[MontanaAardvark]

Hi,


I'm new here. Been a forum member for a month, but never posted.

I'd like to make a gun. From scratch would be interesting, but not necessarily. I have never really even worked on a gun, except for the typical user cleaning/breakdown. I have a small mill and lathe (Sherline, modified for an enlarged work envelope), so I can work small parts in steel, aluminum, brass, even titanium and have some experience with this.

I'm leaning toward a 22 LR pistol or revolver. The North American Arms single action revolvers definitely have the "it can't be that hard look" (yeah, I know, famous last words) :D

I think I could do it given some plans, but I have nothing to go by, not even one to copy. Don't know where to start. I could see buying a barrel from someone since it's already rifled, or other parts, but putting them together with some parts that I machine.

What do you guys think? Am I off my rocker? Should I get some gunsmithing books to start with?



Thanks,
Bob

[rcmodel]

Sure wouldn't hurt.
A strong working knowledge of how a gun works would be very necessary unless you are just going to try to copy an exising gun.

Also some books on metallurgy & heat treating.

You will have to be able to chose the proper steels, and also make & temper springs, lockwork parts, and firing pins.

Might want to start out with something really simple, like a single-shot.

Auto pistols would be hard, but revolvers would be really hard!

rc

[prickett]

This site might be helpful:

http://www.cncguns.com/

[jmorris]

I built a .50 BMG using plans from http://www.maadigriffin.com/. I used a Walther precision blank. It’s not a “first timer” project but it is rewarding. I have another book by Walter Mueller on building a falling block rifle action but I haven’t got around to that project yet.

[BCRider]

Building the action is certainly do-able and would be a fascinating project.

I would not start with a revolver since there's a lot of fussy bits inside that do the cylinder indexing. Instead I'll look at starting with something like a rolling or falling block mechanism and maybe go for a rifle barrel instead of a pistol. Such actions are difficult but not impossible for the home shop machinist although heat treating as in case hardening would need to be done by someone else. Perhaps look into color case hardening. Or if you want to start simple look at a break action similar to the Thompson Center arms.

[krs]

If something along the line of fine old weapons that your great grandaddy may have depended on strikes your fancy, these folks can help you build at any level of comfort or competency you start with as well as provide for your needs if you follow through into a high level of skill and artistry....http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(ckh0gq2nggbdxf45qxgdsdfi))/Index.aspx

Their catalog is worth the $20.

[MontanaAardvark]

Thanks for all the replies!

There's a lot in there I need to digest. RC said an auto pistol is hard but a revolver is harder? I may be a little naive, but heat treating doesn't scare me. I'm pretty adept with an acetylene torch and making some parts out of annealed oil-hardening steel, then heat treating doesn't seem like a stretch. Making a spring out spring steel is scarier.

I had not thought of a doing a rifle, or one of those older weapons.

Seems like the best answer is do some more reading. I absolutely don't know enough about the "fiddly bits" inside.



Thanks,
Bob

[Hostile Amish]

Try to make a single-shot gun first.

[MontanaAardvark]

A good example of the kind of thing that makes me say "it can't be that hard" is this one (and it goes right along with Hostile Amish's recommendation):

http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=30;t=22450

There's just not enough info in the thread for me to start making chips.



BobL

[HoosierQ]

You might also want to try doing something like finding a beater and making a "Fitz Special"...another thread going now about those.

Take a Moisin Nagant and do something creative with it...like turn it into a saddle gun...yeah...a Cossack saddle gun!

Convert a Saiga exept instead of converting it into an AK-47 type of thing, convert it into an American looking, Winchester sort of thing. Wooden stocks, brass fore-end cap, brass but-plate, saddle ring.

How about take an SKS...create a really nice stock for it, customized to fit your length of pull and what not, deep blue all the metal except the bolt and jewel that, put a nice rubber but pad on it....

The list of cool things to do with existing guns just goes on forever.

There is a thread going somewhere where a guy basically "merged" an FAL with an SKS and made it take AK mags...that was really quite a sight.

I don't think you are crazy at all...I would do it in a minute if I had the skills and the tools.

[rcmodel]

http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/...T;f=30;t=22450
There's just not enough info in the thread for me to start making chips. That's a pretty neat gun.

But no mention of how, or if he rifled it.

If it is a smooth-bore, it is illegal as all get out!

rc

[MontanaAardvark]

But no mention of how, or if he rifled it.

If it is a smooth-bore, it is illegal as all get out!

rc

One of my concerns. I think I could rifle a barrel with my screw cutting attachment, but I don't really know how it's done. I've peered down the barrel of my XDm and it's not immediately obvious how it's done. Probably a $pecial (expen$ive) tool.

Found another home made 22, and the builder cut off the barrel of a Ruger 10/22. Always an option.


BobL

[rcmodel]

No, you can't cut rifling with the screw threading gears on a lathe.

Rifling is done several ways. Broaching, button swaged, hammer forged around a mandrel, or EDM cut to name a few.

Broached or cut rifling is about the only option for a DYI project, and is done by dragging a cutter through the bore while it or the barrel are rotated at the desired speed.

For a .22RF that would probably be one full turn in 16 inches.
Or 1/16 TPI in lathe threading terminology!
No lathe will do that.

Following rifling, & fitting to the receiver, the chamber is cut with a rough & finish chamber reamer to the correct headspace.

Your best bet would be to use a rifled barrel blank, or use a rifled liner in one you drill yourself.
http://redmansrifling.com/available_liners.htm

rc

[Jim K]

Unfortunately, it is illegal (in the U.S.) to make the simplest gun, a sub-machinegun. Next best would be a single shot rifle or a simple single shot or autoloading pistol. The hardest part of the auto pistol to make would be the magazine.

Jim