Machining a Model 10 Aluminum Stock from Scratch
I have been working on this project for a couple of weeks now posting in a build thread on a private builders forum. It occurred to me that since the victim is a Model 10 there's no better place to share the progress than here! Oh, I have a small CNC that I could use but the plan was to build this stock using only manual machinery because that's what most of the builders on the other board have access to.
Some back story:
I bought the .308 Model 10FCP-K early in 2008 thinking it was going to arrive with a McMillan stock as was pictured in the sale ad. Instead I got an "accustock" that was pretty pliable. I took the rifle out a couple of times and was disappointed with the accuracy results. In hindsight, 99.9% of the problem was me being ticked off about the stock switch and feeding the rifle nothing but mil surplus ammo. Fast forward 8 years and I bought my next new rifle, a Model 12FV which impressed me so much I pushed all other guns aside for a few months. There's a thread on it's stock here: http://www.savageshooters.com/showth...my-Model-12-FV
Since the model 12 got me reloading again I pulled the Model 10 out of the safe to give it a chance to redeem itself. I still have a long way to go to get it to shoot as well as the Model 12, my best groups are still .8~1" but aren't very repeatable.
Viewers invariably ask "how long does it take to make an aluminum stock?" and my answer is "I don't know" because I work on projects in my home shop and invariably get drawn from one thing to another, especially when people drop by. This time I decided I'd keep a daily log to track the hours. This worked in earnest for a few days before I started forgetting to write it down, then I started guessing on how long an operation took. Since I don't work off of a complete set of plans I tend to make changes on the fly then try to remember to update the drawing to match what I did. Yeah, right!
Anyway, on to the project.
As usual, my order of operations is to do the least amount of work on the part to allow me to get to an operation where the risk of scrapping the part is high. If There's a chance of trashing the part I want to get it over with before I have a lot of time invested. The next consideration is to choose setups in the best sequence to as to not machine a surface away that I will need to clamp on with a vise jaw later on.
I started out with an oversized block of 6061 aluminum and cut the length to a bit over 14". Rather than mill the extra length and width material away I chose to bandsaw it off so I could use the waste material to make other stuff with. The trade off is time and since I'm not getting paid it doesn't amount to much. I believe the bandsaw cut about .2"/minute. I stood my horizontal/vertical bandsaw up and used an accessory table. Adding a board over the still horizontal vise gave me a seat to sit down on for the long sessions. This would've been much faster if I'd bought a coarse raker blade for the bandsaw instead of using a worn out 12TPI blade.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29...psjbfh27mm.jpg
After each saw cut was made I to put the block on the mill to square that side up.
After machining the sides and length I clamped it in the vise to cut the receiver channel straight across the top. The savage is just a round action so it's a simple fit. I use a 1" ball end mill to cut the channel.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29...pskxmtncia.jpg
Next step is to drill and ream .250" holes where the action screws will be (4.4" spacing on the short action Savage), these will be used for datum reference holes for all succeeding operations.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29...pseeu53phu.jpg
