A Rifle Anyone Can Build Jerry Lindsey
Copyright 2010 by Jerry Lindsey ISBN 978-0-557-31768-4 Published by Jerry Lindsey
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Thanks to my wife Sandra for encouraging me in this project, for helping me with the technical aspects, and for continuing to love me when projects like this take me away from her. And thanks to my son Jesse for hunting with me when there was no game and fishing with me when there were no fish, but we had fun huh?
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Contents Forward………………………………………………6 History………………………………………………..7 Legal…………………………………………………..8 Tools………………………………………….………..9 Design…………………………………………….….10 Internal Parts………………………………….….13 Frame Construction……………………………..20 Stocks…………………………………………….….37 Sights…………………………………………….…..39 Templates…………………………………….………42-43
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DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT The author and publisher of this book and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this book. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this book. The information contained in this book is strictly for educational purposes. Therefore, if you wish to apply ideas contained in this book, you are taking full responsibility for your actions. The author and publisher disclaim any warranties (express or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of this material, which is provided “as is”, and without warranties. The author and publisher do not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites listed or linked to in this book. All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose. This book is © copyrighted by Jerry Lindsey. No part of this may be copied, or changed in any format, sold, or used in any way other than what is outlined within this book under any circumstances.
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Forward This is a guide for anyone wanting to build their own rifle, it was something I always wanted to do myself, and after a bit of research of designs for existing arms, I decided to borrow from an early single shot design that would be fairly simple to reproduce without expensive machinery or any experience in gunsmithing. I did work in a machine shop twenty five years ago and bring some knowledge of engineering and machine work but the point of this project is that no mill or lathe will be required. The job will be completed with hand tools and a drill. This is not a “quick and dirty” zip gun, but a classic design that happens to lend itself to the home workshop and should last for generations. If you put in the time and care, this can be a beautiful rifle that you and your descendants will be very proud of or you can more easily make a very utilitarian rifle. This design makes for a fairly simple project in the home and you will see that the individual components are not complicated and if you concentrate on one part at a time, then the fitting of each part, there is nothing here that will be too difficult. The skills required are those that most of you already posses if you do any work around the house or simple repairs on your vehicles.
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History
Many early single shot rifles were of the falling block or rolling block design because of its strength and simplicity. The one we will be replicating is the Remington model 6 rifle. The model 6 was produced from 1901 – 1933 and was upgraded to the “improved” model in 1929 together with the receiver becoming a single machined part along with other minor changes. In its original form it is a small frame rifle that was designed for the rimfire cartridges 22 and 32. If you are familiar with this rifle you might be aware of the shortcomings of this particular design, specifically the leaf springs and the shallow threads that locate the barrel to the frame. We will address these weaknesses and improve the design with coil springs and a much more solid mount of the barrel. The instruction here is for the 22 but I believe that if made larger and with stronger materials it could withstand small centerfire cartridges. Although several other designs have a similar construction, this one relies on side plates to locate the 7
breech block, hammer and trigger pins with the center section only serving as a spacer and to tie the sides together. Even if you decide to use steel for the side plates I would still use aluminum bar stock for the center section because it is easier to machine and it does not affect the final strength of the gun.
Legal In the United States it is currently (2009) legal for an individual to build their own firearm providing that it complies to the legal requirements of arms, i.e. minimum barrel length of 16” for rifles, no shoulder stock on pistols, no short barrel shotguns etc. One thing that you must remember is that this self built gun may never, ever be sold. It may be past to your heirs but never sold. Firearm construction and possession in your locale is your responsibility to research. You should check your local laws since they will likely be changing in this political climate.
