DIY Gunsmithing mistakes

Well I will kick it off

Recently I had the bit between my teeth and wanted to form a 38-303 case from some old CAC 303 sporting ammo
Well I didn't know that the powder in that old junk goes sticky
So I pull the bullet in my kinetic pull and get the powder out
Tap the neck to make sure its properly empty
Set it up on a bench to quickly anneal the neck with a gas blow torch so that I can form it up a few calibers

Huge Bang and the case flies a couple of meters in the air
Big burn mark on the bench top and a primer sized crater about 5mm into the wood !

So now I know that sticky powder in CAC cases is still pretty keen and able to kill something

And here's the one I just did

I'm just re barreling a vintage Winchester 1885 action
Dialed in the barrel and trueing things up
Made the rebate for the breech block front right ridge
Then tidy up the barrel breech face and smoke and check it all

All sorted with my very smallest feeler gauge as a close fit when the block is fully closed

Decided to check the feeler gauge for in one of my other 1885s
It's a very closely fitted 1moa rifle so it would be a good reference point for breech block tolerance

The point of this gunsmithing mistake is
Early production 1885s go directly to full cock when you cycle the action and if you accidentally pull the trigger when the feeler gauge is stuck in there you get a lasting reminder of your stupidity

Attachment 187419

Everybody makes mistakes, but a tradesman is really good at hiding them!

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Originally Posted by akaroa1

Well I will kick it off

Recently I had the bit between my teeth and wanted to form a 38-303 case from some old CAC 303 sporting ammo
Well I didn't know that the powder in that old junk goes sticky
So I pull the bullet in my kinetic pull and get the powder out
Tap the neck to make sure its properly empty
Set it up on a bench to quickly anneal the neck with a gas blow torch so that I can form it up a few calibers

Huge Bang and the case flies a couple of meters in the air
Big burn mark on the bench top and a primer sized crater about 5mm into the wood !

So now I know that sticky powder in CAC cases is still pretty keen and able to kill something

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That needs a 'HOLY SHIT' button, as 'Like' seems somewhat inappropriate!!!

thats a tricky way to check fireing pin indent....... wouldnt have thought of using that method myself.....

good on you for letting others know of pitfalls to avoid.

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Originally Posted by gundoc

Everybody makes mistakes, but a tradesman is really good at hiding them!

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i wont tell anyone about your wiring skills then ................................ :P

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Originally Posted by gonetropo

i wont tell anyone about your wiring skills then ................................ :P

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It is amazing what you can hide with insulation tape (and other things I learnt from you)!

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Originally Posted by gundoc

Everybody makes mistakes, but a tradesman is really good at hiding them!

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Or fixing them @gundoc. Was out at your old padawan Zacs work the other day and talking about shit like that
Anyone can do good work, but sometimes it is experience gained by mistakes and shitty jobs, conditions, and materials that makes you a tradesman.
We all make mistakes sometimes, as long as we learn from them it's not a complete waste
Let's not go there on some of the very well intentioned stuff I did back in the day or even newer stuff like extremely rushed (and unfinished) checkering done with very basic and home made tools, like the end of a triangle file sharpened up.
And no, I'm not putting a picture up of it as it would undo any admiration for the rest of that job lol

To me the WWW isn't the world wide web
It's always been what went wrong

The forum member I was talking to about this a couple of days ago hasn't chipped in with any of has ones yet

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Originally Posted by gonetropo

i wont tell anyone about your wiring skills then ................................ :P

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People are usually shocked when they find out what a terrible electrician I am.

I uhhh removed the back of my bolt by not creating a bulge in the neck of a 270 case when converting it to 280
definitely removed a bit of confidence in my loading ability at the same time

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Originally Posted by Bill999

I uhhh removed the back of my bolt by not creating a bulge in the neck of a 270 case when converting it to 280
definitely removed a bit of confidence in my loading ability at the same time

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please explain. Didnt quite pick up what you put down there. Did you wreck your rifles bolt and have a code brown?

