Assemble My Own Rifle?

I went down this rabit hole on the first rifle and came up and saw the light! Now I need a grizzly gunsmith lathe! I built my gun on a simple WalMart special savage axis. Put a 65creed barrel on it from Shillen. Once you have the tools you have the tools! You don't have to buy them for your next build. It's awesome to hit the 1200ud plate with ammo you made yourself, in a rifle you made yourself headspaced on the kitchen table! I know you can also wrap the action in a rag and clamp it in a vice but that's just how is poor folk shooting savages do it. No action wrench required.

Joel
 
Longtine88 said:
I've already found a retired machinist and I've talked to him to get him to teach me how to use the mills and lathe. I've been looking on Grizzly. My next step is to chamber all my own barrels. I'm in trouble I think with my wife. I told her it's gonna be my retirement hobby.
Click to expand...
Just build her a rifle first, then you won't have to worry about being in trouble and you can build as many guns as you want!
 
jakeSCH said:
Tools I would need to purchase
- Torque Wrench (10 to 150 ft-lb)
- Action Wrench
- Barrel Vice
- 300 WM headspace go / no go gauge
Click to expand...
I'm a DIY'er to my core, but the above is going to cost you $200-$300. I bought all my parts like you, took it to my gunsmith (Alamo Precision) and they screwed on the pre-fit for $25. Said headspace was dead on. That gap in cost was just too high for me.

Other than torquing on the barrel, I did all the other work. One thing worth mentioning, the Hawkins BDL I used in my anti action was NOT plug and play, rounds would not feed at all. The spring tension must be tuned (grinding/sanding off the edges to make it more narrow and less strong), and the spring must also be positioned correctly, then staked.

I haven't bothered bedding yet, gun shoots lights out without it so far.
 
So, the torque wrench. I saw HF mentioned. The problem with cheap clicker type torque wrenches is that they're out of calibration when you buy them or soon after. At which point the wrench is useless except as a breaker bar (something that a good torque wrench of any type is NEVER used to do). I'm sure that somewhere out there is the guy who bought a clicker from HF and has it checked every year (he's now spent more on checking it than it's worth) and it never needs to be re-calibrated He's the outlier, the flyer, can't count on that being you, too.

Buy quality. Buy a torque wrench that you can check for calibration at home. Buy a Beam type torque wrench. Yeah, they're not as easy to use, but you're not John Force's "Pan Man" torquing the 8 connecting rods and five main bearing caps three to five times a day. A slower to use torque wrench isn't a big deal, and being able to see that it is out of calibration (the pointer doesn't point to Zero) at a glance and being able to re-calibrate it (bend the pointer until it does point at Zero) is priceless. Their popularity is waning, but good ones are out there.
~$93 at time of posting: https://www.mcmaster.com/7181A18/ There may still be a Craftsman option, but my quick search didn't find it. Check swap meets too, this one of the few precision tools that I wouldn't hesitate to buy used. So long as the beam hasn't been ground on, altered in size or shape, or doesn't have rust pits it will accurately do the job.
 
Assemble it. Viper barrel vise-$70, Action wrench- $80, inexpensive torque wrench $35. Rent the head space gauges for 8-15$. I got my stuff from PMA and already had a basic 1/2" drive torque wrench. Doing my third now, 2 Kelbly Atlas and 1 Defiance. I will always do it myself for now on since I can order shouldered prefits at so many sources now as well as Remage style.



Action Wrenches, Barrel Vises & Gunsmithing Tools - Barrel Vises - PMA Tool

www.pmatool.com www.pmatool.com
 
JPatzig said:
I'm a DIY'er to my core, but the above is going to cost you $200-$300. I bought all my parts like you, took it to my gunsmith (Alamo Precision) and they screwed on the pre-fit for $25. Said headspace was dead on. That gap in cost was just too high for me.

Other than torquing on the barrel, I did all the other work. One thing worth mentioning, the Hawkins BDL I used in my anti action was NOT plug and play, rounds would not feed at all. The spring tension must be tuned (grinding/sanding off the edges to make it more narrow and less strong), and the spring must also be positioned correctly, then staked.

I haven't bothered bedding yet, gun shoots lights out without it so far.
Click to expand...

This makes sense except if you ever want to replace the barrel, build another rifle, etc… I also have friends, a son in law, grandkids and other family I can help now as well with their rigs.

The recent one I did I actually bought a 18" 308 and a 22" 7-08 so I can switch barrels in 5 minutes. Anyways…. To each their own!
 
The idea of using a $35 torque wrench on something dangerous like a firearm.....


There's inexpensive (which I'm all for) and then there's just cheap.
 
jakeSCH said:
I decided to go down a rabbit hole in the beginning of last year to purchase all my own parts to build my a light weight hunting rifle. Now that I am at the point of buying tools to assembly, I am getting cold feet and wondering if I should just sent off to LRI.

- Defiance Anti LA Mag
- Proof Research Light Weight Mountain Hunter
- Proof Defiance Prefit (300 WM w/ 1-9.4 twist 24" barrel)
- Trigger Tech R700 special
- Hawkins R700 BDL kit
- I will add a brake later on

Basically I am at the point where I need to either buy the tools needed to move forward to ship it off. I do believe that if I build it myself I will appreciate the rifle more...which is why I went the prefit route.

I would love to hear from others who went on the journey, put their own rifles together. Do you think the experience was worth it? On that note, I love reloading my own ammo and I see this as the next step / extension.

Tools I would need to purchase
- Torque Wrench (10 to 150 ft-lb)
- Action Wrench
- Barrel Vice
- 300 WM headspace go / no go gauge

Any specific recommendations of which ones to buy? I know defiance has their own action wrench, but not sure if it would be better buying a general one instead? Barrel vice recommendations?

Appreciate all feedback!!!

Jake
Click to expand...
Heck yes I would put it together. I did not know about all the detail in the custom actions and pre-fits after sending all my parts (Defiance, Mcmillan, and a non pre-fit barrel) to the smith to build us rifles. My understanding NOW is they should be perfectly threaded for exact headspace. Even if you buy all the items.....probably be cheaper than paying for it.....and you have the tools then. You do not need a $500 Snap On torque wrench.

Torque Wrench: I don't have it available where I live and I know in bigger towns you can rent/loan tools from many auto supply stores. Give them your CC info for a deposit and you get it for a certain time frame.
Action Wrench, Headspace Gauges: These can be rented from different places also.
Barrel Vice: Dont know if these can be rented. If you dont have a bench vise (can make your own barrel clamp/buy the inserts) you may have to buy one. The hardest part is getting old barrels off not installing new ones.
 

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