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Tools I have for some years worked on my own guns and those of friends and family so I already had some gunsmithing tools, mostly files, stones and hand tools, but I did have a bench grinder and some power tools including a rotary tool. You won’t need anything expensive to finish this project but there are some things that will be difficult to do without. One of the first things I knew I would need was a bench vise, but given the small size of the parts that we will be making I decided that a 4 in. vise would be adequate and has been very useful. The Shop Fox Gunsmithing Vice from Midway USA is ideal for this. If you have other uses for a vise you might want a larger one but for this project an inexpensive 4 in. model is just fine. While you might be able to complete this project with a hand drill, a small imported drill press will make the job so much easier and make your parts more precise. I obtained a cheap drill press for about 50 bucks from harbor freight tools. There will be a list of sources for tools and all materials needed at the end of this book. A milling vise or drill press vise is very useful to firmly hold parts on the drill press table; it will also help you move the parts precisely when locating the position for the holes. You may be able to clamp a small bench vise to the table of the drill press. Some files will be needed and while they can be purchased from discount tool outfits, it is best not to skimp on files. A good file can get through material very quickly if the right one is chosen. I’m not going to write a chapter on all the types of files available, but you should be able to get by with a large (12 in.) bastard cut 9
(rough) and a similar size fine cut. You will need at least one small round file for inside radiuses and for the notches made for the sear you will need a small fine square or triangle file. While not absolutely necessary for this project a bench grinder is always valuable as well as a rotary tool like a dremel.
List of tools, most important first, followed by others Vise, files, hand drill or drill press, milling or drill press vise, bench grinder, die grinder
Design This chapter is to discuss the design and briefly explain how this thing gets put together before we get into the fabrication of each individual part.
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I decided to make the side plates and frame of aluminum since its strength is adequate for this project and to further reduce the weight of an already lightweight rifle. The original Remington rifle is one of a take-down design which I also wanted to reduce the size for packing. The side plates are .125 1/8 in. aluminum plate which could be thinner if made of steel, the center section which only separates the sides and provides a mounting surface for the barrel and butt stock is .375 3/8 in. aluminum bar stock. You can also fashion the trigger guard as part of the center section, like in the picture, but I didn’t obtain large enough aluminum stock for this so I made the trigger guard a separate part. The outside dimensions are not terribly critical since after the side plates and center are cut they can be sized together to make the final fit correct. The breech block and hammer are 3/8 in. mild steel which after a little removal of material on each side will move freely within the side plates. You could use carbon steel and harden them after all machining is done or as I did use mild steel which cuts and files easily then case 11
harden them or use a product like casenit* which hardens the outside surface simply, and leaves the inside resilient to resist cracking. Many older guns use this technique and many of them have survived in serviceable condition so this should make parts that will last many years. The sides are held together with press fit pins as well as the trigger, hammer and breech block are held in place with pins that are pressed into the sides and the moving parts are bored just large enough to allow their movement. This should all make sense when you see the exploded view and hopefully there are enough pictures to guide you. If you want to make your own stocks I will explain that later in the chapter on stocks but I was fortunate enough to have some wooden stocks for a nef single shot rifle that with minor modification fit perfectly. These are available from h&r 1871* and I will describe how they need to be modified. You can use a 22 barrel of just about any diameter, mine is 7/8 in. .875 and is a three piece design of a barrel liner, steel sleeve around that and aluminum tube around that to give the required legal length. This was an effort to save weight and has worked very well. Again we will get into more discussion of barrel design in the chapter on barrels. I obtained the barrel liner from numrich gun parts* where you can also get whole barrels that will work for this project.
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INTERNAL PARTS Step one; Please read through the entire chapter before proceeding with any work.
You should begin by cutting out the moving parts, the hammer, breech block and trigger. There are templates that you should copy, then verify the dimensions are correct, there is a scale on the template to compare, adjust their size by enlarging or reducing the size of the copy before transferring the shapes to your steel. If you don’t have a band saw the best way to make the breech block and hammer, which are 3/8 in. steel, is to layout your part on the stock then drill 1/8 in. holes around the outside of your scribed line where the holes are almost touching then it will be simple to cut out the part with a jig saw or jewelers wire saw, then removing the extra material with your bench grinder and or just files. This method was learned from the book Pistolsmithing, by George C. Nonte jr. Stackpole books. I would like to note that there is no extractor or ejector in this design since it would be very difficult to do in the scope of this project. The low pressure of the .22 cartridge prevents it from expanding much so if the chamber is finished and polished properly, removal of spent cartridges should not be a problem.
