New Year, new... project

[YEMX]

Slight change- I'll be using a AF Talon tank (valve removed of course) on this build, rather than the CF tank.  It'll add some welcome weight, and should be shorter than the CF tank- giving me more space for a  longer reflex LDC from Mr. Clague.  i.e. more quiet!! 

[YEMX]

Well, got the big gauge on the low side, and got the reg on the tank...  Looks pretty good!! 

Another slight change- I'll be using an old Mrod synthetic stock instead of putting this in that chassis.  I'm going to paint it that typical faux GAP Camo pattern that I love for some reason.  I'm also going to add some silicon carbide on the grip areas for texture.  I've also filled the rear of the stock with expanding foam.  Not sure why- I just don't like hollow stocks I guess. 

I guess that's about it for updates.

[YEMX]

No pictures yet...  I want to have it all done before showing y'all.    But I started assembly tonight!  I got the barrel sleeve cut, and it's on the barrel.  I'm waiting for the Loctite 648 to cure.  Everything looks good!  I still need to finish with the stock, so I'll get to that tomorrow.  Everything went together well!  I had a slight "oh-no" moment w/my PEEK striker, but I got it handled.  It's a good thing PEEK is such a durable material! 

The foam in the stock didn't turn out so well.  It's all cleaned up now though.  I'll check tomorrow, but for whatever reason the foam didn't want to cure evenly...  It was just weird.  It was a new can and everything!  Whatever, it's done now.  I need to find/get some screws so I can install the factory butt-pad.  I'm not sure what happened to the original ones. No biggie. 

Since I switched over to a Talon tank, I'll be using that Dr. Bob's bipod mount that goes around metal tanks.  I was going to use it for another project, but that didn't pan out.  So I'll use it on this one.  Plus, I feel the sling stud is too close to me to be really effective.  The further out the bipod, the more stable the platform; to do that I need to get the bipod somewhere on the tank not behind the reg.

I forgot I need rings...  I hope I can get dovetail rings for a 30mm scope tube!    I probably should have checked that before choosing a standard breech. 

Anyhoo, that's it for now.  I may have some pics tomorrow...   

[YEMX]

After looking over the stock and doing some fitting (It should have fit fine!  ),  I'm going to bed the air block with some JB Weld.  I'll have to remove some more material to get the block to fit the stock (this stock was previously modified for a Brod- not sure why it doesn't fit now  ).  I can also take some time and finish cleaning up the stock- I filled in the gauge hole, and I also filled in the "B" on the bottom of the grip.  I'm probably going to fill in the sling swivel holes as well.  Other than all that, The stock is ready to go!    I can't wait to get this rifle assembled so I can take some measurements of the space between the muzzle and the tank- then I can finally order the LDC!!  I ordered some rings tonight- Pyramyd did have 30mm rings for dovetails in stock.  *whew*

Oh!  I was also able to find some wood screws that were squirreled away YEARS ago that were the perfect length.  I needed two for the butt-pad and one for a rear trigger guard screw.  I'm very pleased!!

[YEMX]

Okay... Some pictures.  I've opened up the front of the stock a touch to fit the bottle block, and am currently waiting for the JB Weld to cure.  I won't have any gauges threaded into the bottle block itself, since all the necessary gauges are in the reg.  So I filled in the gauge cut out in the stock, that I made previously.  The pictures aren't very good, but hopefully you get the idea.  I've epoxied in the swivel studs, maybe I'll want to use a sling in the future.  Probably not, but the option's there.  Anyhoo, I'll continue work on the stock tomorrow.  I still need to finish filling in the "B" on the bottom of grip and do any clean up from the bottle block bedding.  I'm pretty pleased so far, with how everything is looking!  Now it's just paint.

I filled in the gauge hole.  I'm trying to blend it all together.  Won't know how well or poorly I did until I can get some primer down.


Bottle block bedding.  At some angles it looks crooked, others not so much.  I'm not too worried about it, since it's not horrendous and it doesn't affect how the gun will shoot.  The bipod mount is adjustable, so no biggie.  There will be a slight gap, since there's 2 layers of masking tape over the bottle block.  Yes, that's what I wanted.


Bottle bipod mount:


JSAR reg w/new, bigger gauge.  MUCH easier to see the output pressure now! 