When bedding a rifle, its quite important to make sure you get release agent onto all the metalwork and if there are little cutouts and things in the reciever to fill them flush with plasticine or similar before bedding, or so im told.

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

or so im told.

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Told by @Marty Henry ?

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Originally Posted by csmiffy

please explain. Didnt quite pick up what you put down there. Did you wreck your rifles bolt and have a code brown?

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necking up 280 needs a bulge on the neck larger than the 7mm die makes it
you have to go up to 30cal then back to 7mm
otherwise the firing pin pushes the 270 bullet forward and strikes the primer at the same time then it comes back once its set off and blows the primer and the back of the bolt off in your face
definitly one of the biggest frights iv ever had and it smoked the plastic bolt shroud off my tikka

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

When bedding a rifle, its quite important to make sure you get release agent onto all the metalwork and if there are little cutouts and things in the reciever to fill them flush with plasticine or similar before bedding, or so im told.

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also if you are using a bedding kit that takes 24hours to dry and you live somewhere cold like Christchurch in winter leave it an extra day
othewise looks like you used bubble gum to bed it and it goes everywhere

also dont try open your unwanted 243 suppressor up to 30cal with a drill free hand

shit iv got quite a few of these haha

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

When bedding a rifle, its quite important to make sure you get release agent onto all the metalwork and if there are little cutouts and things in the reciever to fill them flush with plasticine or similar before bedding, or so im told.

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It's also a good idea to check the shape of the action so you don't create a mechanical lock when the compound sets.

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Originally Posted by akaroa1

Told by @Marty Henry ?

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Experience is a good teacher in my case.

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Experience is a good teacher in my case.

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Ahh experience, that thing you get just after you needed it.

I once snapped a Manners stock at the wrist trying to get the action/barrel out. While a curse at the time it was actually a blessing as it motivated me to do my first carbon fibre repair which led me to making my own stocks.

:useless:

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Originally Posted by Sideshow

:useless:

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Ok pictures
But me fixing someone else's DIY

I recently acquired a Parker Hale Whitworth after a long search
It's a very nice Whitworth and was set up for long range competition shooting
And has been glass bedded for the first 300mm

So I get it home and after a few weeks I think I will strip it down and clean it all and sort a few minor things
Shock horror it's epoxy bedded permanently into to stock
Now I'm thinking this was intended because he was shooting it long range

I parked it for a few months to consider this unexpected problem

Then after some good advise I took a huge chunk of alloy
Milled a channel to exactly match the barrel profile at the epoxy bedded area but not deep enough to touch the stock wood
Placed a cloths iron on it for around 15 minutes to get it evenly hot
Lightly lifted to barrel at the muzzle and there was a small click and it lifted out

Confirmed my original suspicion that this was no accident
There was not a trace of releasing agent
But it was a good bedding job and the rifle is showing good accuracy potential

Attachment 187568
Attachment 187569

Here's some more DIY from person unknown who decided they wanted a pistol grip 1885 from a straight grip frame
Sadly their ambition was great and their skills very low

Attachment 187656

Done with a blow torch and mauled by a vice

It's close to being resuscitated

Attachment 187657

Sticky tape is to avoid DIY mistakes with room for thumb to cock hammer in mock up

I do not know if this qualifies as a gunsmithing error but I certainly learnt from the experience....

I was at the range sighting in two rifles of the same brand and calibre....(Mosin Nagants in 7.62x54R)
I had that nagging feeling that something was not right...you know the one where you triple check EVERYTHING then check it again because something does not feel right but cannot find anything wrong.....

I checked each rifle thad its own bolt and not another one.
I checked the ammo was correctly loaded (Both were using factory Barnaul so no mixed ammo)
I lined up on the target and squeezed off the first round....

BOOM!!!!!





In a concrete walled bunker style range with a concrete roof and floor and open at the front and back I IMMEDIATELY noticed the earmuffs were ON my head but not ON my ears.....you know when you put them up to talk on the phone or to someone so you rears are clear then drop them back onto your ears after...I did not do the last bit....I stood there for about 10 seconds like a stunned mullet, I then tenderly checked if my ears were bleeding because, damn they were ringing....