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In this photo you see the hammer being cut out of stock using the described process. The original Remington hammer is visible in the upper left of the picture, notice that the area below the hammer spur is concave, and this is where the original flat spring bore against the hammer. The design we will be using will utilize a coil spring so this area is cut straight and later a hole bored for the spring to seat in.
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I used a portable bandsaw to cut out the rough parts so I only drilled the inside radiuses then followed the lines with the saw leaving a small margin to finish with filing. Remember that the shape of the final product is only dictated by the location of the pivot hole and the relation to the other moving parts, in the case of the hammer shown here, the shelf under the hammer face (the area that contacts the breech block and firing pin) is what supports the breech block when closed and when firing. The area below the spur is the location of the hammer spring seat. The bottom of the hammer is the sear location and acts on the trigger so you can take liberties with the shape of the hammer spur and face.
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See in the picture how the shelf below the hammer face supports the breech block when closed. This was taken during fitting of the parts; the drill bits are the size of the pivot holes and are just used for fitting. You are seeing the center section and opposite side plate in position, the tube is in place of the barrel for mock-up purposes. There are templates for the breechblock, hammer and trigger that should be printed then transferred to card stock or something thick enough to hold its shape then finally transferred to your steel stock by coating the steel with Dykem* or a similar product. There will also be a dimensional scale of the parts that you should check when printing the templates, you may need to resize your print to obtain the proper size templates.
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The hammer is actually a pretty simple part, notice in the illustrations that the most important areas are the supporting shelf, the hammer face and the sear area, that’s the bottom of the hammer. The large area below the spur is where we will drill a shallow hole for the hammer spring to seat. Later you will contour the center of the frame to be parallel to that part of the hammer so the spring will not bind. After you have the basic shape of the hammer the final work will be during fitting when you have the breech block and trigger ready.
Breech-block lower left
The breech block is a very basic shape and after cutting out the crude dimensions you will want to shape the area that is identified in the picture as “support” with a 17
large half round file, this area is concave and relates to the radius of the hammer area identified in the picture. In this picture there are areas that are not finished but I want to bring attention to. The front upper part of the breech block, right below the barrel should be radiused as to not cause pressure on the barrel when the breech block is lowered, also the inside of the “L” should not be a sharp corner but a small radius since any sharp inside corner here could cause a weak spot for a crack to start. The most complicated thing to be done to this part will be the hole for the firing pin and we will leave that for when the moving parts are fitted. For now be sure that the contact surfaces between the hammer and breech block are mating properly, these are the places the hammer face contacts the breech block and most importantly the support area.
Now let’s look at the trigger. The steel stock used for the trigger should be roughly half the thickness of the hammer and breech block. When cutting out the basic shape make sure you leave enough material at the top, this is the engagement surface to the sear, in fitting we will want to be sure we have a positive engagement that will hold the hammer securely. Use a large round file on the inside front of the trigger where your finger will 18
make contact, you can get creative here and make a wide smooth trigger or serrations if you like. I found a simple way to make serrations with a cheap thread cleaning file available at most hardware stores there should be eight separate sides to clean different pitch threads, use this to start the serrations and finish with a small triangle file. I prefer a smooth trigger and am happy with the results and feel of mine. If you have read and understand the preceding, now is the time to begin the small parts before moving on to the frame.
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Frame construction Now we need to put together the frame so we can fit the parts you have made. As mentioned before I feel aluminum is a fine material for the frame of this rifle, I used 6061 aluminum stock with fine results though there are other options, some that won’t work as well regarding cutting and machining, 6063 and 5052 should be avoided, find stock that can be worked without gumming your files and tools, there are things you can do to reduce this like chalking your file, a simple process of rubbing the cutting surface of the file with chalk. The side plates are .125-2in. wide and 6in. long. Cover the pieces with a coating of dykem and trace the template with a scribe. Cut the parts out with your band saw or jigsaw leaving just a hair of material outside the scribe line to finish fitting with the center section.
