Chambering a rifle at home

birdiemc said:

And I still cant do it with my thread on chuck...haha
A buddy of mine told me to try that method but....next lathe maybe

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Could drill and tap into the spindle for set screw to lock the back plate to the spindle nose. Make some set screws with tips that fit into a hole so the chuck/back plate cannot unscrew.

Danny1788 said:

Could drill and tap into the spindle for set screw to lock the back plate to the spindle nose. Make some set screws with tips that fit into a hole so the chuck/back plate cannot unscrew.

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Now you're just making sense, stop doing that or I'll never have enough excuses to convince the wife I have to buy a different lathe and then add on to the shop to accommodate it, which would require insulating and climate control to help keep minimize shifting and maximize time spent in said shop, figure all in we are talking about $50k for a new lathe

The set screw is a bad idea. Sounds like a good way to butcher a spindle nose to me. You'd still have slack, it'd never be a rigid as is required to do accurate work. If using set screws to secure a thread on chuck was a viable idea, it would have been done long ago. You are not the first to try to find a way around learning to thread to a shoulder in a conventional manner.

That's why I just sucked it up and learned to do it the way it's been done for years. Threading as slow as I do it's not that hard to get everything timed just right and avoid crashing. I read somewhere the other day to make a mark with a sharpie to watch it coming around as well as using a dial indicator to be able to sneak up on the shoulder, both good tips that I aim to start incorporating. Watching the the dial come around closer to a zero point sounds way better than staring at rotating threads trying to time things correctly

Mram10us said:

I can feel the guys cringe Funny how guns can shoot whether you do the musts or not. My buddy that retired at 73 from building and shooting long range loved to pose the question to me, "Mike, if all this truing stuff and dialing in to the gagillionth has to be done to make an accurate rifle, then why do you find Remington and savage box rifles shooting 1/2" or better?" He asked me that a million times!?

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Haha, yeah it shot under and inch @ 100 with a 190smk over 4064. I dabbled with LR a bit but had a hard time justifying slinging SMKs @ rocks at that stage in life. It's also the rifle I learned how to do glass work on. I recall I used walmart slow set epoxy mixed with aluminum fines from the schools band saw in the machine shop. I built a barrel vise and action wrench from steel scraps.

birdiemc said:

Now you're just making sense, stop doing that or I'll never have enough excuses to convince the wife I have to buy a different lathe and then add on to the shop to accommodate it, which would require insulating and climate control to help keep minimize shifting and maximize time spent in said shop, figure all in we are talking about $50k for a new lathe

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50k!!!? My shop with all the tools in it was less than that

Being able to do the work, and being able to do the work at the level of precision needed- and to earn substantial profit- are completely different.

I was mentored occasionally by an "old timer", many decades as a machinist, subcontractor for prominent firearms manufacturers.

When I got my FFL, I initially just gave him work I took in that required precise machining, including muzzle threading/brakes.

Went to his shop one day to pick up a customer's rifle. As I was disassembling for Cerakote prep, I noticed the brake he installed was visibly crooked-YIKES.
The brake I gave him was a Holland QD- which is tapered, and the rear of the brake needs to be faced-off so that it matches the barrel OD. A bit more work than most brakes, but they look great...

The brake was crooked,and he didn't measure/face the back of the brake and it looked like crap on top of being crooked.

My point, is that I too thought "nothing like experience".
Usually a lot of validity to that- but not necessarily. After that debacle, i started doing all the work myself. Helluva pucker factor when you're new at it and know there's a hair's width (literally) between success and screwing up customers' property.
With experience comes confidence.

Much of this business is being dominated by CNC shops that can do it faster and cheaper on a unit basis IF they have the volume. Gunsmithing schools are woefully behind the times and do not.prepare students for the current business climate.

Mram10us said:

50k!!!? My shop with all the tools in it was less than that

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Well I was really just joking when i said i would have to go out and buy a new lathe then add on to the shop and all that....bit then I found myself at an auction this past weekend and before I knew it my hand was in the air like i just dont care...long story short I got a new to me lathe and milling machine sitting on the trailer and been busting my butt to get things cleaned up, organized and rearranged enough to squeeze them both in...good problem to have

birdiemc said:

Well I was really just joking when i said i would have to go out and buy a new lathe then add on to the shop and all that....bit then I found myself at an auction this past weekend and before I knew it my hand was in the air like i just dont care...long story short I got a new to me lathe and milling machine sitting on the trailer and been busting my butt to get things cleaned up, organized and rearranged enough to squeeze them both in...good problem to have

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Welcome to the dark side!

You're telling me...now I gotta get a vfd to switch the milling machine from 3 phase. Then all the tooling.
It came with a set of collets and a vice, and that's it...there were several lots of tooling but they sold before the machine so I didnt bid afraid I would end up with a bunch of tooling for a mill I didnt get.

birdiemc said:

Well I was really just joking when i said i would have to go out and buy a new lathe then add on to the shop and all that....bit then I found myself at an auction this past weekend and before I knew it my hand was in the air like i just dont care...long story short I got a new to me lathe and milling machine sitting on the trailer and been busting my butt to get things cleaned up, organized and rearranged enough to squeeze them both in...good problem to have

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Give us some details on what you bought? I could see myself doing the same thing if I could find any auctions local to me.
I really enjoy looking at machines.

Picture's worth a thousand words.

The DRO is chinese, but I was told it worked by the electrician they had on site disconnecting everything...the lathe definitely isn't the 'good ole American iron' everybody always talk about, but it's a Taiwanese machine built in 87, best I can tell it was sold under about 10 or so different names. It's light years better than the grizzly I already have. Everything moves so smoothly, I just had no idea just how awful my grizzly really is until now. I only have 24" between centers, was hoping for something with more but for half the price of what I paid for the grizzly I couldn't pass it up. Especially with the collet set and the Aloris qctp I got and all the other tooling.

Looks like you are well on your way...they should provide you with years and years of service when properly cared for...

here's a couple of my meager shop...hope you don't mind...




I've got them shoe horned into my garage for now. I enjoy getting out there and tinkering a bit.


Thanks for the pictures of yours. Good luck cause it never ends for me. Lol