Action milling/skeletonizing

[TK 1985]

Who does good 700 action milling to reduce weight? I like the angular look I have seen on some but most of the shops I see that even offer action work just mill slots in it or do some light fluting.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Who does good 700 action milling to reduce weight? I like the angular look I have seen on some but most of the shops I see that even offer action work just mill slots in it or do some light fluting.

You might try twisted barrel. I think they do that.

 

[TK 1985]

Yeah I looked at them and may go with them just cause nobody seems to touch it. They just slab the sides though and won't do octagonal cuts like I want. Rifles Inc. does make the cuts but they wont do it on a bolt and action, they will only do it if they build the whole rifle.

 

[TK 1985]

Side question, why is it that very, very few smiths offer actual milling work? Are milling machines that scarce, does nobody know how to use one properly? Even the bolt skeletonizing i see offered looks like it was just done on a drill press, only a couple people look like they mill the bolt out instead of drilling holes with a press.

 

[shortgrass]

Nothing 'scarce' about milling, I find my self at the vertical mill about daily. Couldn't do without it. Milling on an action, wouldn't want to hurt the structural integrity, only certain places you could work on. Need to maintain the strength in the right places and not effect flex in a negative way. Set-up time would be the 'killer', probably take as much time to set-up as actual cutting time. Anything other than slots with half round ends would require CNC. With near 40yrs. of machining experience, I think I know how to use a vertical mill (or a horizontal mill). Lots of liability involved in milling on an action.

 

[TK 1985]

As usual you explain it pretty well. But on say a Remington 700, why the liability? If you don't touch the "3 rings of steel" isn't pretty much everything behind the breech just a guide for the bolt?

 

[TK 1985]

Also why would it be hard to mill vertical flats on either side, with a 67.5* angle up
To the flat (octagon) with a manual mill? On the rear ring of the receiver that is.

 

[shortgrass]

Ya' gotta' be able to hold it (securely) before you can cut. Complicated set-up. Making tools to be able to do certain jobs is a never ending thing for many gunsmiths. Making those tools takes time (and tooling, which isn't free),,, time you hope to be paid for in the end. I can see lots of time in what you suggest.

 

[TK 1985]

Yeah I can see what you're saying. I've been looking at decent used mills and it seems I'll be spending double whatever I spend on a mill in tooling.

 

[Trickymissfit]

lets just say you have an action in your hands that is strait and square. When you start cutting metal off it, you are going to release stress in some areas, and add stress in other areas. Not a lot, but enough to cause the action to change a little bit here and there. Probably won't be more than two or three thousandths of an inch, but it will. Probably won't see it much except where the bases mount, and the alignment of the bridge to the bolt lug seating area.
gary

 

[TK 1985]

So if you drill out the base screw holes to 8-40 aligned with the bore afterwards that would eliminate that right?

 

[shortgrass]

So it goes,,, guys that want solid bottom single shot actions with integral rails and reduced size loading/ejection ports for added rigidity, to those wanting actions 'lightened'. I'll say this, it always adds substantial cost to turn something into something that it "was not" to begin with. Whatever it is, it's got to be cost effective for both parties. I shut stuff like this down about weekly. All I have to do is give an honest price estimate,,, tooling, set-up time, the costs for me to make any jigs/fixtures, cutting time. The 'light rifle', as I see it, has already been addressed. There seem to be plenty of options available if a guy just looks a bit. You've got the Kimber 84s, the current offerings of titanium actions and carbon fiber wrapped barrels, and ultra light stocks, just to name a few. The Tikka LSA55/LSA65 come to mind, too. I see those regulary on the auction sights.

 

[TK 1985]

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on cost effective for both parties. I get it on your end as the smith. I also looked at the kimbers, etc. But there is something different there in a project as opposed to just buying it off the shelf. Sometimes cost on the user end isn't the main concern. Sometimes you just want to have something unique, be a special snowflake as it were.

 

[shortgrass]

You cannot make every "snow flake" special,, very very few are willing to pay for that. I was trained as a stockmaker. We were taught to make stocks from the blank without the aid of a milling machine or stock duplicator. Hand work with hand held tools. Every stock I've made has been unique. Unique to the point of no matter how hard I've tried, no two are identical. Yet, the market is very, very narrow. Why? Because of the cost. I've never made more than two handmade stocks for customers in a years time. If you've ot time to play, as a hobbiest,,,,, have at it! A "gunsmith" does his work for monetary gain. Hopefully, he likes the work, otherwise, he's probably not very good at it. The "lightening" of an action by removing metal from it would not be a "unique" item as every other action (of similar or like manufacture) would be identical, as there are only certain places 'cuts ' could be made. There has to be a demand to tool up and develope any product or service. That's basic business 101. In the past 25yrs., since I graduated from gunsmithing school, no one has suggested 'lightening" an action by removing metal from it. I've skeletonized a few bolt handles, but only after they've been tig welded on as I'm unwilling to take the risk of having a silver brazed one fall off during the machining. Stuff like this is usually though-up by someone who does not have the skills or abilities to actually do the work/preform the task themselves. End of Story........