After cutting out the center section you will be ready to put the three pieces of the frame together, at this point you will want to pin the frame together to prevent the pieces from shifting while you are working on the outer dimensions of the frame. Clamp all three pieces firmly together with c-clamps before drilling and center punch the locations for the pin holes, I used .113 pins and drilled with a #35 drill so the pins will fit tightly, the exact location of the pins is not critical as long as they don’t interfere with other functions of the frame. The front lower area is appropriate for one pin, just be sure it is low enough not to interfere with the hole you will drill later to help locate the fore-end. Another location would be the upper rear area behind the hammer. You can also see that I used barrel nuts to help hold the frame together. The heads were partially countersunk as 20
to not hinder the profile of the frame. In retrospect the barrel nuts may not have been absolutely necessary but I felt they would help hold things together, if you would like to use them they are available from fastenal and other sources for very little. If you don’t use the barrel nuts you should use several more pins, the original design used 8 in total but they were holding together steel. See the picture of the Remington frame and my diagram for locations for additional pins.
Now we’re going to shape the profiles of the frame, the contour of the underside is purely aesthetic and you can be creative here. You can leave the corners square and sharp which wouldn’t be very comfortable in the hand so you will want to contour them some or very much if you would prefer. Pad your vice with aluminum sheet or something that will keep the jaws from marring your frame then place the frame in a vice upside down and just high enough that you can work on the entire length 21
with your large coarse file. Remove as much material as you see fit to make the contour pleasing then move to a finer file to reduce the marks made by the course file. Remember the area that the trigger guard will be mounted to, shouldn’t be too rounded, mine was radiused all the way across and caused me to correspondingly radius the mounting points of the trigger guard. I am fine with the way it came out; it just caused some extra work. If you used large enough material for the center section to incorporate the trigger guard the finished product will be much cleaner. The front of the frame should remain sharp as this is where your fore-end will fit and the same for the rear of the frame for the butt-stock. The upper rear section behind the hammer can be contoured similarly to the underside and you will later fit the stock to this. The top of the frame is where the barrel will sit and should be machined to the contour of your barrel. The barrel I used was 7/8 or .875 outside diameter and this size was convenient to use a carbide router bit chucked in my drill press and the frame passed under it several times in the milling vice to create an appropriate channel for the barrel. I then finished the channel with a half round file that happened to be the perfect radius for the channel. If you are not using a milling vise you can carefully lower the router bit in adjoining locations and then blend the area with a half round file. If you are not using a drill press, you must very carefully mark the center of the frame, and then drill shallow pilot holes with a bit large enough to give the router bit a good start. If one of your pilot holes is off center, just move over a little and start another one. This is another good reason to use aluminum for the frame because the barrel channel would have been one of the more difficult operations if it had been steel but the carbide router bit
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cut the aluminum easily. The illustration shows a 1” router bit, yours should match your barrel diameter.
The U-shaped channel in the illustration above is similar to the channel you will be making in the top of the frame where the barrel will rest. If you haven’t obtained your barrel yet you should start shopping because you will need it in the next step. It is very important that your barrel be of a diameter that you can match with a half round file since the barrel channel must be finished with a file. If you were using a mill for this process it wouldn’t be an issue but since we’re relying on hand tools and maybe a drill press you should match the barrel diameter to a file radius.
