A small project from earlier this year

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I shoot quite a bit from a rest and I wasn't satisified with the front rest I was using. So a little welding and a little machine work and I came up with this. Frankly I'm ashamed of the welding. Old 7018 rod and old shaky hands don't do a very neat job unless I can prop my arm on something and I couldn't on this. Oh well, it works good. It weighs 17 1/2 pounds so it doesn't move unless you deliberately move it. It has a windage top and all the adjustments lock down where nothing can wiggle.The shooter's side.The target side.
Reply:looks nice!!
Reply:That is a quality piece of work.Looks like you reworked a pipe plug for the elevation adjustment.  NeatHave you gone all out, and got ahold of a rifle with a bull barrel?  I got a buddy into that.  Those guys don't shoot groups, they shoot holes!"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Samm, The body is a piece of 3" diameter cold rolled that I chucked up in the lathe, turned that little step on the top, and drilled a 1" hole thru. The elevation screw started life as a 1" B-7 stud bolt that is used with pipe flanges.This is one of two 10/22's that I have built to shoot off of it. 20" .920" dia. bull barrel, Power Custom hammer and sear kit, trued and head spaced bolt, trigger stop, extended mag release, radiused and polished trigger. The stock is glued up from 1" X 8" red oak  with mesquite fore end tip and grip cap. Action is pillar bedded on a 3/4" steel pillar and full bedded with JB Weld. First 2" of the barrel is bedded and then free floated. It shoots cheap Remington Golden Bullets into .4" groups at 50 yards. Wolf Target and Winchester T-22 will get dowm to 3". Some day I'll save enough money to try some of the really high priced Eley ammo and see what it can do.
Reply:Ok, now I see.  I thought the bolt was the top part of a plug.  It looked like one piece at first.The rifle looks like the type that my buddy uses.  There's a coupla house payments in that baby.  He's shooting some sort of .222 round.  Does his own loading.A small grouping with the factory ammo you're using is really good.  I hear there's quite a bit of variance in the loads.  Only guns I have are a 12ga for snakes(two legged ones included), an old Mossberg .22, a .22 revolver, and a 36cal Colt Navy.I think bench shooting would be a good way to spend an afternoon."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Oh, BTW.... Do you find that the semi auto action does as well as a bolt action for accuracy.  I always hear people talking about the advantages of a solid locked breach.Seems that any movement caused by the semi auto action would be more than soaked up by the heavy barrel you have, and the solid rest."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:I don't know where I got Mossberg from  I just pulled the rifle outta the closet and took a look at it.  It's a Springfield/Savage.Bought it 31yrs. ago.  Stripped the factory finish on the stock, and put on around 5 or 6 coats of Tung Oil.  It's held up pretty well.Yours would shoot circles around mine.  It's a Cadillac, mine's a Ford Attached Images"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Not really. Dollar for dollar I believe the bolt guns will always beat the autos off a rest.
Reply:I have a Remington 511 my late fatere inlaw left behind, only he hid the bolt. Anyone have one, I am itching to shoot it? I love the 10/22 Oldtimer, my wife wants the pink one she saw when we were out the other day.Disclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:Nice work oldtimer. I use a bag of rice with duct tape on it for a rest.I am also a 10/22 addict.Sure its just a $180 rifle.......at first Yup
Reply:Yea, $180 + tax for the rifle, $110 for the barrel and $60 for the hammer & sear kit + shipping. Plus I think about $30 for the wood and glue to build the stock. I did all the work myself. That is a cheap rifle compared to what some guys spend on them. It's easy to spend $1000 on one of them with all the stuff made for them. Not for me though. Oh, I forgot, throw in $100 or so + shipping for the scope.
Reply:did you install the hammer and sear yourself, if so how hard was it and di it make a big difference?
Reply:Yes, and it isn't hard. The only touchy part is installing the shims to take out side play but they aren't really hard. It makes quite a difference. The trigger goes from what I consider really bad to about a 2 1/2# pull. It does nothing for free travel and over travel however. I don't really mind the free travel as it is easy to control. The over travel is easily taken care of by drilling the triggerguard and tapping for an 8-32 or 10-24 screw. I use an allen set screw 1/2" long. Screw it in until the gun won't fire, then back it off until the trigger will just release. You might have to grind a thread or two off the screw to keep it from protruding out the back of the trigger guard.
Reply:Very nice work Oldtimer.  I've got one that I have been building myself in my spare time (whenever I have some)  I'll try to take some pics of it next time I am working on it.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:I'd like to see it.Here is the other one I built. I designed the stock for offhand shooting and it fits me perfectly. It is glued up from 1/2" birch plywood and the fore end is 3" wide. It is kind of weird looking but sure is easy to shoot offhand. That makes it hard to shoot from a rest. I have to run the rest up pretty high and stack some boards I've cut under the rear bag because of the drop in the stock.
Reply:Beautiful work on the stocks Oldtimer, they are really sharpYup