Gen1 Mrod .25 bolt.  In a Gen2 breech. 


The upper.  The barrel is 26" OAL (I think- I'll measure it again later), and sleeved.  I used Loctite 648 to glue the CF sleeve into place.  Those are 1/2-20 threads at the muzzle. 


Here's the trigger guard I made.  I removed the safety. 


Here's most of the gun waiting on the JB Weld to cure... 

[YEMX]

The JB Weld had set enough for me to remove the main tube and check the bedding job...  I noticed a few spots I knew would be trouble...  Sure enough, there were a few voids.  No biggie- I cleaned up the block and re-waxed it, and mixed some more JB Weld to fill in the voids.  Tomorrow I'll be good to clean up the squeeze out behind the block (inside the stock) and sand down all the visible stuff.  Then I can mix up some epoxy fairing compound and really blend everything together.  Sunday or Monday I'll start painting.  The rifle action will be assembled tomorrow, and I can do an initial fill to check for leaks.  If all goes well I'll do a full fill on Monday, set the reg and let it sit until the stock is done, then check for leaks again.  I'm going to cross my fingers now that there will be no leaks    We're getting there!

[YEMX]

Okay- got a few more pictures here.  Overall, I'm extremely happy with how everything has turned out so far!  No leaks since I finished assembly and filled this morning.  Still holding strong at 3k.  I've set the reg- which is super easy BTW!!!  I've set the reg to 2200 psi output to start.  I'm looking for as close to 120 fpe as I can get, w/o having to set the reg at 3k psi.  I'll be running a few initial strings once I get my LDC.  Anyhoo, pictures and story time! 

Here she is all assembled.  Not done yet though.  Terrible picture.  I can only go 3" back from the muzzle, with regards to one of Mr. Clague's reflex LDC's... Maybe I should have kept the barrel at 28"!   


Tank block bedding and JSAR reg/barrel clearance.  It's not pictured, but I have a magnetic fill nipple cover that can be used on this reg!  Nice!!




.25 cal single shot tray.  I'm pretty sure this is an Air Venturi one. 


After running some errands, I sat down and did some more work.  I mixed up some epoxy filler and touched up some spots on the stock...  I'm just waiting for the epoxy to set so I can do some sanding.  I'm also doing some work to the single shot tray...  It isn't fitting nearly as tight as I'd like.  I put some epoxy filler on the bottom and on the front (barrel side) of the tray.  It'll take some fitting and filling, but that single shot tray WILL fit perfect and tight when I'm done with it! 

All that's left after all this is paint.  I'm excited!!  Amost done w/another project!

[Backyard Shootr]

WOW! Your on roll Tom. Nice! I bet I can guess what color your going to paint it. 

[YEMX]

WOW! Your on roll Tom. Nice! I bet I can guess what color your going to paint it. 

Thank you!  Oh yeah- It's my favorite camo pattern!  The colors are available at nearly every hardware store and big box store in the state- probably the country.  The patterns are easy to free hand, and over all it's hard to mess up.  It goes on quickly, and to me it looks really good for only having 3 colors.  But who knows, maybe the 6mm will get a multicam paint job!

[YEMX]

I'm kinda leaning towards a multicam paint job for this stock    I mean, this is the first dedicated slug shooter I've assembled, why not give it a special paint job?  Anyhoo, I'm done with all the sanding and such.  Good enough for gov't work anyway.  I'll take some pics tomorrow.

I've finished fitting the single shot tray.  Now it fits the way I want- snug with no wobble!!  When it snaps into place, it doesn't move at all.  I cleaned it up and gave it a quick shot of flat black paint, so it's all one color.  I'll primer the stock and make the stencils tomorrow as well.  *sigh* looking at the time, I will primer this stock and make the stencils TODAY 

The only gripe I have about this build is that it is NOT balanced at all.  That Talon tank is HEAVY.  I've still got the bipod and LDC to add when everything's done!  I wish I could add some weight to the stock.  But I do NOT feel like opening it back up and shoving a steel rod in there with some epoxy.  Oh well.  Here's to hoping the rings and scope will help balance the rifle out   

[YEMX]

Here's a shot of the painted single shot tray.  You can't really tell from the pic of the extra material I've added to make the tray fit more snug in the breech...