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The picture above should explain how I put together a three piece laminated barrel using a barrel liner with seamless heavy wall steel tubing and the aluminum sleeve on the outside to create the legal length barrel. The liner and steel tube surrounding it are only nine inches, you can do this with a rifle length liner but for .22 the nine inches gives pretty good velocity. Sixteen inches is reported to be the optimum length for a .22 barrel with longer lengths actually reducing velocity. You can solder the liner into the tube but you will have to use acraglas or similar epoxy product for the aluminum sleeve. If you use this laminated barrel idea you should epoxy the steel into the aluminum first so you can drill the hole through the two of them for the bolt that will secure the barrel to the frame. If you lay the barrel in the receiver with the breech block roughly in place you will be able to locate a position in the barrel and receiver where this hole will be nearest the center of 24
the two. It will be easier to drill the hole in the receiver first then use the hole to locate the position of the hole for the barrel. I’m not giving specific dimensions here because it simply is not necessary, as long as the barrel is in a position where the breech block can fit to the breech end of the barrel and the breech block has room to swing down as it should without hitting the frame, of course additional trimming can be done to the frame or breech block. The barrel will be most secure if the attaching hole is near the center of the mounting surface. In preparing the barrel and its securing bolt we will address one of the issues of the original model 6. These little guns were notorious for having their barrel threads worn or ripped out by repeated disassembly. Given the small diameter of the little .22 barrel there wasn’t a lot of material to thread into without breaking through into the rifling. Whether you use my laminated barrel idea or a used or new barrel from a parts dealer, the securing bolt should be permanently fixed in the barrel and the other end threaded for a nut. If the nut end should ever wear out it should be possible to replace the bolt. My design also uses a larger diameter barrel and I suggest you not go smaller than .750 for your project. Prepare a barrel securing bolt by obtaining a grade 6 or better ¼ in. bolt 20 or 28 tpi. 2.5-3” long so that the head can be removed and the end be threaded with a 1/4 -28 die. Now both ends of the bolt are threaded with a smooth shank in between. Do not try to use threaded rod, it is usually soft steel and you need the smooth shank of the bolt to fit tightly in the frame. Go ahead and drill then tap the hole ¼-20 or ¼-28 it doesn’t make much difference but the 20 might be a little stronger. Now epoxy the barrel liner in place making sure the breech end is as flush as possible. You 25
can file all of the pieces even later but the less filing the better, and make sure the liner is facing the correct way. Barrel liners are made by pulling a die through the tubing, so the bullet should travel the same way to avoid excess fouling. The breech end is usually marked with a ring around its diameter near the end. While the epoxy is wet install the barrel bolt, it should be just long enough to go through the frame and have enough threads to just go through the securing nut. The bottom of the frame won’t be a flat surface for the barrel securing nut so you should use a mill bit similar to the picture below to create a flat surface at the frame bottom where the bolt comes through. If you do use a regular rifle barrel prepare it for your frame in the same manner described above by locating the position for the hole just like described but do some math before you drill. You can figure the barrels wall thickness by measuring the overall diameter dividing by 2 and subtracting .224 this last number can vary but not by more than a couple of thousandths. This will give you the thickness of the material you are drilling and be very careful not to ruin your barrel by drilling into the bore. If there isn’t .200 of wall to drill into you might should finish the hole with a bottoming drill and tap, they will leave a square bottom of the hole as opposed to the v shaped bottom that serves no purpose but a regular drill bit and tap are configured like this.
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You might be tempted to ream the chamber at this point but you shouldn’t chamber the barrel yet in case you have to take some material from the breech end when fitting the breech block. But I thought I would point out here that you can save the cost of a 22lr. Chamber reamer by chambering with a #2 drill then polishing the chamber to final dimensions, the #2 is just a few thousandths too tight and #1 is a bit on the large size. You should now fit the breech block to the frame, attach your barrel to the frame with a nut (later you will want to find a knurled nut for this) and position the breech block in the frame so that the breech face is sealing the breech of the barrel. Now you can find a point in the frame and breech block where the block should pivot. You may have to remove the barrel to allow the frame to lay flat on the drill press or table, if so, carefully remove the barrel so you don’t move the breech block and clamp the block in the frame so you can drill through the frame, block and the other side of the frame. Depending on your set-up this may not be possible. You may have to drill one side of the frame 27
then mark the breech block, drill it, then drill through the first side of the frame and breech block, then the last side of the frame. If you’re using a drill press, try to lay the frame on its side and clamp the frame to the drill press table, the frame should flex enough that by clamping right on the breech block area it can hold the breech block in place. I used #15 drill because I had drill rod on hand to make the pins but you could use .125.1875 for this and the hammer. The pin for the trigger might have to be smaller because of the size of the part. Now obtain or make a pin from drill rod that tightly fits the frame and breech block, but allows the breech block to move up and down. Later another pin should be made that will be pressed into the frame and remain there; it may be just one size larger on the wire gauge scale. You will have to polish the hole in the breech block so it will pivot on this pin, or you can obtain a reamer of the appropriate size to finish the hole. You will have to do the hammer and trigger pins and holes the same way so I’ll take this opportunity to explain. These pins must fit the moving parts tightly but allow their movement; also they must be pressed into the frame so that they will not move. You can drill the frame and moving parts the same size then find a fractionally larger pin or drill rod stock that will have to be pressed into the frame and would also fit the moving parts too tightly so the moving parts holes must be polished to allow their movement on the pins. The larger you make these holes the easier they will be to polish so keep that in mind when choosing pin sizes. You probably have a gun cleaning jag with a slot for cleaning patches, if not you can carefully cut the end of a piece of rod smaller than the holes you’ll be polishing, enough smaller that a patch will also fit. Now chuck this jag or homemade part in your drill and apply some grinding paste* to a patch. Put this patch in the jag and polish the inside of the holes, you may continue with a finer compound like jewelers rouge if you want a really slick action.
