New Year, new... project

[YEMX]

JMO Seems like a lot of connection and more weight. I would think all you need is something like what they use for the FX Impact.

The bipod extension for the Impact is both an extended rail and a replacement trigger guard in one piece.  It's also $150.  This set up could be replicated for under $100.  I also have no idea on the weight of it.  It could be heavier or lighter than what I'm making.   

Weight is a concern- but whatever anyone does to make a bipod extension will add weight.  Besides- 2 sets of chinese 6061 aluminium rings, CF tube, some short pic rails and some short sections of aluminum inside the CF tube for support won't be all that heavy for what it is.

[mackeral5]

I think you'll be fine.  Perhaps the design will change a bit along the way.  It reminds me of how Scott set up his FT 5mm Mini Raptor....

[YEMX]

I think you'll be fine.  Perhaps the design will change a bit along the way.  It reminds me of how Scott set up his FT 5mm Mini Raptor....

It's where I got part of my idea 

This is the only way for me to easily accomplish my goal.  I don't have the tooling or the jigs (or the experience) to make what I want to.  Plus, what I want to make will probably be significantly heavier than what this fabercobbled thing will be.  Also, this build is easily copied, easily modified/improved.  It gets the creative juices going.  That's all my builds are ever for (besides my shooting pleasure)- to potentially inspire people to do more.

Anyhoo, I'll find out monday or tuesday (or whenever the shipping company decides to actually deliver my packages) whether or not those 35mm rings will even clear the barrel.  I'll have to modify them if they don't. 

[YEMX]

Just been doing a little work on the Armada chassis- I want to finish up the "body work" on it, so I can move on to doing the magnetic "locking" mechanism.  I compared it to the RAI chassis, and it is a significant weight difference to me.  Even thinking about the potential weight addition w/the bipod mount/extension thing...  Yeah, much lighter than the RAI chassis.  I'm diggin' it. 

Tomorrow I can sand down the epoxy filler and start designing that mag-lock set up.   

[YEMX]

Y'ALL!!!  I got really REALLY lucky!!!!  THE SCOPE RINGS FIT WITH NO MACHINING!!!  There's even a hair of clearance between the barrel and the top of the ring.  GOLDEN.  I'm stoked!!

That being said, OOF!  This set up is going to be horrendously ugly.  I mean, UGLY.  But the important thing is, it works.  Honestly, I don't think I'll need to put a spacer between the two picatinny rails...  But I'm still going to check when the CF tube gets here.  But it looks like the CF tube will clear w/no spacer.  I've thrown on some matching spray paint over the scope rings and second picatinny rail to help blend everything together so it's not as ugly...  From a distance.  The gun just keeps getting uglier the closer you get to it.    This set up doesn't feel very heavy either.  I was a bit surprised.  I was expecting more weight.  But I'll take it.  There's still the CF tube, the second picatinny rail for the bipod end, and the aluminium slugs on the inside...

This will stay on the gun.  Imagine it w/a second pic rail on the bottom.  You can see how much room I have forward and aft for bipod adjustment...  Not too shabby.


This is the monstrosity.


I still have to shim the scope rings for the Mrod tube.  But we're getting there!  The only bad part is, I'll have to remove the bipod extension to fill the gun.  But that's what the QD scope rings are for.

[YEMX]

It just keeps getting uglier!  Not sure why the first pic is blurry 


Here's a close up of the assembly, minus the CF tube.  I've got some rubber pad in the Mrod tube rings to compress and create a tight fit.  I used rubber cement to attach them.  There's definitely enough clearance for the CF tube w/o having to add a spacer between the two pic rails


This is what stays on the gun all the time. 


I've got another layer of primer on the stock drying.  I'm pretty much done with major stock modifications for now.  I can finally start on the mag lock stuff...  Still waiting on the CF tube...  I also still need to order the aluminium to make the slugs, but I want to double check the I.D. of the tube when it gets here, so I don't order round bar that's too big.  I don't want to waste material... 

[YEMX]

Okay- I finished the mag lock for the folding stock today.  I've epoxied (PC7) the magnets into their place, and I've also epoxied one side of the lock into the chassis.  I'm going to wait until tomorrow or the next day and I'm going to put the two mag lock halves together so I can locate the hole for the butt pad.  Then I can simply drill and epoxy that cup in, and all the mods to the chassis will be complete. 

These are the magnet cups I made today:
 



Magnet inside the cup.  I didn't have a tighter fitting drill bit 


Hole drilled in Armada chassis for the cup, edge is countersunk for more glue surface


Not glued, but cup is in place.  There's a gap between the folded stock and chassis, hence why they stick out. 


Magnet glued.  They're mostly flush 


Cup with magnet glued into place


These small neodymium magnets should be strong enough to keep the stock from flopping around, yet I should still be able to easily unfold the stock when I need to.  I hope they're not too strong    I should be fine, w/the amount of leverage I've got.  *crosses fingers*

All that's left now is the bipod extension, and then I can move onto testing.  Again.   

