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Maybe if I had 4 hands
Next up the Spindle Valve in the Gas Cylinder. I had to do some fitting with some fine sandpaper to make it fit.
Playing with my Bula parts kit. I put the trigger assembly together last night. Goes together like a Garand assembly.
http://i.imgur.com/RueMMPt.jpg
Maybe if I had 4 hands
Next up the Spindle Valve in the Gas Cylinder. I had to do some fitting with some fine sandpaper to make it fit.
I haven't touched the Bolt Stop yet, leaving that 'till last because I'm afraid of just what you mentioned.
hah! That's exactly why I did it first! It's really not that bad if you use the sand paper trick...and I have a teeny tiny snap on roll pin punch that makes it a cakewalk if you want to borrow it.
for the record...I've only completed the one Bula build so far. I'm having accuracy issues still, and have only achieved about 1.5moa at best...but it's very inconsistent. There's something funky going on with it and I just haven't figured it out yet...but I'm getting the feeling it's something stupid I'm not yet seeing. I'm definitely not a gunsmith, but I have SO much fun building rifles.
What are y'all thinking for brakes/comps? I was looking at the sei Uscg. Pricey...
Use a length of trimmer line or wire to hold the bolt stop/spring in place while inserting the roll pin. I use a feeler gauge on the receiver aft of the bolt stop to protect the finish.
Assembling the M14 isn't like tossing together an AR. They are different generations of design and can require some fitting. The originals had proprietary tools for assembly and converting one from a battle rifle to a target rifle takes some work.
Take a look at the difference between a standard M14 and the XM25 version.
The XM25 was fitted with;
McMillan stock with proprietary inletting 'Brookfield Cut'.
Brookfield Precision Tool (BPT)steel stock liner bedded into the stock.
Barnett MW barrel.
BPT recoil spring guide.
Unitized gas cylinder (welded) with self cleaning port added.
TiN coated piston.
Trigger work.
Bedded forward sling swivel/bipod lug anchor.
BPT scope mount.
The op rod guide was tightly fit and not allowed to 'float'.
The parts are expensive to manufacture and there is a relatively small market so you won't see hammer forged M14 receivers or other parts in the price range of AR parts.
With that, there are plenty of people who nail their own M14s together into accurate target rifles.
I brought the blue prints for a M1 receiver to a machinist I used to use before they moved to Texas.
He said if he was a bit larger opperation he could do them. His only problem was sourcing the hammer forged receiver as that's what everyone would want. He said there's really nothing "hard" in
machine work these days. It's just a matter of money. Will you make any, that's the hard part.
"hard" is relative. Anyone with a modicum of skill could make one starting with a handfull of iron ore. To produce them within spec and sell them with a sufficient margin is another matter.
Economy of scale... got to pay for that $1M machining center somehow.
Yes indeed... this guy just bought 2 new machines. The size of a midsize box van. While there getting a few things fixed on some parts I watch the guy load some blanks in. About 6 minutes later parts where coming out the other end. Weird looking valve system with what looked like lots of ports. On the lines of a transmission valve body.
Sucks this guy went off to Texas. Was the only walk in service machine shop close to me.
I always found it interesting to walk in to this shop and see his 80+ year old dad tooling on the old school machines. Then look across the shop and see the guy looking through the glass watching the machine.
I like having my own little 'shop of horrors' in my basement. Some day I'll get bored enough to finish rebuilding my cnc mill.
The barreled receiver assembly is built, for the most part. Got the bolt catch installed without any issues, used the drill trick combined with a short piece of stiff wire. My parts kit did not come with a Clip Guide, and I still have to harvest a nice rear sight assembly off of one of my unused Garands or see what my parts bin has. My Winchester M1 came with a nice set of what appear to be freshly re-parked windage and elevation knobs which would look great on the M14.
I did notice the grey stock metal looks out of place.... and yes, the rear sights I referenced are the "CMP Grey" color. You're right, probably from the CMP Special Parts Bin. I'm wondering what sights they took off my Winny.. Lockbars perhaps? The rear sight base, aperture and cover all have the same color/wear as the receiver. Anyone's guess.
Onto fitting the Boyds stock, sold by Fulton. I could spend all night on this. The trigger inletting needs extensive work.
Flash hider. Yeah, the SEI seems like the best one, and yes it's pricey. Since I want to shoot this in CMP Modern Military, I need to use something that's as issued configuration. If I were building a chassis based rifle, I'd go with the SEI or something similar (and cheaper).
Waiting for someone to tell me I can't have a flash hider in Mass...
I've been slowly working on this Boyd's stock and my conclusion is... it's a POS.
Finally got the trigger guard to lock down after some careful wood trimming and there is no draw pressure on the front band.
May keep poking around but considering cutting my loses and finding a nice USGI stock.