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If your breech block and barrel close together without visible light between them you can move on the fitting the hammer, but more likely you will have a little bit of fitting to do first. If the gap appears larger at the top of the joint you can very carefully remove material from the barrel and check again. If the gap appears larger at the bottom of the joint you should remove material from the top of the breech face. Work carefully here and don’t remove much material without reassembling and checking your progress. When you have the breech block and barrel fitting to your satisfaction you should make your final pin for the breech block and press it in. This can cause the fit to change very slightly and if it does you can do a little more fitting before moving on to fit the hammer. You will have to remove the breech block at least one more time to fit the firing pin but that shouldn’t be a problem as the pin should fit so that it can be pressed out. Fitting the hammer is done in exactly the same way as the breech block, the hammer face should make solid contact with the breech block as well as the support area of the hammer should fit under the breech block with very thorough contact. You may have to do the same repetitive removal and filing and fitting to get the parts to work together properly but when you are satisfied with the fit you can move on to fitting the trigger.
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This is an illustration to show how the trigger should engage the sear in the bottom of the hammer; this is only an illustration and is not meant to represent the parts you are making. You will have to file the notch in the bottom of the hammer and for safety sake you should find some additional instruction on trigger and sear engagement. The drawing in the circle is meant to show the importance of positive sear engagement. The surfaces that make contact here must fit so that when viewed very carefully the hammer actually moves back a little before the trigger breaks. If the opposite occurs, the hammer moves forward before the trigger breaks this is known as negative engagement and is very dangerous so please do a little online research and understand what this paragraph means before fitting the trigger.
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This is a gross exaggeration of negative sear engagement and proper sear engagement. You can see in the upper left of the illustration how the angles of the surfaces lend to their slipping apart, where the lower right drawing shows positive engagement.
It will also be beneficial to add a half-cock notch so the hammer will not be resting on the firing pin, which 31
would be resting on a cartridge. The half-cock notch should be a little deeper than the main notch and should incorporate such positive engagement that the trigger cannot be pulled when the hammer is in the safe position.
Before you can install the trigger you will have to make a channel in the bottom of the center frame for the trigger to pass through. If your trigger is very wide you may have to completely cut out the center frame for the trigger, this is fine if you install frame pins in front and behind the channel, but if the trigger is narrow enough you can leave some material on either side, I don’t know how much this will strengthen the frame but I don’t think it is a concern. You can measure the width of the trigger and use a drill of the same size and drill a couple of holes next to each other and square out the channel
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with a small file. When making this channel keep in mind that you will also have to drill a small hole in the front or back of the channel, depending on the pivot point of the trigger, to install your trigger return spring.
