<span style="font-weight: bold">Robert Gradous Gunsmithing Class </span>
Complete Review Here …
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-xLtkJCsAm8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<span style="font-style: italic">Excerpts</span>
The first time I heard of Robert Gradous was through well-known writer Jacob Gottfredson, the next time it would be through Jim from Nightforce. Both suggested I explore his Gunsmithing Class where you actually build your own precision rifle inside of a week. You read that right, a custom rifle in less than a week, Sounds too good to be true, That’s what I thought so after finally getting a break in my schedule I called Robert and set a date.
The initial consultation was simple, Robert’s attitude was, this was about having fun and there was no Voodoo or Root Oil involved, just simple methods put into practice. Come down, he has a cottage to stay in on site and that world famous Southern Hospitality would be the order of the week. Believe me there is no ego involved here.
We easily spent the first hour lining the barrel up in the lathe. Making sure we were not stressing it in anyway, testing the run-out near and far. With each step Robert gave me the pros and cons of each action I took as well as the choices that were going to be needed. I really liked the fact that when it came time to thread the barrel Robert took the time to explain the threading process as well as the two different types available to me. At each point it was my job to set the tool, which he double checked my work and then, at the critical moment I practiced it dry off the barrel until I felt ready to roll. When it came to threading I choose the standard 60 degree threads. We talked about doing spiral lock threads, I had been practicing the threading process at least 20x before taking a cut, and I just thought the spiral lock was a little over my pay grade. I am sure I could have done it, especially with Robert over my shoulder, still I had to ask myself, did I need them? Not really, but knowing the choice was there was great.
We spent the better part of the day working the barrel. I feel this is a critical component and seeing the attention to detail in Robert’s approach confirmed it for me. When it came time to chamber Robert had a custom tight chamber reamer there for a 6.5CM but I’m shooting a tactical rifle, tight chambers aren’t for me, and this was clear, as out came the standard SAAMI reamer. We started with the roughing reamer, and then moved to the finishing reamer. I would think it would be hard to explain a “feel” to a layman, but here I was reaming the chamber, working off the feel and the sound the tool made. We spent enough time working the lathe that I was beginning to pick up the small cues it gave me. That in it self was an awesome feeling, to question a feel and have Robert respond in the affirmative. So we squared, threaded, chambered and cut the barrel all that was left was to crown and thread it for my can. Money, each step it appeared that under Robert’s direction we were nailing it, as every time we checked the results of my work the numbers were giving us minimum spreads. Time to fit it to the action so we can Cerakote it before we had to bed it, and today we had to bed it.
The Cerakote work was real straightforward. I chose coyote tan for the barreled action, and flat dark earth for the skins. It was 10PM when we finally bed the rifle. That was almost 15 hours of work on MY first barreled action build, all of that was barrel work. Tomorrow we get to see if it shoots.
In my opinion the Load Development we did was worth its weight in gold. Where else can you build in a rifle in 2 days, then go out and develop a baseline load using everything from 120gr ammo to 140gr ammo with a few inbetween. My favorite load and clearly the rifle’s too, was the 130gr VLD. This gave us great velocity, awesome groups in the .1s and really nice results at distance.
.280 - .264 = .016"
This was not the only group of this type from this rifle
<span style="font-weight: bold">Conclusions</span>
What an awesome week, from bare components to a 1 hole tactical rifle. This is one of those experiences that you never forget and I highly recommend. Robert has an outstanding way of doing business, and if you anything like me, I recommend calling him and having your next precision rifle built by YOU. At Robert’s shop of course. Here you have all the say on how it gets down and how the finished products turns out. It’s a level of control unheard of. It should be in your Bucket List if nothing else.
I want to thank Robert for an awesome week, Todd for seamlessly cleaning the shop and helping during load development, to Joe Collier for loaning me the 1.0 Skins while mine were drying and to Jacob G and Jim for recommending this to me. I can’t say enough good things about Robert and his operation.
