Sawtooth Rifles: April 2013

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Build #2 - .35 Whelen on a Marlin XL7, Sporter Weight Hunter

This rifle was built pro-bono for a deserving OEF Veteran and active duty soldier with funds available by donations from the great members of the 24hourcampfire. You can read about it here:

Shooting it in Alaska

Campfire Build Thread

Story leading up to this project

Matt K., our deserving veteran with #2 at home in Alaska

Spec's:

Sawtooth Rifles #2 .35 Whelen on a Marlin XL7

Action: Marlin XL7

Barrel Blank: McGowan #3, Chrome-Moly, 6 Groove, 24" finish

Chamber: .35 Whelen

Stock: Boyd's Grey Laminate

Bottom Metal: Marlin Polymer Trigger Guard

Trigger: Marlin

Rings/Bases: Burris 2 PC Bases and Zee Rings

Optic: Redfield Revolution 3-9x40

Finish, Metal: Sniper Grey Cerakote

With the Savage like barrel nut system, the first step is to turn the tenon end of the barrel down to just a bit over the thread size for the barrel nut to clear. This is done with the barrel held in a collet chuck and supported with a live center in the tail stock.

Components for the build, with the factory .270 Win barrel in there for comparison.

Alignment mandrel set up in the receiver, ready to go into the lathe for truing.

Aligning the receiver in the lathe.

This close-up shows the factory face of the receiver.

A first light cut, shows how far off the face can be from one side to the other - notice the tool is cutting only half way around the face of the receiver.

A second pass is usually enough to cut all the way around, leaving a surface square to the center axis of the receiver.

For build #2, we used our previous method of holding a barrel in the lathe. This method utilized a set of "spider" chucks on each end of the headstock, with the barrel held in the headstock. This method is used by many builders and obviously works, but we feel our new setup with the True Bore Alignment System is much better for the barrel and productivity. For this build, the barrel was aligned true to the bore by using the spider chucks on both ends to force it to run true.

With the barrel centered up true to the bore, the outside diameter for the section of the threads was cut to the thread size, then threaded to fit the action.

Testing the thread fit with the action.

Reamer time! The .35 Whelen is one of those nice ones where the reamer isn't a whole lot bigger than the pilot bushing.

The reamed chamber.

The finished tenon/chamber with the chamber chamfered and cross-hatched inside.

With the barrel fit up to the action, we can begin to see how the stock is going to fit. For this situation, the stock needed some material removed for the straight section in front of the barrel nut, and toward the forend tip where the barrel is larger than the Marlin factory contours.

Setting the headspace. The go-gauge is in the chamber.

For the barrel engraving, an inverted laser jet print is used to transfer the lettering to the metal.

Ink transferred from the laser jet print, to be traced with the engraving tool.

Engraving, by Lewis!

Beautiful hand cut lettering.

Free floating the barrel. Some builders choose to use crisp cash but we are kind of on a budget here and have to use junk mail. Not an endorsement...

At this point, we couldn't take it much longer and had to sneak in a range trip. The rifle showed a lot of promise with a factory load and a few handloads.

Back at the shop, it came all apart and was prepped for the Cerakote finish. Here the parts are cooking dry in the oven prior to being Cerakoted.

The lone polymer triggerguard enjoying a much cooler temperature in oven number 2.

The Cerakoted parts cooled down and laid out for the final assembly.

A close up of the detail in the Cerakote finish, Sniper Grey in this case.

Barreled action and stock prepared for epoxy bedding.

Epoxy in place, just have to wish it luck and put it together.

The cured bedding job. A couple imperfections on this one but it turned out structurally solid and we were happy with this result with our 2nd bedding job ever.

Posing for some pictures on a second trip to the range.

One of the highly collectible pre-numbered versions. We didn't start numbering them until #7.

The last we saw of it, before it took a long trip north on a big brown ~~truck~~ plane.

Keywords: SR#2, Sniper Grey, .35 Whelen

Monday, April 8, 2013

Build #17 - M40A1 Mod 7WSM - A long range hunter for a Marine with a M40A1 theme.

Sawtooth Rifles - Build #17: 7mm WSM long range hunter with a M40A1 theme for a Marine

A custom rifle based on the USMC M40A1 concept, but with a bit more potential for reaching out there and hitting something. This one will likely have a steady diet of 180 gr Berger's and some 162 gr A-maxes on the side.

Spec's:

Sawtooth Rifles #17 M40A1 Mod 7WSM
Action: Remington 700 SS SA, with our Stage 1 Blueprinting
Barrel Blank: Bartlein #13 (Rem Varm), Stainless, 5R rifling, 1:8.4" twist, finished at 27"
Chamber: 7mm Winchester Short Mag
Brake: Badger Ordnance Thruster Tactical Compensator
Stock: McMillan HTG in Forest Camo, Epoxy bedded with aluminum pillars.
Bottom Metal: Stocky's M5 Detachable Mag system
Trigger: Timney
Rings/Bases: Weaver 15 MOA rail and Nightforce lightweight rings, 30mm, lows.
Optic: TBD
Finish, Metal: Cerakote Color TBD

Obligatory pile of parts picture.

The work started on this one with a quick trip to the bandsaw, as we were excited to implement our new bolt mod. The threaded stems are made here and some bolt knobs will soon follow. This bolt knob fell off a Stiller that cam through the shop a while back and was just what #17 needed.

Threaded stem TIG welded onto the Remington bolt handle.

The welded on stem and bolt handle, after a bit of abrasive blending. The flats of the Remington handle are carried into the round stem with a smooth transition to the round knob.

Alternate view, and testing the fit in the McMillan HTG stock.

After getting the bolt handle mod perfected, it was time to finally start making some progress on this one. The receiver was blueprinted with our Stage 1 process along with a few of its siblings. There is about a 45 year spread of production in this photo, and even a couple 40X receivers. There is nice shiny steel inside them all still.

Remington receivers with our Stage 1 blueprinting. #17 is the stainless on 2nd from the right.

Close up of the internals after truing up the surfaces and threads on the CNC lathe.

Barrel time!

The chamber end of the barrel was aligned in the lathe.

Tenon geometry cut and chamber finished.

#17 is officially born, there is a go gauge hiding in there.

With the barrel fit to the receiver, we can finally mock this thing up and get an idea of the inletting that is going to be required. It is nice when the stock and barrel match already. The bottom end on this one needs some tuning though.

Close up.

Boring out the Badger Thruster brake for clearance with the 7mm projectiles.

Turning the OD of the brake to match the barrel.

Brake installed.

Recessed target crown and muzzle threads.

Barreled receiver prepped for bedding, with the pillars in place.

Stock prepped for bedding. Its under the blue tape...

A rifle builders most worrisome moment... 24 hours of wondering how it is going to turn out, and if it will even come back apart...

Not bad... perfect might be a better description.

The stock was origionally inletted for a BDL setup and our customer did most of the inletting for the detachable magazine. We had to move it forward slightly to line up with the top end, which left some gaps to fill along with getting a rock solid fit between the bottom and the pillars.