Billet Chassis Projects

[ApexOrdnance]

There isn't any pressure as such acting on the chassis. The only force you are dealing with is recoil. The radial force from recoil is restrained with the standard action screw and generally quite small. The axial recoil is only the force applied by the lug on the chassis. In compression, aluminium is equal or greater than most modern composite stock materials and also the cast aluminium MDT style chassis. Cyclic loading of the lug pocket is always a concern but is mitigated by radius corners to prevent stress cracks. I've been up close and personnal with the MDT style chassis and would be willing to wager that any billet system would outlive it. A perfect fit that can be achieved with a billet system also means that the forces are distributed throughout the whole system. So far these have only been used up to 308 but there is no engineering restriction to prevent larger calibres.

 

[ApexOrdnance]

There isn't any pressure as such acting on the chassis. The only force you are dealing with is recoil. The radial force from recoil is restrained with the standard action screw and generally quite small. The axial recoil is only the force applied by the lug on the chassis. In compression, aluminium is equal or greater than most modern composite stock materials and also the cast aluminium MDT style chassis. Cyclic loading of the lug pocket is always a concern but is mitigated by radius corners to prevent stress cracks. I've been up close and personnal with the MDT style chassis and would be willing to wager that any billet system would outlive it. A perfect fit that can be achieved with a billet system also means that the forces are distributed throughout the whole system. So far these have only been used up to 308 but there is no engineering restriction to prevent larger calibres.

 

[ApexOrdnance]

Updates: The 308 A bolt chassis, annealling set up and the EC Tuner. I'm unsure whether to port the tuner to combine as a brake. I'm becoming unpopular at the club with my persistent use of brakes, lol. Hoping to get the A bolt finished by the end of this lockdown to test the tuner on the carbon barrel.

 

[angusb1]

Brilliant! Can I ask what lathe and milling machine you have?

 

[takbok]

Lovely work! Manual milling is very time consuming but so satisfying!

 

[ApexOrdnance]

Its a 1990 2HP Bridgeport 9 x 42 with power feeds on X & Y and a 4HP Mitchell Woodhouse lathe with 1.75" spindle bore and 40" bed. I used to have an engineering business and couldn't part with them when it finished.

 

[ApexOrdnance]

Its been a while since I updated this thread on the progress of the A-Bolt with the carbon barrel. I've been lazy with photo's but I have the one that counts... the end result. Initially I went for my go to ultra matt black but the safe was starting to look a bit boring. This time I went for a custom camo after finding out that Halfords stock ultra matt camo paints in all the right colours. This rifle started life as a skinny barreled Browning A-bolt composite stalker. The original stock and skinny barrel made it quite unpleasant to shoot in .308. The added weight and stiffer barrel will hopefully make it a more comfortable tool.

 

[8x57]

That's a really nice looking transformation that you have done there Apex, most impressive. You've turned a lightweight sporting rifle into a tactical rifle.
I note that you seem to have gone from the double stack magazine of the original to an inline single stack magazine. What make is the new magazine?

P.S. I like the way you've done the cammo to match the workshop wall and door.

 

[Utectok]

Lovely machining well done

 

[ApexOrdnance]

That's a really nice looking transformation that you have done there Apex, most impressive. You've turned a lightweight sporting rifle into a tactical rifle.
I note that you seem to have gone from the double stack magazine of the original to an inline single stack magazine. What make is the new magazine?

P.S. I like the way you've done the cammo to match the workshop wall and door.

Its a legacysports 10rnd mag. I must admit that, due to the Browning bolt design, it is considerably more dificult getting these to feed compared to the Rem 700. I was pretty confident I could get it to work following the successes with Rem mag conversions but I perhaps should have gone for a slightly different mag with a more open feed path.
I never noticed the camo against the door but now I've seen it I can't unsee it, lol.