Fill nipple cover


Here's some more shots of the cleaned up mods/fixes I've done to the stock:

Bottle block inlet


This is where I had a groove cut out for a gauge.  I filled it in and leveled it


I filled in that "B" on the grip cap... For whatever reason, it really grinds my gears.  Yes, it's smooth and flat


Scott (Motorhead) did this to one of his Brods, and I liked it.  I'm not sure if he used the same rock texture, but the idea is the same...  Except I'll be painting over mine.  There were no colors that would have gone well w/the paint scheme I want.  We'll see how durable it is








So I'm definitely going to do a Multicam pattern on this stock! 


In a bit, I'm going to make some stencils for this stock...  I've ordered the LDC, so maybe a week or two for that.  Plenty of time to paint the stock!  Anyhoo, that's about it for updates.  Nothing huge, but we're getting there!  Oh- and she's still holding strong at 3k psi!  No loss of air over night... Most excellent!! 

[YEMX]

In primer...





So the experiment with the texture paint didn't turn out so well... 

With the texture paint:


Factory texture:


The difference can hardly be seen in the pictures, but you can feel the difference.  It's not significant enough of a difference to suggest that anyone do this.  Maybe if I had sprayed more on there?  I only did enough layers to get full coverage of the areas I wanted to texture.  But as it stands right now, eh...  I didn't want to try bed liner because I don't think you can paint over it.  Also, I didn't feel like mixing up some epoxy and doing the silicon carbide trick.  I kind of just want to get these stocks done so I can get to shooting. 

[YEMX]

Now I remember why I don't like painting Multicam!    I'm still laying down colors, Not sure how this is going to turn out.  I guess that's why I like painting camo- even the simple patterns are exciting to unwrap once the color is done being sprayed...

Although, the number of layers Multicam has...

Base layer- sand, solid color
2nd layer- Brown, solid color
3rd layer- OD Green and tan, striped
4th layer- Army Green and khaki, striped- opposite from 3rd layer

Plus there's different size/shape stencils for each layer...  So to say a Multicam pattern is a lot of work is an understatement...  Then, you won't even know how it'll turn out until after you're all done spraying.  You can work in variations of color and stripes depending on your main area where you'll be shooting.  The variations are endless!

Also, this tape is weird- the first stock I painted, the tape stuck to the different layers no problem, and even took some layers off because the adhesive was so good.  But on this stock, it's coming off easier than I'd like- i.e. it's not sticking very well...  So this paint job will definitely turn out... interesting.  *crossing fingers* I hope it's passable. 

I can't wait for the LDC to get here so I can mark off on the barrel shroud where the it stops.  I'm going to wrap the CF sleeve... I don't like shiny.  TBH, I don't really like CF either...   

[YEMX]

Eh... I'm not happy with it.  I think I know where I messed up too...  Meh.  Next time I do a Multicam, it should be better.

[luge007]

Your paint job still looks better than my efforts to date, maybe this video will be helpful if you choose to go 'digital' on your next paint job?

[YEMX]

The paint job was really bothering me, so I took the OD green and misted it over the stock and cheek piece, then put more matte clear on it.  I think it looks better.  It definitely toned down the "Army Green" color, without completely covering it.  Still not what I'd call a "Multicam", but better.  I'll post pics when I have the whole thing assembled. 

[YEMX]

We're getting there!

[Backyard Shootr]

The stock does look better. I think those camo paint jobs look better flat then glossy. JMO.

[YEMX]

The stock does look better. I think those camo paint jobs look better flat then glossy. JMO.

All the paints I've used are flat or matte paints  One of the colors is satin, but the matte clear squashes the sheen of the satin...  I think I took those first pics right after I sprayed the initial layer of clear.

The OAL of the rifle is 42.25"... The LDC will add 10" to that.  I think I'm going to have do what I was originally going to do and put the guts into the chassis I have that has a folding stock.  Over 52"?  That's way too long...   

[YEMX]

Okay- had to make a few changes...  I had to go back to the factory trigger blade, and I had to switch the stock screw out for a SHCS...  It's fine, the LOP is adjustable, making the fit much better.  The cheek piece feels better too.  I'll just swap platforms depending on if I want to shoot .357 and or 6mm.  OAL with stock locked open is 43.5", and with the stock folded I'm looking at a OAL of 32.5".  Of course, the LDC adds 10" to the OAL, but I can remove it for travel.