At that point I learnt TWO very important things.....earmuffs are a must if I want to continue hearing....and two; that was one round. So I can only imagine what it would have been like for a soldier on the line in WW! or WW2 with that noise being continuous and ever present.....No wonder they returned deaf and numbed to life...even without the carnage they would have witnessed or been part of, the noise alone would easily be enough to destroy most snowflakes today...

Talking about earmuffs, my mate was doing load development on a big magnum.
First he had is break of and muffs on and second put his break on and muffs off.
The look on his face, priceless!
I won't have braked or unsupressed rifles on my range anymore as just hate the noise.

Sent from my SM-A025F using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by andyanimal31

I won't have braked or unsupressed rifles on my range anymore as just hate the noise.

Sent from my SM-A025F using Tapatalk

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That's a shame
Takes muzzleloaders and vintage black powder rifles out of contention

I recently aquired a modern 50 cal in line muzzleloader to experiment with fast barrel twists 50s
It has a muzzlebrake on it factory standard
I thought this will be interesting to see how much it reduces recoil

Very hard to tell though because the shock wave that comes off that muzzle is brutal
Luckily it screws off really easily and the gun is typically mild as black powder is

So if you were wondering if a ML brake was a good idea on a muzzleloader It is not

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Originally Posted by timattalon

I do not know if this qualifies as a gunsmithing error but I certainly learnt from the experience....

I was at the range sighting in two rifles of the same brand and calibre....(Mosin Nagants in 7.62x54R)
I had that nagging feeling that something was not right...you know the one where you triple check EVERYTHING then check it again because something does not feel right but cannot find anything wrong.....

I checked each rifle thad its own bolt and not another one.
I checked the ammo was correctly loaded (Both were using factory Barnaul so no mixed ammo)
I lined up on the target and squeezed off the first round....

BOOM!!!!!





In a concrete walled bunker style range with a concrete roof and floor and open at the front and back I IMMEDIATELY noticed the earmuffs were ON my head but not ON my ears.....you know when you put them up to talk on the phone or to someone so you rears are clear then drop them back onto your ears after...I did not do the last bit....I stood there for about 10 seconds like a stunned mullet, I then tenderly checked if my ears were bleeding because, damn they were ringing....

At that point I learnt TWO very important things.....earmuffs are a must if I want to continue hearing....and two; that was one round. So I can only imagine what it would have been like for a soldier on the line in WW! or WW2 with that noise being continuous and ever present.....No wonder they returned deaf and numbed to life...even without the carnage they would have witnessed or been part of, the noise alone would easily be enough to destroy most snowflakes today...

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was that the handloaders/deerstalkers range in CHCH
ear plugs alone wernt enough with my braked 7RM
concussive each time you pulled the trigger

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Originally Posted by Bill999

was that the handloaders/deerstalkers range in CHCH
ear plugs alone wernt enough with my braked 7RM
concussive each time you pulled the trigger

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@Bill999 Sure was NZHA.....

Mosins are interesting to compare. These were the 20" carbines circa mid 50s. The older 26 inch one I had was a very different beast to use. The only physical difference was the 6 inch longer barrel...for that 6 inches I got almost no muzzle flash and a rifle that shot more like a 303 with little recoil and was really quite tame. The carbines had a similar stock and were simply 6 inches shorter. For that I got a muzzle flash you could spotlight with, a boom that would wake the whole city and recoil that made you wonder if you had a recoil fetish.....That extra 6 inches meant the powder had burnt properly and the reduced noise certainly appeared to reduce the perceived recoil. (Actual push back was probably the same but with the noise reduced the brain says to itself" that was quieter so must be softer.......")

Every girl will tell you every extra inch makes a difference - sooo.........

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Originally Posted by timattalon

BOOM!!!!!

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I once shot a cow in a high cattle yards well railed with 6x2s using a 303. Much the same experience.