Now that I think about it, I should have machined in a groove in the part that gets recessed into the chassis and the butt-pad    More surface area for the epoxy to get into...  *sigh*  If/when I make another mag lock, I'll be sure to do that. 

[YEMX]

I am certainly glad I decided not to use the Saber Tactical bipod mount as a base for this bipod extension...  I am NOT knocking their bipod mount!  This thing is a serious work of metal art.  Simple design, but everything just fits together beautifully!  VERY nice bit of kit!  If you're looking for a solution to mount a bipod on a Mrod (or FX) size tube, look no further than Saber Tactical...  They have a similar mount for use on tanks as well.  The bipod mount for the tank was the one I originally thought I'd use, but the nagging voice in my head saying "don't do iiiit" and a few other members convinced me otherwise...   

That being said, it is WAY too short for the bipod extension idea I have in my head.  I mean, I don't know what I was expecting- it's designed as a bipod mount, you really don't need that many pic slots to mount a bipod...  I wish a longer one was available...  Oh well- my ugly version will work just fine.  I hope. 

[YEMX]

I'll get some pics tomorrow, but I definitely should have done a better job making sure those magnets were properly seated when I epoxied them in    So the mag lock doesn't look very good, but it'll do it's job just fine.  The magnets are NOT too strong, so I'm happy about that!  They're just strong enough to do the job, which is what I want.  Once I clean up around the mag lock, do some blending and paint, no one will even notice they're there.  So I doubt anyone but me will notice that they don't sit exactly perfect.  *shrug*

A little bit more to go, and I can finally paint the stock.  Yep, I'm going back to that faux GAP camo scheme...  I just don't want to do a lot of work for a paint job that I won't be happy with (talking about multicam).  I'll just stick with what I know and like.  Anyhoo, we're getting there!

[YEMX]

I had a 500cc 4500 psi CF tank laying around waiting for the 7mm Texan to happen.  But then I saw on Aliexpress that they have a 1.1L (that's 1100cc's) tanks for sale.  So... I did a thing.  I took the 500cc 4500 psi tank and put it on this build.  It's a touch longer than the original TT tank, and it holds much more air.  It's also the tank that was supposed to go on this build initially anyway.  It's a little heavier than the TT tank, but not enough to matter.  The bipod extension will still clear, and w/everything threaded together, it puts the fill nipple and tank pressure gauges pointing down, out to the sides...  Honestly, it worked out perfect.  The gap between the LDC and tank is also what I had intended as well, so that's no longer bothering me.  All-in-all, a worthwhile swap!! 

[YEMX]

Okay, I couldn't wait for tomorrow, besides- I got the gauges that vdwb sent me, and they look awesome!  So I wanted to get them installed right away!  So I snapped a few bad pics for y'all...

Mag lock.  Looks okay from the front...


But from any other angle   


The holes for the magnets are fine, but there was too much PC7, and I didn't think to clamp it w/the magnet face down on a flat surface to ensure the magnets were completely flush.  I should have done that first, THEN glue them into their respective spots...  Oh well, this is probably not my last go at a mag lock...  Note for next time.

Here's a shot of how the fill nipple and tank pressure gauge are oriented now, w/the new tank.  It does look like everything will still clear the CF tube too.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for that. 


New regulated pressure gauge.  I've never seen these rubber covers before- anyone know where I could get some?  My google-fu isn't up to snuff. 


Here's the new tank pressure gauge


Here's a shot of the whole gun


Anyhoo, I'll fill her up and check for leaks, now that there will be no more major changes.  All I have to do is finish up w/this stock, the bipod extension, paint...  Then we can finally get back out there and run the numbers!

[Back_Roads]

 As long as ugly = accuracy etc. it is a thing of beauty 

[YEMX]

As long as ugly = accuracy etc. it is a thing of beauty 

Too true!  Besides, I don't have a choice- if I want to run a bipod where I want to, I have to use the bipod extension...  I just don't want to run a bipod mount directly on the tank.  Tank mount always seems like a good idea at first, but I always back out of doing it 

Anyhoo, the gun is filled w/air, everything seems okay- no blatantly obvious leaks, and the gauges seem to be quite accurate!  I'm VERY happy!!  Now if that TP I made works, I'll be EXTREMELY happy! 

[YEMX]

I finished the primer for the mag lock today, and sprayed the first color layer.  I should be finished with paint by Sunday or Monday...  She seems to be holding air just fine.  There's a very tiny leak somewhere...  I might chase it down.  But 100 psi or so over the course of 24 hours isn't a big deal to me. 

The mag lock is definitely a success!  The butt-plate and chassis snap together with authority, stay together when inverted, but it's easy to separate when I want to extend the stock.  I'm very happy!

[YEMX]

No pics yet, but I finished spraying the colors tonight.  In the morning, I can peel the masking tape off and clear everything.  Then later, I'll assemble and snap a few pics.  Still waiting on that CF... 