To find out more, head over to Robert’s website.
http://www.gradousrifles.com/class.php
You can read the complete article here:
Robert Gradous Gunsmithing Class Article
Complete Review Here …
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-xLtkJCsAm8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<span style="font-style: italic">Excerpts</span>
The first time I heard of Robert Gradous was through well-known writer Jacob Gottfredson, the next time it would be through Jim from Nightforce. Both suggested I explore his Gunsmithing Class where you actually build your own precision rifle inside of a week. You read that right, a custom rifle in less than a week, Sounds too good to be true, That’s what I thought so after finally getting a break in my schedule I called Robert and set a date.
The initial consultation was simple, Robert’s attitude was, this was about having fun and there was no Voodoo or Root Oil involved, just simple methods put into practice. Come down, he has a cottage to stay in on site and that world famous Southern Hospitality would be the order of the week. Believe me there is no ego involved here.
We easily spent the first hour lining the barrel up in the lathe. Making sure we were not stressing it in anyway, testing the run-out near and far. With each step Robert gave me the pros and cons of each action I took as well as the choices that were going to be needed. I really liked the fact that when it came time to thread the barrel Robert took the time to explain the threading process as well as the two different types available to me. At each point it was my job to set the tool, which he double checked my work and then, at the critical moment I practiced it dry off the barrel until I felt ready to roll. When it came to threading I choose the standard 60 degree threads. We talked about doing spiral lock threads, I had been practicing the threading process at least 20x before taking a cut, and I just thought the spiral lock was a little over my pay grade. I am sure I could have done it, especially with Robert over my shoulder, still I had to ask myself, did I need them? Not really, but knowing the choice was there was great.
We spent the better part of the day working the barrel. I feel this is a critical component and seeing the attention to detail in Robert’s approach confirmed it for me. When it came time to chamber Robert had a custom tight chamber reamer there for a 6.5CM but I’m shooting a tactical rifle, tight chambers aren’t for me, and this was clear, as out came the standard SAAMI reamer. We started with the roughing reamer, and then moved to the finishing reamer. I would think it would be hard to explain a “feel” to a layman, but here I was reaming the chamber, working off the feel and the sound the tool made. We spent enough time working the lathe that I was beginning to pick up the small cues it gave me. That in it self was an awesome feeling, to question a feel and have Robert respond in the affirmative. So we squared, threaded, chambered and cut the barrel all that was left was to crown and thread it for my can. Money, each step it appeared that under Robert’s direction we were nailing it, as every time we checked the results of my work the numbers were giving us minimum spreads. Time to fit it to the action so we can Cerakote it before we had to bed it, and today we had to bed it.
The Cerakote work was real straightforward. I chose coyote tan for the barreled action, and flat dark earth for the skins. It was 10PM when we finally bed the rifle. That was almost 15 hours of work on MY first barreled action build, all of that was barrel work. Tomorrow we get to see if it shoots.
In my opinion the Load Development we did was worth its weight in gold. Where else can you build in a rifle in 2 days, then go out and develop a baseline load using everything from 120gr ammo to 140gr ammo with a few inbetween. My favorite load and clearly the rifle’s too, was the 130gr VLD. This gave us great velocity, awesome groups in the .1s and really nice results at distance.
.280 - .264 = .016"
This was not the only group of this type from this rifle
<span style="font-weight: bold">Conclusions</span>
What an awesome week, from bare components to a 1 hole tactical rifle. This is one of those experiences that you never forget and I highly recommend. Robert has an outstanding way of doing business, and if you anything like me, I recommend calling him and having your next precision rifle built by YOU. At Robert’s shop of course. Here you have all the say on how it gets down and how the finished products turns out. It’s a level of control unheard of. It should be in your Bucket List if nothing else.
I want to thank Robert for an awesome week, Todd for seamlessly cleaning the shop and helping during load development, to Joe Collier for loaning me the 1.0 Skins while mine were drying and to Jacob G and Jim for recommending this to me. I can’t say enough good things about Robert and his operation.
To find out more, head over to Robert’s website.
http://www.gradousrifles.com/class.php
You can read the complete article here:
Robert Gradous Gunsmithing Class Article