At this point you should have all the moving parts installed and moving freely. Now you can prepare the parts for installation of springs by drilling pockets in the positions indicated by the templates. Drill only deep enough to securely locate the spring, less than 1/8 should suffice. A flat end mill bit will make a square bottom hole, which would be better than the v-bottom hole of a standard drill bit. You will have to measure the diameter of the springs you have chosen to know the size of the pockets for them, but they will have to be slightly under 3/8 since that is the dimension of the center section. In choosing springs for the breech block, hammer and trigger you will have to exercise some trial and error. You can see that the springs have to be a smaller diameter than the parts and you can see how long they will be at rest and measure how long they are when compressed. The spring for the breech block does not need to be very heavy as it only needs to close the block. The spring for the hammer will need to be somewhat heavier as it will have to strike the firing pin 33
with sufficient energy to fire the cartridge. The trigger return spring will look like a ball point pen spring but only about 3/8 in. long. With this little bit of information, buy several springs that fit the dimensional requirements and maybe buy two of each since you will have to cut them to fit. You will have to experiment with the length and weight of each spring to make them do the job required of them. When you are satisfied with the function of the springs, you should make the hole for the firing pin and finally the firing pin itself. If you have not yet chambered the barrel, you can do it now, then determine what size stock you will use for the firing pin, I used 3/16 (.1875) but slightly larger or smaller would be fine also. To locate the position of the firing pin, coat the breech face of the breech block with Dykem and allow it to dry, then take a fired 22 case and insert it in the chamber while inserting a cleaning rod in the muzzle until it slips into the 22 case, it should fit tightly enough that turning the cleaning rod will turn the case, if it doesn’t, wrap the end of the cleaning rod with tape so that it fits snugly in the case. Close the breech block on the empty case and turn the cleaning rod a few times so that the case scores a circular mark on the Dykem coated breech block. Now you can see where the firing pin will need to be located. Take an unfired case and compare it to the circle created on the breech face, it should be very close to the same diameter. The firing pin should strike the cartridge just inside the outer edge of the case, so mark the breech face with a scribe, the location for the firing pin. You will have to remove the breech block from the frame to drill the firing pin hole, but first locate the spot on the back of the breech block where the hammer makes contact so you can determine the proper angle for the firing pin to pass through. When you are ready to drill the firing pin hole, start with a bit that matches the small end of the firing pin and you should drill from the breech face since this location is more critical. I measured a few 22’s with 34
round firing pins and determined .070 was a common size, so I drilled the hole all the way through with a #50 bit, then turned the block over so the hammer face is now up and the breech face down, line the hole again with the bit still in the chuck, and clamp the breech block in place then change the bit for the larger one that will match the large end of your firing pin, this is the end the hammer will strike. Now take careful measurements and drill with care as you want to go most of the way through but not all the way, you must leave the last .050-.070 of the hole the small diameter for the striking end of the pin.
Now, prepare the firing pin by chucking the drill rod in a drill or drill press and with a coarse file, reduce the small end. A drill press with a vise will be very useful here because it does take a little time to reduce the drill rod from .1875 to .070. I found this to be one of the more enjoyable operations and learned quite a bit while doing 35
this. Check your progress often and avoid overheating the material. See in the picture below, that you can carefully clamp a file between pieces of scrap wood, as to not damage the file, and bear the file against the turning drill rod. The weight of a vise should be enough to hold the file to the drill rod, but you may need to clamp the vise and regularly reapply the tension. When approaching the final dimension, switch to a fine file and finally sandpaper. Try to taper the portion just above the small end to prevent any sharp edges that can cause the firing pin to break. Finally, after trial fitting and trimming the small end so that the protrusion through the hole in the breech block is correct, the pin should protrude .020-.035 max, at the small end and the same at the hammer face (the large end). Finally, when all other fitting has been done you will need to cut a retaining notch in the side of the shaft of the pin for a small pin the go through the breech block transversely to retain the firing pin. This is a good operation for the dremel to at least remove most of the material and finish with files. Remember not to leave sharp corners in the bottom of this notch, as they will cause the firing pin to break. Also, do not remove more than half of the thickness of the firing pin when creating this retaining notch. When all of these operations are completed and before you install the pin with its retaining pin, the firing pin should be heat treated. Drill rod is easily heat treated, you should purchase this material from a source that can tell you how to treat the particular steel.