Speaking of CF- after talking to luge007 a few days ago, here's the slightly modified plan for the end caps and slug; we'll call it a support ring, that's more accurate:

Front end cap will have a lip that protects the edge of the CF tube.  The lip is both protection and more surface to epoxy it to the tube.  It will also be partially drilled out (no boring bar, so I have to use drill bits) to shave some weight.  Not all the way through though.  The front end cap will double as the part that the M1913 rail screws will thread into, so it will run the full length of the rail, however long that is.  So having more meat here isn't bad.  Speaking of the front M1913 rail, I'll also be epoxying the rail to the CF tube w/PC7.  The PC7 plus the screws- yeah, that rail is gonna be solid.  The PC7 will also fill any gaps and effectively bed the rail to the tube.

The rear end cap will be the same as the front one, with a lip to protect the edge of the tube.  I'll again drill out the center, but not all the way through.  The rear end cap will also give the CF more structure/strength for when the rear most scope ring clamps down on the tube.  There will be a support ring inside the CF tube, epoxied in place for the other scope ring to clamp down on as well.  This one will be drilled completely through, since it's not an end cap.  This support ring and the rear end cap will be a touch wider than the scope rings, that way, the rings are completely supported when they're tightened down.   

That's about it- there's nothing else to the tube, other than paint...  It should be pretty light weight.  We'll see though. 

[YEMX]

I was surprised when I pulled the masking tape off- the pattern turned out pretty good!  As I was starting to plan out/make the stencils, I realized that the chassis and stock have a lot less surface area than I'm used to.  So I had to adjust how I would normally lay down stencils, and how big to make the stencils...  But I was pleasantly surprised with how it all turned out!  Especially with the stock- there's really not much surface to work with there.  The cheek piece will cover most of it up though 

I'll get some pics for y'all when I go to assemble the chassis.  I'm waiting on the clear to dry enough to handle. 

Something else I realized with the first iteration of this build- the way I had to set up the scope was kinda wonky.  To get the eye relief I needed, I had to place the rings all the way forward on the breech's scope rail, and with the way the scope sat in the rings, I was lucky that it worked- because I had no more adjustment left!  So I took a chance on a 1 piece mount (looks similar to those 1 piece AR scope mounts).  It's got a bubble level (not that I care for the built-in ones), does both 1" and 30mm tubes (via inserts), and it does both M1913 and dovetail...  The mounting base is 2.5" long, which is perfect for the front section of the Mrod breech.  I don't have high hopes, since we all know these chicom combo mounts are never all that good.  But for $24 shipped, why not?  I'll post when it comes in.  If this mount doesn't work, I'll try to source a low (or rather, as low as I can find) dovetail to picatinny rail adapter that's as close to the length of the Mrod breech as I can find.  My hopes are not high, as all the dovetail to M1913 adapter rails are at least .5" tall.  I'm hoping I don't have to have one made...  That's gonna be a pretty penny.  To be clear:  It's not the attachment type that I'm concerned with, is the forward and rear adjustment room I'm after.  Note: This is NOT an endorsement for this scope mount- Just a topic of conversation.

By the by, the gun is still holding air, I did a much better job teflon taping and tightening stuff this time! 


Link for the scope mount, if you're curious:

[YEMX]

Well here she is in all her pug fugly beauty!!    Well, I like it- and that's all that really matters!

52" OAL (42.75" w/o LDC):


42-3/8" folded (33.25" w/o LDC):




Here's a shot of the complete chassis:


Post-paint mag lock:




Mag lock works too!!


I don't know actual weights, but this iteration certainly feels lighter.  I know- there's no scope on it, but still.  It feels lighter than before.  Or maybe it's balanced better now?  Who knows.  Obviously, not having a metal chassis helps!    I'll post numbers soon, weather permitting. 

Now I'm just waiting on the scope mount (I REALLY hope it works) and the CF tube for the bipod extension.  I'm going to try to post numbers before completing the bipod extension- I'll need to take the Brod out of the chassis to adjust the hammer tension anyway.  So I don't really need the scope or the bipod extension for initial numbers.  This project is almost done... AGAIN.    Much happier this go around.

[vdwb]

Very nice build Tom, can’t wait to hear how it shoots.
Dennis

[YEMX]

Very nice build Tom, can’t wait to hear how it shoots.
Dennis

Many thanks!  I hope to send a few slugs through the chronograph tomorrow!  I need to see if my TP works, and to make sure the reg is set right at 2800 psi (I don't want to go higher), and I want to see what velocity these full bore ports will get me.  I'm super excited!  *crosses fingers*  Here's to hoping there's no rain, and this TP works!!!

[YEMX]

The scope base came in this morning, so I installed it.  Worked out perfect.  I have to run it on the back half of the breech, instead of the front.  But I have some wiggle room now, where as before I didn't.  I was thinking about bridging the gap over the loading port, as that would be the PERFECT spot- but I didn't like it.  It would leave me with just enough room to roll a slug into the shot tray, but if if didn't load properly, it would be hard (if not impossible) to remove the slug to load properly.  The mount isn't too tall either- I was worried about that.  But it's good.  Probably the equivalent to medium height rings.  It is a touch taller than the medium rings I had before, but I have TONS of height adjustment on the cheek piece, so it's all good.   

I'll post a pic later.