Squared and Trued 700 VS Blueprinted
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I was an automation Pioneer. I'd be the first to agree that automation has its strengths and further that CNC has opened a whole new world.
My choice of words may have been inadequate. I was trying to help Omar see that he had no worries about going the old fashioned way.
That said, I do stand by what I said - I'll take a skilled craftsman with a manual lathe any day over a newbie and their CNC machine......
I have seen this debate many times and having done both types of machining, My opinion is that some things are done better by CNC, others are done better on a lathe. because the set up is different, the end results depend on the quality of the set up and tooling with CNC more than the craftsman and his ability to make minor changes that will effect the out come of the work if done on a lathe.
I know there are two schools of though on this and i am only saying that for action work and chambering, I prefer doing it on a lathe. I know it is slower, but who's in a hurry. Precision take time and being able to adjust to different issues makes doing gunsmithing on a good lathe my first choice.
CNC machining is unforgiving and once you make the part you have to measure every dimension to verify it dimensional'y If it is off you have to scrap the part and start over, With custom gunsmithing, you don't have that luxury, so you must do it right the first time.
Factory actions are CNC machined for speed and cost. True custom rifles are built one at a time by craftsman.
Just My Opinion
J E CUSTOM[/QUOTE]
Well said as always JE
I'm not a machinist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know that the only advantage of cnc is repeatability. The machine is controlled by a computer......Just use auto-correct for a text and you will see that can be a problem. Any tool is only as good as the operator.....even a shovel requires a skilled operator to avoid a disaster around a water line!
Do you think I should try some kind of bedding block in the walnut stock (if it's even possible)?OK, you got me!But in my own defense, I was talking about the outcome for Omar and he is only doing one......
If you read one of my earlier notes, I did that on one of my very first custom rifles. I still have that rifle and I still love it. It's totally possible.
It's not that hard to do either. I used an old drill press to mill out the stock bedding area and epoxied in an aluminium block. I didn't even worry about the shape of the block because I subsequently epoxy bedded the action to the block. It all worked just fine.
However, today, you can buy a very nice stock from accurate innovations that already has the block epoxied into the walnut for a reasonable price. If you want it, they will even do fancy walnut for you at a much higher price of course.
Today, I have a mill and I would not hesitate to do a bedding block in a walnut stock again.
I admit that you do have me thinking about all this a fair bit. I believe I already discussed the bedding problems that I have had with Sakos. It seems the bedding either works or doesn't with them for me. And it's ALWAYS sensitive to screw torque which indicates to me that all of them could be improved.
A bedding block "MIGHT" well be the answer to these problems....... At the very least, it might be a very worthy experiment. I don't know what vintage Sako you have, but the latest 85s actually have a very small "bedding block" screwed into the wood at the front of the receiver. I'm sure they don't call it a bedding block, but that's a reasonable way to look at it. It's a small piece of steel with a recess in it to accept the actions recoil lug.
The problem with Sakos approach is the stress that darned thing introduces. The action stress is downright horrible on every rifle I have measured that has one of those - even those that shoot well!
So maybe putting in a full bedding block and getting rid of that contraption might work really well........
Thanks again, that's very informative. I have an 85.If you read one of my earlier notes, I did that on one of my very first custom rifles. I still have that rifle and I still love it. It's totally possible.
It's not that hard to do either. I used an old drill press to mill out the stock bedding area and epoxied in an aluminium block. I didn't even worry about the shape of the block because I subsequently epoxy bedded the action to the block. It all worked just fine.
However, today, you can buy a very nice stock from accurate innovations that already has the block epoxied into the walnut for a reasonable price. If you want it, they will even do fancy walnut for you at a much higher price of course.
Today, I have a mill and I would not hesitate to do a bedding block in a walnut stock again.
I admit that you do have me thinking about all this a fair bit. I believe I already discussed the bedding problems that I have had with Sakos. It seems the bedding either works or doesn't with them for me. And it's ALWAYS sensitive to screw torque which indicates to me that all of them could be improved.
A bedding block "MIGHT" well be the answer to these problems....... At the very least, it might be a very worthy experiment. I don't know what vintage Sako you have, but the latest 85s actually have a very small "bedding block" screwed into the wood at the front of the receiver. I'm sure they don't call it a bedding block, but that's a reasonable way to look at it. It's a small piece of steel with a recess in it to accept the actions recoil lug.
The problem with Sakos approach is the stress that darned thing introduces. The action stress is downright horrible on every rifle I have measured that has one of those - even those that shoot well!
So maybe putting in a full bedding block and getting rid of that contraption might work really well........