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Stocks As I mentioned earlier, stocks for the H&R handi-rifles and pardner shotguns can be very readily adapted to use on this project. Most stocks for rifles or shotguns of this configuration might be adaptable, but the H&R stock is made in a couple of different configurations, including a raised comb stock for use with a scope and an old fashioned style that is probably more appropriate with this rifle. Stocks for the Remington model 6 were still available as of this writing but if you purchase one of these, please do so before beginning construction of the frame so you can redesign the rear of the frame to accommodate the Remington stock. If you have obtained the H&R stock, to adapt it to this use, simply locate the stock to the rear of the frame and transfer the dimensions of the center section of the frame to the front of the stock, where the attaching bolt hole is. You will now have to remove material from the stock with a band saw if available, or hand saw to begin, and then finish the work with wood chisels. Work a little at a time, 37
test fitting often, and when you reach the point where the frame fits into the channel you have created, identify the correct angle for the rear of the frame to contact the stock. You can sink the frame into the stock just to the point of the side plates and finish the stock to match the line of the side plate, or you can continue to deepen the center cut and open up the front of the stock so that is comes over the side plates slightly, this will create a more finished appearance but will be considerably more work. I made my stock fit right to the side plates, and then narrowed the front of the stock to make it blend more cleanly to the narrow frame. The H&R stock is kind of chunky and will look much better if you rasp the dimension down a bit, blending to the size of the frame. The fore end of the H&R fits this rifle very well with the barrel diameter of 7/8 in. The only fitting necessary to the fore end is to remove the plastic part at the rear of the H&R fore end and then remove some material at the sides of the rear where it contacts the front of your frame, this is only for cosmetic reasons. You should test fit the fore end and mark the location of the hole to attach it. Drill and tap the hole to attach the fore end with the appropriate tap for the screw that came with the fore end. Of course, you can use another screw if you choose, or don’t have the original, but the H&R screw will fit the fore end properly. You may also want to install a pin in the front of the frame that will fit into a hole in the rear of the fore-end, this will add strength to the attachment of the fore end. You will have to decide if you need to do this yourself. There are several styles of fore end available for the H&R rifle, so you can look around and decide what you prefer. The one in the picture is the standard Schnabel design that comes on most models. You could remove the front couple of inches from it and with a little rasping and sanding create a splinter style fore end.
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Sights Sights are available from Midway USA, brownells and others by barrel diameter. Marbles and Williams sights are very inexpensive and you can choose from a variety of styles. When shopping for your sights, pick a type that you feel looks appropriate with the rifle, and then choose the model that is available for your correct barrel diameter. Front and rear sights are available for universal applications. You will have to mark the mounting points on the barrel and I suggest that you clamp the sights with spring clamps or even rubber bands to hold the sights in place while you carefully make adjustments in their position to find the top center. It is very important to take your time here and get the sights centered properly.
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Materials All the materials required to complete this project are available from onlinemetals.com, as well as http://www.amazon.com and many other sources.
Barrel The barrel liners I used, as well as complete barrels are available from numrich gun parts, http://www.egunparts.com/
Sights Sights are available from http://www.midwayusa.com/ brownells, numrich gun parts, as well as many other sources.
Stocks The H&R stock I recommend is available from H&R, which is owned by marlin and available online at http://www.hr1871.com/Support/accessoryProgram.asp
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Finish Gun finishes are available locally, check your gun store or http://www.cabelas.com, bass pro shops or online at http://www.brownells.com/
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Transfer template components to card stock so you can trace them to your metal stock, or use carbon paper, yeah they still sell it. Enlarge the print until the scale is correct, but bear in mind that you can make this larger than scale, I don’t think I’d try to make it much smaller. Pivot pin locations are just shown for reference; don’t attempt to drill them until you are fitting the part.
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DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT The author and publisher of this book and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this book. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this book. The information contained in this book is strictly for educational purposes. Therefore, if you wish to apply ideas contained in this book, you are taking full responsibility for your actions. The author and publisher disclaim any warranties (express or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of this material, which is provided “as is”, and without warranties. The author and publisher do not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites listed or linked to in this book. All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose. This book is © copyrighted by Jerry Lindsey. No part of this may be copied, or changed in any format, sold, or used in any way other than what is outlined within this book under any circumstances.
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Notes * Casenit is a chemical product available from Brownells and other sources, used to surface harden mild steel. Dykem is a dye used to layout work on materials; it is available at hardware stores. Grinding paste is a material used in the automotive industry and can be found at any auto parts store. H&R 1871 is a trademark of the Harrington and Richardson Company. Remington is a trademark of RA Brands, L.L.C., Madison, NC 27025.
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