjustable in stock that'd fit my gun (and even is tan w/black web which I'd like), but it's 2x the money.
Meanwhile, I had already ordered a shilen barrel from brownells, but I got a little carried away on the taper. It's a #7 straight taper, and it's a friggin baseball bat. It's not really appropriate for a BLK gun, so I decided to make a dedicated 30-06 bench gun out of it. I have a 700 LA off a cheapy 270 ADL that I've had lying around for ages, and I had already trued it up in some fixtures that I built:
I did that work on my big old worn-out clausing 12x36.
I've been doing some muzzle work on a couple of different guns on my little grizzly 10x22 that I converted to CNC, and it does a reasonable job, but it's size limited for doing rifle work in some situations.
While I'm waiting to rebarrel the .223, I threaded the muzzle for a suppressor mount on the CNC lathe:
I put a 9" troy handguard on my 11" AR, and I cut the barrel down and rethreaded it to snug the can right up to the handguard:
A friend of mine has a pretty nice tactical 700 .308, and I cut it down from 20 to 18" for him and threaded it for an AAC brake/mount:
In preparation for chambering the new barrel, I cut some stainless scrap on the CNC lathe to simulate turning a tenon, threading, and counterboring:
Little bit of chatter, but not too awful.
So, my little lathe has a 1" spindle bore, and I can do chamber work or muzzle work through the headstock on reasonable contour barrels of 22" or more, and I can work on a steadyrest for anything shorter. Unfortunately, that #7 that I bought is neither reasonably contoured nor short enough to work on a steadyrest. I tried to hold it in my action truing fixture, which moved the chamber end far enough away from the headstock that I was able to get that beast of a barrel through my spindle bore:
I tried to cut like that, and it wasn't nearly rigid enough. Chatter city! So, I moved it to my big lathe and cut it there. I'm using a PTG range rod and bushings, and got it dialed in to around .0002" TIR on both ends of the rod. Tenon is turned and threaded... the threads aren't as clean as my little lathe produces, because my big lathe has sloppy ways, but they're good enough! I also have the bolt nose counterbore done, and I drilled the receiver face for a recoil lug pin. The barrel is still setup in the lathe as I write this:
My PTG 30-06 finisher came in the mail today, but I'm waiting on a Manson floating holder from brownells.
Once I get the chamber reamed, I need to figure out what to do about a finished length and do the muzzle work. I intend to thread it for a suppressor mount. If I cut it down to 20" or less, I can do the muzzle work on my little lathe. I'm really up in the air about how long I want this barrel to be... as a dedicated bench gun, it seems like the weight would be good for velocity and recoil... However, I can really do much nicer thread work on the CNC lathe, and 18" suppressed bolt guns (like the 308 I pictured above) look really good to me...
Also, I haven't settled on a stock yet. I'd love to put it in a mcmillan A3-5 or A5, but money most certainly IS an object. I really like the B&C A3 "hook" stock that is on my buddy's 308, but they only seem to make that in short action. A B&C A2 would be good, and the price is right, but stocky's is out of stock on them. They do have the B&C A5 adjustable in stock that'd fit my gun (and even is tan w/black web which I'd like), but it's 2x the money.
